Staff Meeting

[tman]

I sat down next to a guy at a staff meeting on Wednesday last week, who's in his mid-forties. An attendance sheet was passed around the room for us to sign, and after I signed in using a Varsity disposable, I passsed the sheet to him.

He looked at me and held out his hand for my pen, not knowing what it was I had used. I started to hand it to him and then paused. I pulled it back, then offered it back to him. I held the nib up for him to see, and said something like, "I'm not sure you want to use this one."

He wordlessly snatched it from me with his left hand, turned the attendance sheet ninety degrees counterclockwise, and quickly signed in. He handed my pen back, and said, "Believe it or not, we had pensmanship classes in grade school when I was a kid. I had to learn to write with one of those."

Never judge a book by its cover, I guess. I didn't expect that response from someone else who graduated high school in the 1980's.

(I use the varsity disposable at work just because it's disposable. I don't want to lose a nice pen in a struggle.)

 

[rearviewmirror]

I just bought an Easterbrook off Ebay, and the lady I bought it from told me it was the pen she used in school for penmanship class.
And here I was, complaining about taking 'word processing' in 9th grade.

 

[Greyfox]

Too bad that penmanship is going the way of so many traditional things.

 

[maxman]

People always pick up pens off my desk to jot notes if I'm on the phone or with a customer.
I keep my 51 on the other side so they can't grab it but every once and I while I forget.
Usually people say "wow. that's a smooth pen" and don't look at it.

I suppose with the hooded nib they might not understand what it really is.

 

[coyotewhisper]

The sad thing is the State Board of Education of Indiana has decided to remove penmanship from the curriculum. They are replacing it with keyboard basics.

 

[Mr5x5]

Too bad that penmanship is going the way of so many traditional things.

+1

 

[Go West Young Man]

The sad thing is the State Board of Education of Indiana has decided to remove penmanship from the curriculum. They are replacing it with keyboard basics.

Seems like a good idea to me..... I spend 99% of my writing time on a keyboard, less than 1% writing anything by hand.

 

[JPDyson]

Typing better serves most people. It's a skill that will virtually be a requirement to even function meaningfully in society, whereas writing could very well be obsolete. Hard for some to imagine, I'm sure - jotting quick notes, personal letters and cards, etc - writing will become a hobby, like traditional wet shaving or owning a classic car. Imagine, folks used to need to know how to provide the basic care a horse would require. Now they barely even know how to care for their cars (regrettably).

 

[Altair]

Yeah no doubt kids need to learn how to type. Its the future. I know a few people that are young and dont know how to type and can bearly use a computer. Heck all they know how to do is go on facebook. If you want your kids to lean cursive its up to you to teach them. I never really liked to do cursive. I learned it though.

 

[pal]

The next thing you know they will stop teaching math to kids! Hey we have calculators now. I remember when I was in school calculators were forbidden, now they are encouraged. This is not so bad except, what happens in a real crisis when no one has electricity or batteries. All of a sudden we are thrown back three thousand years in time and its the Dark Ages all over again.

I have always thought that cursive writing was an art form. Sure we are all typing right now, but there is nothing more manly and at the same time, more expressive of a man's intelligence, than an excellent command of writing skills. In the past, a man's signature was his hallmark. It was something unique he developed over a long period of time that was his legal stamp. And now I guess our new signature will be our thumb prints. What are you going to do?

 

[AABCDS]

You can always type in cursive!

 

[JPDyson]

The next thing you know they will stop teaching math to kids! Hey we have calculators now. I remember when I was in school calculators were forbidden, now they are encouraged. This is not so bad except, what happens in a real crisis when no one has electricity or batteries. All of a sudden we are thrown back three thousand years in time and its the Dark Ages all over again.

Math will never cease to be useful (dare I say critically) in daily life. I'm not sure I can say the same for writing (in a strictly practical sense - no bearing on enjoyment).

 

[Dave258]

I never really liked to do cursive. I learned it though.

I never liked to write in cursive, I printed everything, and my hand writing was horrible! Until I bought my first fountain pen (only 5 months ago), and now write most things in cursive and am rather impressed at how nice it looks!

 

[tman]

If the schools want to be on the top of education curve, they should be teaching "thumb-boarding".

Smartphone owners will get it.

 

[JPDyson]

If the schools want to be on the top of education curve, they should be teaching "thumb-boarding".

Smartphone owners will get it.

Well that's a bit less of a learning curve - you're only typing with your thumbs, so you just divide the keyboard in half and go. I have to use a BlackBerry for work, which is horrible, but typing on my iPhone is tolerable. Faster, better auto-correct, etc.

 

[tman]

Well that's a bit less of a learning curve - you're only typing with your thumbs, so you just divide the keyboard in half and go. I have to use a BlackBerry for work, which is horrible, but typing on my iPhone is tolerable. Faster, better auto-correct, etc.

Swype works wonderfully. Just trace from letter, to letter on the screen of your Android phone as you spell the words.

Also, voice-to-text is somewhat accurate.

 

[instpasr]

Some day there is going to be this huge EMP wether it be natural or man made and all of these people that can't write are going to be in trouble.

 

[Alacrity59]

Some day there is going to be this huge EMP wether it be natural or man made and all of these people that can't write are going to be in trouble.

We need to be able to write "goodby cruel world"? Can't we just play the song from the album on the victrola?

 

[instpasr]

We need to be able to write "goodby cruel world"? Can't we just play the song from the album on the victrola?

Nope....somebody has to retain the ability to make a list of things. You sir may definitely man the victrola though as we will be needing entertainment.

 

[Voomie]

Some day there is going to be this huge EMP wether it be natural or man made and all of these people that can't write are going to be in trouble.

So start hording pens, ink and penmanship books?