‘Things Gone By’ in Schools

Who could have thought that cursive handwriting would become a hot issue? It seems Tennessee is involved in a debate as to whether to teach cursive writing, and insist on student’s using it in class. When I went to school, this was a no brainer. In third grade, the only writing accepted was cursive. But now, thanks to computers and texting, script or cursive handwriting is thought to be unnecessary by some educators.

Just the other day, this was a topic of discussion with my granddaughter, who is in the fourth grade. She had actually created a book on cursive handwriting for her parents, as she said their writing was hard to read. She related to me that while she had a cursive signature, she did her class work in print. How will this group of students read our cursive handwriting? Will cursive writing become obsolete like some of the old script writing?

These thoughts brought memories of other school-related things that are no longer seen. The old chalk board is among the list of “things gone by.” The blackboard (or green board), books, chalk, five line chalk holders, and erasers were the icons for education. In lower grades, it was a reward to be a teacher’s “assistant” for the day, which included cleaning the chalkboard and clapping the erasers outside until clean. Later, staying after school to clean erasers was used as punishment! There are few sounds more irritating than fingernails scraping a chalkboard. That’s one memory I could happily forget.

And what about mimeographed sheets, called “dittos”, that reproduced multiple copies of tests or assignments, in dark purple ink? Remember the smell? A fresh one smelled so good, who could resist pulling it to the nose and inhaling the delicious, indescribable fragrance.

And, my personal favorite memory, recess! There was no better time than the morning and afternoon recess. This was a time for running and playing, getting sweaty and having so much fun. Schools are eliminating or shortening recess in order to prepare for standardized tests. Some feel there is too much liability should a child get injured. Even schools still having shorter recess have banned a lot of the old playground games, such as, dodge ball and tag.

Cursive writing and recess, as with black boards and dittos, may soon be only a memory!