Ohio Legislature Passes Colossal Waste Of Time Bill

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Last edited Wed Dec 26, 2018, 01:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Recently the Ohio Legislature proposed a bill that would force all Ohio public schools to teach cursive writing. It received a lot of support, got passed, and Governor Kasich signed the bill, which means it is now LAW that schoolchildren in Ohio MUST learn cursive writing. Here's my question: WHY? WHY is this important? What public interest could this POSSIBLY serve? I've heard a lot of people who adamantly support this bill, and their only justification seems to be, "Well, I had to learn it when I was in school." So again I ask, how could the Republican (and yes, it was the Republicans who pushed this bill) Ohio Legislature justify wasting all this time and money making this a law?

Cursive writing is dying for a reason. It's no longer needed. Everything done today is done on keyboards. Even the vast majority of signatures are electronic signatures. Cursive writing has been dying for a long time, but the advent of computer use in the classroom was its death blow. There is literally no use for it anymore. I learned cursive writing in school, was forced to practice it, and ended up giving it up around the 7th grade, and that was in the early '80s. So now we're going to force our overworked, underpaid teachers to spend valuable classroom time teaching a dead form of expression. Cursive writing offers people who know it NO advantages in business or anything else. It offers NO benefit to a State whose population is well versed in it. It doesn't make learning/education easier. It's simply a different way of expressing the written word. That's literally it. But now it's LAW in Ohio. Are we going to be forced to learn hieroglyphics too? What other dead forms of expression should we be forced to learn for no apparent reason?

Literally the ONLY reason to use cursive is for signatures, but the law in Ohio (and I'm guessing in every State) is that ANY mark intended to stand for your signature is considered a legal signature, even if it's no more than an X or a circle or a squiggly line.

So can someone tell me why this bill got so much support? I mean, other than, "I had to learn it in school, so they should have to as well"? And why it was so important that we had to waste time and money making it a LAW? Because I'm truly baffled by it.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. No one can keep it alive or bring it back

It's dying, and it deserves to die.

[gratuitous]

2. The only possible justification I can think of

Learning cursive engages motor and mental activities in a unique way, creating neural connections. However, there are other, more useful, activities that can do that, like music. But we don't have money for that, like Ohio is going to have to teach cursive.

[Adrahil]

3. I agree, but you'll get pushback here.

Lots of folks still think we write with quills and ink wells.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. it's not unique

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/ohio

There's a contact link at the site; might submit this one.

[blueinredohio]

5. Because Ohio is a red state

and God forbid republicans do anything that makes sense.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

10. Here's The ENTIRE Language Of The New Law

Ohio Revised Code Section 3301.0726(B):

&quot B) The department of education shall include supplemental instructional materials on the
development of handwriting as a universal skill in the English language arts model curriculum under
division (B) of section 3301.079 of the Revised Code for grades kindergarten through five. The
instructional materials shall be designed to enable students to print letters and words legibly by grade
three and create readable documents using legible cursive handwriting by the end of grade five. The
instructional materials shall be included in the model curriculum not later than the first day of July
that next succeeds the effective date of this amendment and, thereafter, shall periodically be updated."

The word "SHALL" is used TWICE. Not, "shall, if they feel like it." Nothing there about the little additional paragraph you added, and common sense should tell you that a board of education can't choose whether or not to obey a STATE LAW. You might want to provide a source for where you found that, because I actually printed out a PDF of the law in order to provide my quote above. I didn't edit it or anything. That's the ENTIRE language of subsection B.

The preamble of the bill even states, "To amend section 3301.0726 of the Revised Code to require the Department of
Education to include supplemental instructional materials in cursive handwriting in the English language arts model curriculum." There's nothing about the word "require" that indicates anything about maybe the school board can choose to obey it if they feel like it.

I've also just read about a dozen articles on the passing of this new law. Not one of them mentions your little addendum that the school board can choose to ignore it if they want to. I even copied and pasted your underlined section into Google to see if I could come up with your source for this. Google returned nothing. So I'm afraid I'm going to need to see a source for this.

So, if you'd like to take your own advice and do a "reality check" of what's REALLY in this bill, here's a link to it: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-documents?id=GA132-HB-58

[Ms. Toad]

12. It does not say each local school district shall

It says the department if education (state level) shall, and references a model curriculum.

As to articles about whether it is mandatory - this was the second article in the search I did last night (with a link to the bill):

Cursive handwriting materials will become part of the Department of Education’s curriculum, as part of House Bill 58, but it will be up to the schools whether it will be included in lessons for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

http://www.cleveland19.com/2018/12/20/bill-include-cursive-writing-ohio-schools-signed-into-law-by-gov-kasich/

The third result, when I paste the underlined portion into google, is a link to the bill under discussion, including the existing part A (containing the languag I quoted)

Now deleted post to which you responded (with a corrected link):

It's a good think to do a reality check before blasting something.

Original (now deleted) post with a corrected link:

The bill does not force a single Ohio public school to teach cursive writing.

It requires the model curriculum to include supplemental instructional materials on the development of handwriting as a universal skill in the English language arts model curriculum . . . to enable students to print letters and words legibly by grade three and create readable documents using legible cursive handwriting by the end of grade five.

HOWEVER: The board of education of any school district may adopt part or all of the materials included in the packet for incorporation into the district's curriculum.

In other words - it is up to each individual school district to determine whether to teach cursive or not.

http://www.ohiohouse.gov/michael-ashford (click on the "view current version" for the language)

(I deleted the original post, because it contained a download link, rather than a url)

[Takket]

7. The GOP romanticizes the past

They think if they bring back cursive that Ozzie and Harriet will naturally follow.

[NoMoreRepugs]

8. This. It's a race back to the not so good in reality good ol days.

[safeinOhio]

9. I suffer from Dysgraphia, but very good at typing.

As a kid, I sat at a desk and practiced cursive writing to no avail. Took a typing class in eight grade and got an A in it. No need for cursive writing.

[zonemaster]

11. Ohio (w/ apologies to CSNY)

Tin inkwells and Kasich's chummin'
They fancy an Age of Stone
Conservative rapture's comin'
Tech's dead in Ohio

Gotta get back to it
Libtards are bringin' us down
Should have been hung long ago
Upload kid pix to FB
Drippin' ink all around
Where did my new smartphone go?

Gotta get back to it
Libtards are bringin' us down
Should have been hung long ago
Better yet, let's move to
Sharpened sticks on the ground
Where did my new smartphone go?

Tin inkwells and Kasich's chummin'
They fancy an Age of Stone
Conservative rapture's comin'
Irony's dead in Ohio

[harumph]

13. Firstly, it doesn't force schools to do anything - read the code section

Second, my kids have found it useful in college in taking notes quickly where audio recording
isn't permitted. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that the tactility of writing
helps memorization of the subject matter.

https://www.medicaldaily.com/why-using-pen-and-paper-not-laptops-boosts-memory-writing-notes-helps-recall-concepts-ability-268770

and,

"Many college students have given up taking class notes by hand. Instead, they type on laptop or tablet computers. But scientists from Princeton University and the University of California say that that method is less effective.

If you need to remember something, write it. Writing notes by hand is much better for long-term memory of ideas, or conceptual information. That is the finding of a 2014 study published in the journal Psychological Science."

And, I'm a former software engineer - so not a Luddite.

[Mariana]

14. It's possible to learn to hand letter rapidly.

People who say cursive is faster are right, up to a point. Of course it is faster for them because they normally use cursive. The opposite is true for people who usually letter.