AI: "Cursive! Foiled Again!"

[Tuur]

The linked article is an opinion piece. That said, what I want to direct attention to is professors requiring work to be turned in handwritten and completed in class. That's to combat the use of AI to compete work. I don't know if this is why the state of Georgia now intends to stress cursive in grades 3, 4, and 5. Note: Back in the old says, we learned cursive in the 2nd Grade.

The part about professors reminded me of a college chemistry professor did what he could to combat the then new and expensive programmable calculators from TI. Since memory then was volatile, you stored the programs on magnetic cards, which you then ran through the calculator each time you turned it on. Should also note we had exactly one student in class who had one, a gift from an older brother.

Anyway, here's the article The article also has a link to the Georgia story:

Cursive is making a comeback

 

[Bob Crowley]

I'm afraid I'd have to plead writer's cramp, although I rarely use AI generated answers as part of my posts.

That said, just about every time I enquire about something online if I'm researching a topic, the very first article that crops up has been AI generated.

 

[Tuur]

I'm afraid I'd have to plead writer's cramp, although I rarely use AI generated answers as part of my posts.

That said, just about every time I enquire about something online if I'm researching a topic, the very first article that crops up has been AI generated.

Gong through school, penmanship was at the end of our standardized tests. I hated it, as I had some of the worst penmanship in class. Now I'm complimented on my penmanship. I don't think I've improved that much, just most aren't writing cursive as well.

Tip learned in adulthood: Use the fingers as a holder for the pen and write with the arm muscles. That came from looking over Palmer Method material as a refresher. Unfortunately, that's hard to do when you don't have a writing surface. Still, I used to grasp the pen and pencil hard and it's tiring and leads to hand cramps. Just grasping the pen or pencil hard enough to write eliminates a lot of cramping issues.

Just a few years ago wrote a novel in longhand because it was more convenient. Transcribing it isn't, but my point is that by not holding the pen in a death grip, was able to write it without tiring or cramping.

It's too bad that fountain pens aren't readily available and inexpensive. Had a hand injury in high school and found I could write better with a fountain pen Alas, you pay a premium for that now, both with the pen and the ink. Gel pens are a good replacement but don't seem to last that long.

 

[Bob Crowley]

It's too bad that fountain pens aren't readily available and inexpensive. Had a hand injury in high school and found I could write better with a fountain pen Alas, you pay a premium for that now, both with the pen and the ink.

Many, many years ago I had a fountain pen in primary school. One day I was fooling around with it when the teacher pointed to an ink blob on a girl's cheek about two desks over.

He asked if I was responsible. I had no idea, but I probably was. I think I may have inadvertently squeezed the ink cartridge and it squirted a good six feet or more! I still don't know if it was me, but since we're now most likely both septuagenarians I suppose she's forgotten about it (I hope).

 

[JustaPewFiller]

My penmanship has always been horrible. I'm a lefty, an in school, desks, notebooks, teachers, etc were not made for leftys. Despite several smacks on the hand and attempts by teachers in my youth to force me write with my right hand, I remained a lefty with poor (but readable) penmanship.

One of the most helpful classes I took was typing in high school. That really helped in college and later on. I could get my papers or computer assignments finished faster than my friends because i could focus on the assignment rather than hunting and pecking at keys on the typewriter or computer.

But, I digress.

I thought of another benefit of banning phones, laptops, etc and forcing notes to be handwritten that the article didn't address.

AI has gotten to the point where a student could simply record the lecture on his device. Then have AI transcribe the recording into text, then AI could produce summarized notes from the text. The ban on laptops, etc gets around this as well.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I taught myself to type using an old typing text book. You know 'gh ... gh ... hg ... hg..", then "fj. .. jf" etc. It was boring but I think it saved me a lot of time in the long run.

AI has gotten to the point where a student could simply record the lecture on his device. Then have AI transcribe the recording into text, then AI could produce summarized notes from the text. The ban on laptops, etc gets around this as well.

On this point, the student could use AI to get this far, and then just transcribe the AI notes as their assignment with enough sleight of hand to make it look like it is all their own work. They still have to write it out but a lot of the research would have been done for them.