Should Students Learn Cursive?

The swirling lines from Linden Bateman's pen have been conscripted into a national fight to keep cursive writing in American classrooms.  Cursive.  Penmanship.  Handwriting.  In years gone by, it helped distinguish the literate from the illiterate.

But now, in the digital age, people are increasingly communicating by computer and smartphone.  No handwritten signature necessary.  Call it a sign of the times.  When the new Common Core educational standards were crafted, penmanship classes were dropped.  But at least seven of the 45 states that adopted the standards are fighting to restore the cursive instruction.

THE ARGUEMENT FOR CURSIVE

Bateman, a 72-year old state representative from Idaho, says cursive conveys intelligence and grace, engages creativity and builds brain cells.  "Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard" said Bateman, who handwrites 125 ornate letters each year.  "We're not thinking this through.  It's beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards."

WHY WAS IT DROPPED

State leaders who developed Common Core -- a set of preferred K-12 course offerings for public schools -- omitted cursice for a host of reasons, including an increasing need for children in a digital-heavy age to master computer keyboarding and evidence that even most adults use some hybrid of classic cursive and print in every day life.   "If you just stop and think for a second about what are the skills that people are likely to be using in the future, it's much more likely that keyboarding will help students in careers and in schools than it is that cursive will," said Morgan Polikoff, an assistant professor of K-12 policy and leadership at the University of Southern California.

THE MOVEMENT TO HAVE TEACHING CURSIVE RESTORED

States that adopted Common Core aren't precluded from deviating from the standards.  But in the world of education, where classroom time is limited and performance stakes are high, optional offerings tend to get sidelined in favor of what's required.

That's why at least seven states -- California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah -- have moved to keep the cursive requirement.  Legislation passed in North Carolina and elsewhere couples cursive with memorization of multiplication tables as twin "back to basics" mandates.

Cursive advocates cite recent brain science that indicates the fluid motion employed when writing script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor skills, in turn prompting reading, writing and cognition skills.   They further argue that scholars of the future will lose the ability to interpret valuable cultural resources -- historical documents, ancestor's letters and journals, handwritten scholarship -- if they can't read cursive.  If they can't write it, how will they communicate from unwired settings like summer camp or the battlefield?  "The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive.  Think about that," Bateman said.

WHAT DO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS THINK?

All the fuss seems a bit loopy to certain members of Gen X, Y and Z -- which have diverged increasingly from handwriting to computers.   The volume of first class mail at the U.S. Postal Service fell in 2010 to its lowest level in a quarter-century, just as computer use -- and the keyboarding it involves -- was surging.  Some 95 percent of teens use the internet, and the percentage using smartphones to go online has grown from 23 percent in 2011 to 37 percent today, according to the Pew Research Center.  A 2012 Pew report found the volume of text messages among teens rose from 50 a day on average in 2008 to 60 a day on average two years later.

Pew research has also shown that educators don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.  A survey

Thank Our Veterans

The Land of the Free because of the Brave

By Charlie Baker

For the past few years, a friend of mine who spent four years in the Marine Corps has invited me to the Maine Corps birthday celebration at the South Boston Convention Center.   It's quite a scene - 2,000 men, a handful of women, a boatload of beer, and a ton of pomp and circumstance.

Amidst the 'hoorah' there are moments that stay with me for months: stories of profound heroism and gargantuan courage under extraordinary situations, spellbinding speeches that powerfully express what it means to be part of one the world's finest military organizations, and ritual that has its origins in the founding of this great nation.

But the moments that I never forget are the ones that come when the Corps honors the mothers and fathers among them who have lost their sons and daughters on the field of battle.   As their names, along with the names of their fallen children, are read, they stand and turn towards the crowd.   The applause starts loud and then explodes, as 2,000 men and women of all ages stand and honor those who have paid the highest price a parent can pay in defense of their country.   It is beyond moving.   It tugs at the heart and sears the soul, and it speaks volumes about how high the stakes are every time a parent sends a son or daughter off to war.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "The land of the free because of the brave."   True enough.   The men and women who choose to serve in our military are, indeed, very special, and so are their families.   Please take the time this Veteran's Day to honor their commitment to us, their love for the country, and their unflinching willingness to put themselves in harm's way.

Thanks - and God Bless America.

Business Lobby Seeks a More "Governable" GOP

By Geoffrey Lysaught

Even before Democrat Terry McAuliffe narrowly defeated Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the governor's race, lobbyists representing the business community were rethinking their relationship with the GOP and planning to challenge conservative incumbents in next year's primaries.

Their goal: to replace principled conservatives with candidates who will be more protective of Big Business interests.   As U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue put it, his group will get involved in primary races to produce a "more governable Republican party."

Which is why the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which says it's strictly in "the wins business," is threatening more electoral intervention.   "There's no rules," NRSC executive director Rob Collins said.   "The path to getting a general election candidate who can win is the only thing we care about."

This shift will certainly surprise those who naively believed that the grassroots Tea Party movement was a creation of big business.   But "Tea Party as a Wall Street front group" has been a popular belief among the left for years.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

CNN Places Blame on Democrats

Holy Crap. CNN is Correctly Placing Blame On Democrats

Someone Pinch Me.  It's Like a Christmas Miracle

According to CNN, Senate Democrats are to blame for all of these insurance companies cancelling policies all over the country.   They voted unanimously, you see, to support the very Obamacare rule which is responsible for this happening.   And here's the Kicker.   This was THREE YEARS AGO, when Republicans brought a resolution to the floor to PREVENT policies from being cancelled.  

At the time, Republican Senator Grassley said, "The District of Columbia is an island surrounded by reality.   Only in the District of Columbia could you get away with telling the people that if you like what you have you can keep it, and then pass regulations six months later that do just the opposite and figure that people are going to ignore it.   But common sense is eventually going to prevail in this town and common sense is going to prevail on this piece of legislation as well.   The administration's own regulations prove this is not the case.   Under the grandfathering regulation, according to the White House's own economic impact analysis, as many as 69 percent of businesses will lose their grandfathered status by 2013 and be forced to buy government-approved plans."

It's almost as if everything that Republicans have been warning people about for the past three years is all coming true, right in front of our very eyes.