Melinda in Tulsa

Are you serious??? Have they really stopped teaching cursive writing in school????

Willa

It seems like a lot of people are afraid that a child will be damaged for life if held back in school. How is that child being helped by letting them continue? What are they learning about dealing with everyday problems? Now lets take spelling out what's next? Maybe we should just send the kids to school and tell them they don't need to learn anything except how to feel good about themselves. This makes me mad and I'm worried for any future grands I might have.

Mitch's mom

If I were to guess, I would guess spelling was removed from the curriculum several years ago. I work with girls who are just out of high school or in the first year or so of college. To read the papers they prepare for their classes is an adventure. If I had turned in a paper of that caliber in high school I would have been given a failing grade! The spelling mistakes alone were enough to fail; forget the grammatical errors!

I don't go ballistic over punctuation because I'm not good at it, but I believe my posts are understandable, even with my mistakes.

TanyaL

Are we deliberating creating a new class of citizens who won't be educated, therefore will have much lower economic earning abilities? What would be the purpose in a dumber populace?
Just having one that wouldn't be able to question the ruling class? Nothing about that idea seems American to me, but I think we are seeing it happen. Our public schools are failing to educate on so many levels.

Rebecca VLQ

Oh, man. I'm so glad my kindergardener is in a school that believes HEAVILY in words, taking them apart, putting them together, sounding them out, using the rules, etc etc.

arimuse

YES! YES! YES! I also watched MSNBC yesterday - they talk was jobs in America (what else anymore), the guest said: "there are 300,000 jobs here not being filled because the workforce doesnt have basic skills,"
commentator1: " what are the basic work skills?"
guest: "well, typically many people can't even read rulers, or do basic functions on computers."
comm1: "so, schools dont teach the right things? cant the companys train help?"
comm2; "we have to get back to basics in business, we used to train our help for specific jobs, we dont do that anymore, we need to do that."

Here's the ice water! guest: "Yes, we should take someone who needs a job and tell them we will give them on the job training AND PAY THEM LESS UNTIL THEY SHOW PROFICIENCY and then pay them the going rate for the work."
so guess who gets to judge when you're ready to go up to minimum wage in this world?!

All you need to do is dumb down 1 generation so much that they can barely function (read-write-do math)and they become the property of business. They will work at the discretion of anyone who can mold them to their needs, at whatever they feel like paying for their work. Do you actually think all the kids on up to adults in Asia working as vertual slaves in sweatshops because they are over educated??? these are an ocean of uneducated humanity, and if you think working 12-16 hrs a day, every day, is good cus "at least they have a job" you are deluded.
sharet

miriam

I home schooled my kids without one government dime. The all are healthy well adjusted adults with jobs and not collecting government dimes. They read, write, make change, hold jobs and actually work for their pay, carry on adult conversations, obey the laws, vote, understand business - I could go on. None of them bothered with college. They just took nothing jobs and the cream rose to the top.

nativetexan

my son is in his early forties but had an English teacher in the 8th or 9th grade I couldn't believe. she couldn't even write a complete sentence, much less speak one to teach.

these days with electronics to do everything for us, why should we take the trouble to learn? seems to be the logic behind this.

NancyBelly

Please don't trash us. We're doing our best in a very bad situation to educate your children and grandchildren Children are being forced to learn more at an earlier age than ever before. And many of the children have major medical, emotional, and psychological problems then when we were in school. Many children have no parent taking care of them much less making sure they do their homework or even see that they get dinner and a bath.

We are told what to teach and how to teach it. Schools have embraced a business model that we must follow so that our product (the kids)all turn out the same. Trust me, we're as frustrated as parents are.

Cursive writing is an art but it is becoming unnecessary. As long as a child can write their signature they're fine. You generally print on forms if you;re filling them in by hand.

sueisallaboutquilts

Wow, I've really been out of the education loop. My boys are all in their 30's and their curriculum was like mine at the same age.
NancyBelly- I don't think people are trashing the teachers but rather the system. It must be very frustrating for many of the teachers. YIKES!