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Penmanship

jaredgorski.org

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Re: Penmanship

#111

Post by musicale »

mgas wrote: post #72

Here's my take: The author was born in the 90s, and was in elementary and middle school in the 2000s, when keyboarding was already seen as a primary skill. His take that "nobody writes cursive anymore" is true, given that for him, "everyone" is under the age of 30. Those of us who grew up prior to personal computers and phone touchscreens being ubiquitous can scream all we want "I learned cursive and I still write it…

> woodshop

I learned math and programming but I wish I'd also taken wood shop (and metal shop, and other practical courses.)

Making actual stuff with your hands and using physical tools is immensely satisfying and empowering. I really crave it after spending all of my time staring at a screen and typing on a keyboard.

Other practical skills like personal finance, home improvement and maintenance, and cooking can pay dividends for the rest of your life.

I wish I'd had more time for many courses (also including music, art, drama, etc.) that weren't part of the "college prep" track.

Re: Penmanship

#112

Post by mgas »

musicale wrote: post #111
mgas wrote: post #72

Here's my take: The author was born in the 90s, and was in elementary and middle school in the 2000s, when keyboarding was already seen as a primary skill. His take that "nobody writes cursive anymore" is true, given that for him, "everyone" is under the age of 30. Those of us who grew up prior to personal computers and phone touchscreens being ubiquitous can scream all we want "I learned cursive and I still write it…

> woodshop I learned math and programming but I wish I'd also taken wood shop (and metal shop, and other practical courses.) Making actual stuff with your hands and using physical tools is immensely satisfying and empowering. I really crave it after spending all of my time staring at a screen and typing on a keyboard. Other practical skills like personal finance, home improvement and maintenance, and cooking can pay…

100000% agree. I would have loved to get more practical stuff in high school, and less fluff. Woodworking is a lifetime skill, and contributed to my understanding of spatial organization, practical math, fractions, and precision. Plus now I can make stuff.

Cooking as well. I worked in kitchens for 7 years during and after college, and wouldn't trade that knowledge for the world.

I only mentioned woodworking and home ec since they were gender-assigned by the school, not because they were less useful.

Re: Penmanship

#113

Post by mgas »

pjlegato wrote: post #101
mgas wrote: post #72

Here's my take: The author was born in the 90s, and was in elementary and middle school in the 2000s, when keyboarding was already seen as a primary skill. His take that "nobody writes cursive anymore" is true, given that for him, "everyone" is under the age of 30. Those of us who grew up prior to personal computers and phone touchscreens being ubiquitous can scream all we want "I learned cursive and I still write it…

Cursive may well functionally fill the role of social class shibboleth in certain circumstances and specific social environments, but that is very secondary to its highly practical primary function: you can write _much faster_ in cursive than by any other means. There were no typewriters or computers through almost all of human history. Writing was it. This skill had, and to a large degree even today still has, enorm…

Agree on all accounts, except for paper working when wet. :P

Re: Penmanship

#114

Post by potta_coffee »

NoGravitas wrote: post #17

> In penmanship class, we learned a standard cursive font. I think it’s the standard cursive font, in fact. He's wrong that there's a standard cursive. Different countries and different centuries have used a variety of different cursives. Most Americans who were taught cursive in school learned either Zaner-Bloser or D'Nealian, which both derive from Palmer. Both of them are terrible . They have indistinct letter sha…

I'm almost certain I was taught Palmer in Christian school when I was a kid. I still hate how certain letters look but it's hard to change how I write now. 34 I've been at odds with the letter "r".

Re: Penmanship

#115

Post by potta_coffee »

mgas wrote: post #113
pjlegato wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cursive may well functionally fill the role of social class shibboleth in certain circumstances and specific social environments, but that is very secondary to its highly practical primary function: you can write _much faster_ in cursive than by any other means. There were no typewriters or computers through almost all of human history. Writing was it. This skill had, and to a large degree even today still has, enorm…

Agree on all accounts, except for paper working when wet. :P

You can read it after it gets wet, mostly / sometimes. Writing is another story.

Re: Penmanship

#116

Post by potta_coffee »

musicale wrote: post #111
mgas wrote: post #72

Here's my take: The author was born in the 90s, and was in elementary and middle school in the 2000s, when keyboarding was already seen as a primary skill. His take that "nobody writes cursive anymore" is true, given that for him, "everyone" is under the age of 30. Those of us who grew up prior to personal computers and phone touchscreens being ubiquitous can scream all we want "I learned cursive and I still write it…

> woodshop I learned math and programming but I wish I'd also taken wood shop (and metal shop, and other practical courses.) Making actual stuff with your hands and using physical tools is immensely satisfying and empowering. I really crave it after spending all of my time staring at a screen and typing on a keyboard. Other practical skills like personal finance, home improvement and maintenance, and cooking can pay…

I learned how to operate tools safely in woodshop and it's one of the more valuable skills I picked up from my school days. I've forgotten most of my Spanish, almost all of the math, but I remember how to keep my fingers.

Re: Penmanship

#117

Post by potta_coffee »

JackFr wrote: post #31
dfxm12 wrote: post #22

Penmanship and calligraphy, I think, are important to develop manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination & give you a way to express your individuality. The author talks about the standard font in cursive, but I learned many ways to make the letters F, X, M and more, that I felt made my writing unique among others. I also don't think we've totally moved away from wet signatures, so they do have practical use as well.…

I make my eights with two circles rather than a 'figure-eight'. I always wonder how prevalent either method is, or rather more bluntly, am I weird?

I do this because they just look better and they're easier to read. Figure-eights start to get sloppy when I do them and quickly become unreadable.

Re: Penmanship

#118

Post by watwut »

IceMetalPunk wrote: post #3

Fun (or maybe not-so-fun) fact: my 15-year-old nephew recently had to sign a document for some volunteer work, and he didn't know how. Apparently, schools no longer teach cursive, not even enough for kids to learn how to sign their own names for legal documents. The secretary was just like, "Yeah, we get that a lot; he can just print his name instead, that's fine." I've always had shitty handwriting, and when I was i…

He never wrote own name? I would expect him writing his own name the way he normally writes it to be "signature" - regardless of font.

Re: Penmanship

#119

Post by watwut »

mgas wrote: post #95
IceMetalPunk wrote: post #3

Fun (or maybe not-so-fun) fact: my 15-year-old nephew recently had to sign a document for some volunteer work, and he didn't know how. Apparently, schools no longer teach cursive, not even enough for kids to learn how to sign their own names for legal documents. The secretary was just like, "Yeah, we get that a lot; he can just print his name instead, that's fine." I've always had shitty handwriting, and when I was i…

I just bought a house, and signing all the mortgage docs, they told me I had to sign my name exactly as it appears on the document: First Middle Last. My signature, the one that is most personal, recognizable, and ubiquitous to me, is a quick scribble that kind of includes the first letter of my first name, then some flairs of loops and things. Having to laboriously write out my full name in script was a giant pain i…

It sounds to me that such requirement beats the whole purpose of the signature - to identify it was actually you signing the document.
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