random poll

[rm]

Super busy. Am suddenly curious about this. Apparently most kids entering college in the US this year don't know how to write in cursive. I suspect this is less a sign of the apocalypse than it feels like to me.

So, tell me things (as usual, poll is un-scientific and reflects my biases and experiences (and 49-year-olds can choose which age category they like better!) -- if the boxes don't work, my apologies and comments super welcome.):

[Poll #1607173]

Comments

[zeenell]

I'm 23. I was taught how to write in cursive at the beginning of second grade. I was permitted to use it half-way through 3rd grade, and have generally used it since. (My printing ends up MORE illegible then my cursive since I have spacing issues).

Basically, the school got us to use cursive by telling us that only when you could write it in legibly, would you be permitted to use it. I just happened to be one of 5 kids who's horrid cursive was still more readable then the horrid printing. :-p

OTOH, I was placed in honors in 5th grade, which was when the regular ed kids were offered the option to go back to printing. Us kids in honors could only use cursive or type something up for papers. *ponders* reg. ed kids had no option for turning in typed papers 7th grade.

Most of that was based on the fact that ALL of us were taught to touch-type starting in 2nd grade, but most of us only had access to computers via the school or the public library. Most families couldn't afford computers and many of the kids I knew didn't get comps until 13-ish.

As to gender - 7th/8th grade, my school did something called cycles - you spent a marking period in a different "shop" class each period. I ended up in home ec twice (more boys then girls 7th grade, equal 8th grade), spanish (why it was under shop class at the middle school, no one knows), wood shop (best grade even though I missed the most days of school), art class twice...

The high school had more boys in culinary arts then girls, more girls in auto shop and equal amounts in woodshop - at least for the introductory year.

The ONLY kids who took family life were the ones looking for an easy A or they set up their schedule late and the other classes were closed out.

There was no gender requirement for the classes - what ended up happening is that you had to have one year of "shop" classes as part of the NJ requirement for graduation and most of the classes ran on different periods. If you were taking an Honors English class for your grade level that ONLY met 3rd period and intro to woodshop was only 3rd? You took auto or culinary arts instead.

(...I took JROTC instead - LET 1 had 3 different class periods, so it notched into my schedule. I then took it allll 4 years).