On Blogging

 Why Couldn't It Have Been Called Something Else?
   Posts on MM  beginning with "ON" usually mean the reader is in for a bit of pontification, about which we have had rather enough during the last few weeks. But, it is not the case that I will offer another bloated, preachy essay. I simply will type a few words about the word 'blog' as I consider whether or not to resume blogging.
   My output has declined, partially because I was away and the weather has been good. Now it is raining and I am inside, but I would be more excited about resuming blogging if it was called something else. 
   Let's face it, 'blog' is a homely word, like 'booger' or 'blob' and even 'blobbing' sounds a little better. Blog, like 'fart', 'turd', 'chunk' or 'thud' are words that would not be characterized as mellifluous and one would likely not be particularly proud  to be referred to as a 'chunker' or 'thudder' any more than one wants to be known as a 'farter.'
   Apparently the word 'blog' originated just before the turn of this century from 'weblog.' By the time I started blogging in 2016, the activity was already passé, but when friends my age asked what I was up to, saying 'blogging' sounded just as bad as some of those other words mentioned. Perhaps it would have sounded better if someone like Proust had been a blogger. 
   Blogs are now like emails in that no one reads them. Texts are favoured since they are short and are completed for you and come with emojis. Blogs have been replaced by Substacks, but I wouldn't say that 'substack' is a particularly attractive term either, but one does get paid for producing them. Reddit is not much better and reminds me of the sounds of frogs. For now I think I will keep on blogging, at least on rainy days.
Post Script: 
  If money was the object, I suppose I could start a substack, even though saying "I have my own substack" has less appeal than saying, for example, "I am a surgeon". In any case, talent is required in both cases. Writing a blog does not require any and one avoids getting replies like this from an editor.
   

  

Pedagogical Notes

Cursive Returns To The Classroom

   Some of the knowledge imparted in Ontario schools is being questioned by some parents, but perhaps the re-introduction of handwriting will be accepted, unless, of course, it is promoted as "penmanship." The announcement in the news was made last month and portions of it are provided below where one will find some of the arguments made in support of the idea that the ability to write by hand is a useful skill for students to acquire.

   One assumes that one of the collateral benefits of learning handwriting is that one will be able to read it. Even if you are one of the ones who think that such a skill is no longer needed or relevant, you might agree that being able to read what has been written could be useful. I hadn't thought of that until I read this piece a while back:
"Gen Z Never Learned to Read Cursive: How Will They Interpret the Past," by Drew Gilpin Faust in The Atlantic: 

  "It was a good book, the student told the 14 others in the undergraduate seminar I was teaching, and it included a number of excellent illustrations, such as photographs of relevant Civil War manuscripts. But, he continued, those weren’t very helpful to him, because of course he couldn’t read cursive.

Had I heard him correctly? Who else can’t read cursive? I asked the class. The answer: about two-thirds. And who can’t write it? Even more. What did they do about signatures? They had invented them by combining vestiges of whatever cursive instruction they may have had with creative squiggles and flourishes. Amused by my astonishment, the students offered reflections about the place—or absence—of handwriting in their lives. Instead of the Civil War past, we found ourselves exploring a different set of historical changes. In my ignorance, I became their pupil as well as a kind of historical artifact, a Rip van Winkle confronting a transformed world."

The 'signature' aspect is an interesting one. If, like me, you do little writing, then your signature may look as messy as mine. Under the best of conditions in calm circumstances the signature I produce doesn't look much different than the scrawl I leave by finger on the device of the deliveryman.

Falling Test Scores - Rising Grades?

   Given that I used the plural "Notes" I will offer another one about education. It is based on data from south-of-the-border, data that were found in a column written by someone we would call a "Tory", so you may want to skip to the cursive announcement below. Although it seems that most people agree that children lost a lot during the plague, one hopes the loss up here was not so profound and that such a loss would not be hidden under grades that had gone up. Here they are:

“California now leads the country in illiteracy. In fact, 23.1 percent of Californians over age 15 cannot read this sentence.”

"In math, 73% of 11th-graders earned A’s, B’s, and C’s. Tests scores showed only 19% met grade-level standards.

For eighth-graders, 79% earned A’s, B’s and C’s in math. Test scores showed 23% met grade-level standards.

In English, 85% of sixth-graders earned A’s, B’s and C’s, while 40% met grade-level standards.

For seventh-graders, 82% earned A’s, B’s and C’s in English. Test scores showed 43% met standards."

The Cursive Announcement:

Relegated in 2006 to an optional piece of learning in Ontario elementary schools, cursive writing is set to return as a mandatory part of the curriculum starting in September.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said it is about more than just teaching students how to sign their own name.

“The research has been very clear that cursive writing is a critical life skill in helping young people to express more substantively, to think more critically, and ultimately, to express more authentically,” he said in an interview.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, to create a very talented generation of young people who have mastered the fundamental skills, like reading, writing, and math, that are the foundations of any successful productive life in the country....”

The curriculum reintroduces cursive writing as an expectation starting in Grade 3. That’s welcome news for language education experts.

“I think it is long overdue,” said Shelley Stagg Peterson, a curriculum, teaching and learning professor at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

“Cursive should never have been taken out of the curriculum.”

There isn’t a lot of research specifically on cursive writing, Peterson said, but the work that has been done shows that it not only teaches students the skill of writing that script in and of itself, but it helps to reinforce overall literacy...."

[There is more.]

Sources:

  If you now feel the need to go shopping for a writing instrument, "Fahrney's Pens" is the place to visit, or a shop to which your email orders can be sent. You should know that some of the pens cost more than a laptop. "An Old Pen Shop Proves Mightier Than the Pandemic and the Death of Cursive," Tara Bahrampour, The Washington Post, March 14, 2023. 

  The troublesome data are found here and I doubt they are dubious, but the ideological bias of the columnist has been noted: "Why K-12 Education's Alarming Decline Could be a Dominant 2024 Issue," George F. Will, The Washington Post, June 28, 2023. 

  Although it is reckless to confound U.S. and Canadian educational issues, here is an education-related headline about Maryland that could soon be found in a newspaper in Ontario: "Hundreds of Md. Parents Protest Lessons They Say Offend Their Faiths: A Crowd of Mostly Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox Parents, Wants the State's Largest School System to Exempt Their Kids From LGBTQ Content," Nicole Asbury and Katie Shepherd," The Washington Post, June 27, 2023. 
    The image below is from: "Most Americans Haven't Written a Personal Letter on Paper in Over Five Years," Fred Backus, CBS News, Oct. 11, 2o21. 

Post Script:

   When was the last time you wrote a letter by hand? Or when was the last time you wrote a thank you note, or even typed one? I was so shocked when I received a hand written thank you note a few years ago, I posted about it: "Gratitude: Say It In Writing." 

The Bonus: A Mild Defence of Teachers

 Omitted from the portion of the "Cursive Announcement" provided above are some remarks from teachers, who indicated concerns. For example:

"The four major teachers’ unions have slammed the timing of the new language curriculum, being made available for teachers to learn for September with less than two weeks before this school year ends.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has said the changes are vast and is calling for a minimum two-year implementation period."

Needless to say, these comments elicited many responses, most of which could be subsumed under the category of "ridicule." "How much time do you need to learn to teach writing?" or "Use your PD Days to bone up," etc. are typical of the types of reactions (I made those up, but you can find real ones yourself.)

The defence: perhaps cursive is not that simple. See the Wikipedia entry. Here are a few sentences from it: 

"After the 1960s, a movement originally begun by Paul Standard in the 1930s to replace looped cursive with cursive italic penmanship resurfaced. It was motivated by the claim that cursive instruction was more difficult than it needed to be: that conventional (looped) cursive was unnecessary, and it was easier to write in cursive italic. Because of this, various new forms of cursive italic appeared, including Getty-Dubay Italic, and Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting. In the 21st century, some of the surviving cursive writing styles are Spencerian, Palmer Method, D'Nealian, and Zaner-Bloser script."

Cliché-ridden

 

   Last week I noticed an article and will call it to your attention as a public service. If you think you are about to construct what you fear might turn out to be a cliché, go to this piece which consists of a large number of them and see if you can find it.
   The article was published as a "Guest Essay" in a respectable newspaper, although, admittedly, a number of people think it is not. In any case, one has to admire the cleverness of the essayist who had accepted, an article of over 700 words consisting of nothing but clichés. And, he didn't even have to worry about punctuation since all 700+ words are in just one sentence. 
  I suppose I could simply paste here the entire article since it is only one sentence long and consists only of clichés, but we live in increasingly litigious times and I don't want to have to go to court to defend myself against charges of plagiarism. So, presented below are bundles of the clichés from the 'essay', separated by ellipses to indicate that some of have been left out. I will then conclude with the source so you will know where to find them. 

   The article begins with these clichés:

"Ramped up, amped up, ratchet up, gin up, up the ante, double down, jump-start, be behind the curve, swim against the tide, go south, go belly up, level the playing field, open the floodgates, think outside the box, push the edge of the envelope, pull out all the stops, take the foot off the pedal, pump the brakes, grease the wheel, circle the wagons, charge full steam ahead, pass with flying colors, move the goal posts, pour gasoline on, add fuel to the fire, fly under the radar, add insult to injury, grow by leaps and bounds, only time will tell...
have your cake and eat it too, a taste of one’s own medicine, stick to one’s guns, above one’s pay grade, punch above one’s weight, lick one’s wounds, pack a punch, roll with the punches, come apart at the seams, throw a wrench into, caught in the cross hairs, cross the Rubicon, tempt fate, go ballistic, on tenterhooks, hit the nail on the head, a nail in the coffin, joined at the hip, welcome with open arms, rub shoulders with, shoot oneself in the foot...
skin in the game, game changer, change agent, strong suit, ground game, ground zero, inflection point, tipping point, playbook, page turner, singing from the same hymnal, singing a new tune, straight out of central casting, the devil’s in the details, take the bull by the horns, the canary in the coal mine, chickens coming home to roost, beat a dead horse, pony up, the straw that broke the camel’s back...
speak truth to power, break the glass ceiling, the writing’s on the wall, between a rock and a hard place, beyond the pale, take the wind out of the sails of, that ship has sailed, sinking ship, tidal wave, roller-coaster ride, gravy train, tanked, cratered, Rubik’s Cube, Rosetta Stone, Rolodex, poster child, problem child, rock star, pundit, national treasure, charter member, heavy hitter, heavy lifting, political football, throw a Hail Mary, full-court press, hit a home run, play with house money...
armed to the teeth, cut one’s teeth, rib tickler, spine tingling, pull the wool over the eyes of, pull the plug on, pull the trigger, loosen the reins, sweep under the carpet, throw under the bus, throw for a loop, read the riot act, lead the pack, the short end of the stick, at the drop of a hat, the jury is still out, hung out to dry..."

And ends with these:

fever pitch, pitch perfect, picture perfect, perfect storm, take by storm, eye of the storm, back burner, petri dish, echo chamber, hot button, hard wire, go viral, bingeable, blockbuster, on steroids, testosterone-laced, metastasize, contextualize, preternaturally, outsize, gobsmacked, turbocharged, weaponized, apocalyptic, existential …

The Source:
"The Tip of the Iceberg," Michael Massing, New York Times, April 27, 2023.
The Bonus: Is found in the illustration at the top; an entire book of clichés.