Finland To Stop Teaching Mandatory Cursive At Schools

[Mangrove]

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30146160

 

From autumn 2016, students won't have to learn cursive handwriting or calligraphy, but will instead be taught typing skills, the report says. [...]

 

Do notice that the above does not mean that the teacher(s) could not teach cursive if they choose to do so, it is simply not mandatory after 2016. This is what the students are currently learning:

 

http://www03.edu.fi/oppimateriaalit/kirjainuudistus/kuvat/kirjoituskirjaimet_index_kuva.gif

Edited November 23, 2014 by Mangrove

[usk15]

Evolution...

[proton007]

Yeah.

The following year they won't be teaching maths, replacing it with a course on how to use a scientific calculator.

 

Next, no need to teach art and drawing, just know how to use a camera and an ipad.

 

Music is worthless anyways, just learn how to use an iPod.

 

 

Since when did we start replacing the ends with the means?

 

Also funny how 'tweets' have become a part of news reportage, perhaps tweets can replace all news websites too?

Edited November 23, 2014 by proton007

[hsianloon]

That qualifies as cursive ? Looks like they highlighted the words and pressed alt/ctrl + I

Evolution...

Devolution

 

Yeah.

The following year they won't be teaching maths, replacing it with a course on how to use a scientific calculator.

 

Next, no need to teach art and drawing, just know how to use a camera and an ipad.

 

Music is worthless anyways, just learn how to use an iPod.

 

 

Since when did we start replacing the ends with the means?

 

Also funny how 'tweets' have become a part of news reportage, perhaps tweets can replace all news websites too?

A bit apocalytic there proton007. But then again there are apps these day that do your math for you. http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2014/10/22/photomath-is-a-free-app-that-can-solve-equations-through-smartphone-cameras/

[proton007]

A bit apocalytic there proton007. But then again there are apps these day that do your math for you. http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2014/10/22/photomath-is-a-free-app-that-can-solve-equations-through-smartphone-cameras/

 

Devolution for sure. I was plunged into an apocalyptic state of mind as soon as I read this news piece.

 

The simple fact being, the exercise of writing is not about putting words on a medium, just as playing a musical instrument is not about the sound.

 

But then I feel, these are just cracks in a facade, they do not represent the agendas lurking behind. There's the basic question of institutionalization of education. What dictates school policies? What are the objectives the teaching pedagogy adheres to? Why do our kids need this 'education'?

[Chi Town]

What a shame.....But what the heck they are already doing this in the USA!

[stevesurf]

It is ironic that typing is replacing cursive, just when speech recognition is getting to be close to being a primary IoT device input method.

 

Why would you not permit children to learn to write legibly?

 

I find it incredible; however I am still happy that my Engineering Art and Arch College still teaches architectural lettering

[Daisy25]

Writing with a nice pen, good ink, and the right paper is such a pleasure. Silly as it sounds, I really truly enjoy the act of writing. I'm just glad I was born in a time when cursive was taught (not to mention, enforced). Typing is fine, but it's definitely not as soul-satisfying. (Well, not for me, anyway). Even if I do rather like the click of the keys.

[proton007]

Writing with a nice pen, good ink, and the right paper is such a pleasure. Silly as it sounds, I really truly enjoy the act of writing. I'm just glad I was born in a time when cursive was taught (not to mention, enforced). Typing is fine, but it's definitely not as soul-satisfying. (Well, not for me, anyway). Even if I do rather like the click of the keys.

 

My opinion is that it's the nature of the 'lens' of Technology we use to view activities. It tends to be, as Heidegger put it, purely 'Instrumental' in its approach. Writing gets reduced to the activity of storing data in a memory, and efficiency forces the act itself to be completed in as few steps as possible. Hence the mention of speech recognition too.

Technology is not a way 'of' life. It can only be a way 'to' a life. We should not dilute the latter to accommodate the former.

Edited November 25, 2014 by proton007

[PS104]

"Since when did we start replacing the ends with the means?"

 

Probably when they started hiring so-called teachers that can't hold a pen properly much less write cursive themselves, or can't do math, couldn't draw any sort of line (straight or crooked) or even sing in the shower

[pmhudepo]

Writing with a nice pen, good ink, and the right paper is such a pleasure. Silly as it sounds, I really truly enjoy the act of writing. I'm just glad I was born in a time when cursive was taught (not to mention, enforced). Typing is fine, but it's definitely not as soul-satisfying. (Well, not for me, anyway). Even if I do rather like the click of the keys.

 

That does not sound silly at all, to me. Sometimes, perhaps even most of the time, it is such a pleasure to work with something tangible. I've been using computers for 30 years now, started with a Commodore 64 and now write software to pay my bills, but certainly like the act of writing, or cooking a meal.

 

Typing and using a computer are important skills these days, but I always thought that kids pick these up pretty much automatically.

 

I wonder about this part from the article: "[susanna Huhta] points out that handwriting helps children to develop fine motor skills and brain function, and suggests handwriting classes could be replaced by handicrafts and drawing." I am curious to know if the replacement classes will be enough. Perhaps for the fine motor skills they are, but what about "brain function"? I believe there is research showing, for instance, that taking notes by hand works better than typing on a computer.

[JKelly]

"Since when did we start replacing the ends with the means?"

 

Probably when they started hiring so-called teachers that can't hold a pen properly much less write cursive themselves, or can't do math, couldn't draw any sort of line (straight or crooked) or even sing in the shower

 

Translation: They've replaced professional educators proud of their skills and of their students with union day laborers whose only goal is a pay check and a pension.