Say what? Not teach cursive writing? My mind flashed forward to a time when children were not taught to write, and then without writing reading became inaccessible, and then communication in general returned to guttural grunts and grins.
Take a breath. The end is not near. No matter that not being able to write cursively might well lead to not being able read script altogether. Scholarship related to ancient texts, letters, manuscripts, and so on. What was to become of them? As you can see, I imagine all manner of ill for our society.
Then our local university announced that all incoming freshmen in the next school year, along with upper class nursing students (?), would receive iPads in order to reduce the expense of textbooks. Eeeek!! Picture me running, screaming, from the room.
And then it hit me. I was turning into the generation of "old people" that can't deal with the progress of society and its new norms. Barely in my fifties, and I'm doomed. The technological advances of the last few years has rocketed us into realms that, at the current rate, will leave me in the dust long before retirement.
As it is I'm struggling this morning to manage downloading podcasts to my iPod so that I don't die of boredom on the treadmill at the gym (the CNN channel has no audio, leaving me to choose between ESPN, Fox News, and local programming overrun with commercials). It's true, I have not taken advantage of podcasts before now. Synching my iPod Nano? I can't seem to make anything work. Where are my kids when I need them?
So slowly, with fear and trembling, I am crawling into the technology of the 21st century. It's not a pretty picture. You may need to send out a search party in due time.
