I work on a college campus as well and as I am sure you are aware, issues like these are not limited to students. Faculty and staff have many of the same "challenges" as students.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
"The door doesn't work. The door won't lock. And even if it's locked, it automatically opens after a while."

I suppose responding to the student, "Have you tried turning the door off and on?" would mess with your job retention prospects?

The world has gotten more and more idiot-proof, and as Darwin would expect, they keep breeding better idiots.

Perhaps you could do a TikTok video showing students how to lock the door properly.

Then have the housing department include a paper describing where the video is located and inserted into the new student packages that they receive when arriving on campus, this would direct them to TikTok for the video.

Then again, having to go door to door to help young co-eds figure out how to lock doors is a form of job security....

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I had to write a letter to a officer of the Maine State Police a few years ago explaining my one criminal conviction back in 1978. (Which is now a misdemeanor) .. In that letter I wrote, "you have to understand I was a young man in college being stupid." I then had to apologize for being redundant.

I was young and stupid at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Where were you young and stupid Blume?

I have worked briefly in the student housing apartments at UofK. As one looks around it is easy to see lots of simple shapes with bold but soft colors and Curious George on the TV in the common room. Definitely not an influence to develop a complex mind or a feeling of being part for something bigger than yourself steeped in tradition.

quote:

Originally posted by jed7s9b:
I have worked briefly in the student housing apartments at UofK. As one looks around it is easy to see lots of simple shapes with bold but soft colors and Curious George on the TV in the common room. Definitely not an influence to develop a complex mind or a feeling of being part for something bigger than yourself steeped in tradition.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
Just hand a youngster an old fashioned Analog watch and ask them to tell you the time.

Should be good for a belly laugh.

The other day I was at an outdoor BBQ . I overheard a teenage girl sitting near me say that she didn't know what time it was . I held up my arm so she could look at my watch . ( Analog ) . She kind of giggled and said " I can't see it ." .She was literally five feet away . Oh yeah , she could see it .

I find it hard to believe that they no longer learn cursor writing. I even took typing my senior year in HS......62 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
I find it hard to believe that they no longer learn cursor writing.

Ironically, cursor writing is all they're learning these days.

But hey, at least we have a secret language now.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
I find it hard to believe that they no longer learn cursor writing.

I don't see why cursive writing is such a big sticking point with older folks who want to complain about "kids these days"...

Consider the purpose of cursive writing, and why it became widespread:

A) It facilitated the use of quill pens and later metal dip pens, since it didn't involve picking up the point from the paper as much.
B) It was faster to write in cursive than print.
C) It was considered to be fancier/more professional than block lettering.

Point A) When was the last time you wrote with a quill or other dip pen?

Point B) There are very few people in the world who would be able to write - even in cursive - faster than a competent typist can type. And computers are everywhere these days, even in your pocket. Not to mention things like audio recording and dictation software as another technological alternative. There are few to no situations any more in which both a computer or other piece of technology isn't available and a writer would struggle to keep up using printed letters.

Point C) All professional writing - legal documents, legislation, business correspondence, school papers, etc. - is produced on computer now. And barring the dwindling numbers of folks who feel a hand-written letter is "more personal", even most personal correspondence is done via computers nowadays.


Therefore, there is currently little to no reason for kids to be taught cursive these days. It has gone the way of horse-drawn buggy driving. (That is: Still around, but very niche, and learning to utilize it is only necessary for those who want to be able to operate within that niche.)

Hell, I was part of what's likely the last generation that learned cursive in school, and you know how many times I've used it since I got out of school? Never. Unless you count signing my name, but "written signatures as identity verification" is also a concept that is dying (thankfully), and a printed name is accepted just like a cursive signature anyway, so there's not even an impetus there to learn cursive.

A) Not recently for quill, but I do use a fountain pen most of the time. Ball point when it's "press firmly, you're making three copies."

B) "Pocket computers" are way slower for me than writing on paper. I'm reasonably fast with a real keyboard, but not with the two-thumb phone thing.

C) I still believe in, and use, hand-written notes for personal correspondence. I have also done ad hoc things like Bill Of Sale with pen and paper when no computer & printer was handy.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I have also done ad hoc things like Bill Of Sale with pen and paper when no computer & printer was handy.

Oh, absolutely. There are certainly times when hand-written notes or papers are still necessary, no question. But something like that doesn't need to be in cursive. A grocery list or bill of sale is not the Declaration of Independence.

Checks...

quote:

But something like that doesn't need to be in cursive. A grocery list or bill of sale is not the Declaration of Independence.

At the store, texting the wife: "You want me to get two pounds of WHAT?"

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Checks...

Another thing that's going the way of the dodo. And if you do decide to write one, those don't have to be in cursive either.

I mean, it was always explained to me that checks must be in cursive, back when they were still teaching both cursive and check-writing... but it turns out that's not the case. Banks don't care if the text on a check is written in print or cursive, or printed out using a computer printer, or whatever.

The only time a check has to involve cursive is if the signature that's on file with the bank is a cursive signature. But folks who never learned cursive just print their signatures, thus their signatures on file are in print too. It just has to match.

Besides, those of the younger generations who never learned cursive almost certainly won't be writing checks anyway. Instead, they use credit cards, electronic transfers, and bank bill pay (effectively bank-generated and bank-mailed cashier's checks) for the kinds of stuff for which older folks still hand write personal checks.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
At the store, texting the wife: "You want me to get two pounds of WHAT?"

That's only an issue if she texts back in cursive too.

Realistically, if a wife knew her husband can't read cursive, she wouldn't write things for him in cursive. Cursive and print aren't mutually exclusive; those who know cursive also know how to print. That'd be like a bilingual Spanish/English wife sending her English-only husband to the store with a grocery list in Spanish. She'd only do it if she was mad at him...

In addition, knowing cursive doesn't allow you to read illegible handwriting. That's a whole 'nother issue.

I can read cursive just fine, but can only make out a few words of this... So if the wife sends you to the store with a grocery list that looks like this, it's not a lack of cursive knowledge that will cause issues:

The only time I write in cursive is when adding stuff to a card for a special occasion, and my signature.

Been that way since grade school. I just decided one day that I liked all cap print to keep things simple. Came in handy once I started hanging around engineers and what not.

As for my signature, that's not really cursive anymore either. More like a scribble with a couple recognizable letters.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

knowing cursive doesn't allow you to read illegible handwriting.

I can't be sure of the source for this line. Might be from an old Danny Kaye movie.

"I can read reading, and I can read writing, but this writing is writ so rotten . . ."

Update: This semester's move in has started. In the last two days, my coworker and I have responded to three "emergency" calls where students couldn't get into their room, where the only actual problem was they didn't realize that after you turned the key, you needed to push the door open.

I'm dumbfounded. Do you not have doors at home? Do you have magical doors that open themselves when you turn the key? I'm at a loss to understand.

If there's any bright side and hope for America, two of them were international students in from China. We don't hold a monopoly on stupid teenagers.

I hate to bust y'all bubbles but this is nothing new.

A couple years ago I applied for a concealed handgun permit in Maine.... FBI back ground check denied me and I had a phone conversation with a detective with the Maine state police and he said to send him the paper work that would 'qualify' me. when I did I also wrote him a letter and in that letter I explained that I was a 'young man in college being stupid.' I then apologized for being redundant.

To answer the question, while in college back in 1978 I got caught growing a pot plant.... according to the Feds this makes me a danger to society even now... 45 years later even though the worst I have done since then is drive a little fast at times...

You got it wrong. It was a "Potted plant"!