Wednesday, November 16, 2011

An oldie, but a goodie

Change, everything is changing constantly. From when I was a child to now the world looks so different! If a kid from the 80’s traveled in time to today, I think they would be pretty surprised and over whelmed. While today’s 4 year old can find their way around an iPad, the 4 year old of the 80’s could find their way around a doodle pad with a marker. So much else has changed, cars, phones, Internet, computers, and many many technological devices that I don’t even know what they are.

It’s been a while since I was in grade school, and now that my son is in Nursery I am once again beginning to get ready for those school years again, but how things have changed!

When I was a kid handwriting was a very serious subject. Besides practicing cursive to classical music (yes I am serious) our handwriting was part of the grade for everything that we wrote which was handed in. I wont even get into the calligraphy and fountain pens, ink everywhere!

Today schools have changed; they have evolved with all the technology that is available. One of the things that have changed in school is that handwriting is no longer a main focus. With computer readily available, teachers are more concerned with kids being up-to-date and proficient with this modern basic tool.

This is a great article about the benefits of writing by hand, and the negative effects not writing by hand is having on societies.


Is change always good? What about the saying “An oldie, but a goodie”. Can’t we move ahead without getting rid of the older stuff? Sometimes we don't realise we have made a mistake in getting rid of something until it is too late!

2 comments:

  1. I'm an old-fashioned girl myself - I always say I should have been born in a different era. But you know there is also a saying 'out with the old, in with the new' - although where that one came from I can't fathom. Basically, I agree with you. without progress, we would still be living in tents and seeing by daylight or candle light, and washing laundry by hand in the river. But there must be some kind of balance between embracing progress and tossing out the past.

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  2. a while ago i was asking a friend if she thinks its a problem that my 5 and 6 year old don't know that much about computers but they can play tea party/picnic/wedding for 3 hours straight. i think they will be just fine :)

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