Today I was supervising a field test at an elementary school. Of the 25 students taking the test, not one - not one - student wrote. They printed. They are in Grade 6 and they print. They learn Cursive writing in Grade 3 and 4 and then they never are obligated again to write. I have in the past had English 30 students who also printed their papers. The rationale is that they use word processors and it is not necessary. I recall hours spent making capital Zed's and the trouble with lower case "g". My children complain they can't read my writing. Is this because I write cursively or is it because my penmanship is failing? I don't know.
Another thing I noticed was how they make timelines. Back in the day we marked time by BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno domini - in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ) from the Julian and Gregorian calendars. This dating system was used to draw attention to make the birth of Jesus Christ the dividing point of world history. In our pluralistic society, it has now changed though in truth we are still marking time from when Jesus came to earth but heaven forbid that we say that outloud. Now they teach in schools BCE and CE (Before the Common Era). I confess I do not understand how to make calendars and mark time. But sitting in that classroom today, I found myself feeling like a dinosaur.
1 comment:
That's interesting. I wonder if the BCE and CE is a Canadian thing. I'll have to ask my sister. And don't feel too bad, I have never written in cursive so that means, back when I was in 3rd and 4th grade it wasn't the thing to do either. You're not that far behind the times. :) Does my mom know about this blog?
Post a Comment