If Young Abe Lincoln Had Lived Today....

[Eva Elisabeth]

Liz, I don't doubt your friend's sons are bright fellows and capable of learning and studying on their own. But there are others who need insruction and a lot of guided practice. At all, I do agree you can pretty well survive and live without cursive handwriting skills. (Calculation skills face similar decline, which IMO is more severe.) I, too, appreciate modern technology and the advantage of computers and don't think of the downfall of today's youth. But still the loss of cursive means the loss of a piece of culture, tradition, art and beauty. Imagine - the Gettysburg Address handwritten by A.L. in print...

[Liz Rosenthal]

Interesting story about my friend's son, Sean, the bookworm/writer. Recently, he took a final exam in his math class. All students were expected to bring their calculators, but Sean forgot his. So he did what no one else in the class did - figured out everything the old-fashioned way. But the reward for his efforts was a slightly less excellent grade than he would have gotten had he remembered the calculator. I think he should have gotten extra credit for doing all the math problems without any high-tech assistance!

But back to Lincoln. I agree that the idea of him texting or just printing any of his wonderful words is awful to think about.