The chasm between baby-boomers and younger generations grows
with each passing day. Our lives are influenced by different things, and we
have a different take on what’s important for daily communications. I’m not
sure what strikes younger folks fancies, but I can vouch for a couple of areas
that we oldsters think are worthwhile.
We seniors still think that handwriting is an important
thing for individuals. We toiled for days to
Just as we finally perfected that kind of writing, the time
came to learn how to write in cursive. It was a real pain for some students,
especially those of us who were left-handed. Heck, we had enough difficulty
understanding which way to slant the paper, and many lefties failed to do so as
is evident by watching how they curl their wrist in awkward
ways or slanted
their words in the opposite direction. A few unlucky students learned the
proper way to do these things as a teacher watched with a ruler ready to slap
hands that curled or slanted words incorrectly.
At some point, cursive writing no longer was an important
skill to learn. Some “experts” in education said that demanding students to
learn and use the style crushed their individual creative abilities. Then
computers became the predominant method of writing, a fact that further
lessened the importance of handwriting. I used to make my seniors write out the
alphabet in cursive 5 times each day before we began class, and I refused to
grade papers that weren’t written in cursive. Today, I’d be suspended with pay
until the school board could fire me for such an egregious act.
My handwriting has taken a turn for the worse, partially
because I don’t practice it as much and partially because my arthritic hands
find little comfort as I put pen to paper. Still, I can make those letters, and
someone observed that cursive writing could be used as a code for old folks who
want to keep secrets from younger people.
In our time, spelling was an important skill that teachers
emphasized each year. We had spelling books and used them every day. Lists of
words increased in difficulty throughout the year, and
Fridays always began
with a spelling test. Most of us enjoyed the challenge and studied hard enough
to make 100’s on the exams. A poor grade on a spelling test upset all of us. In
grammar, we also learned rules of spelling that eased the problems of putting letters
in the correct order. Most often
remembered was the rule “I” before “e” except after “c” or when it sounds like
an “a” in such words as “neighbor” and “sleigh.” 
I noticed the weakness in students’ spelling abilities
throughout my teaching career. The curriculum placed more emphasis on other
things. Subtracting 5 points for every misspelled word in an essay made
students a bit more aware of correct spelling, but it didn’t end the problem.
Folks today confront spelling in a couple of ways. Sometimes
they take the time to consult Spell Checker. Doing so alleviates many of the
errors, but not all of them. I am guilty of sometimes using homophones but
usually catch them during proof reading. That brings up the other approach. In
it, people simply ignore any misspellings. They don’t see them as being
important. Ignorance accounts for some of this attitude. So many modern-day
folks text until their fingers ache, and they abbreviate and misspell on
purpose to the point that they can’t tell the difference. Before long,
communication in writing will be impossible without a standard of spelling.
All of this sounds too much like an old curmudgeon who once
again laments the state of the world and how it’s going to hell in a handbasket
with the ways of the young people. That’s certainly not my intent. However, I
will continue to complain about a generation that all too often turns its back
on some of the most important ways that we’ve communicated effectively for
years. Maybe an outcry will rise for a return to cursive writing and correct
spelling. Then again, I doubt that too many people care; just type stuff on a
keyboard and let a computer program do the rest.
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