Off the News

History wouldn’t be same without cursive writing

There’s hardly a more iconic image of elementary education than those posters hung at the front of the classroom: stacked rows of solid and dashed lines on which cursive letters give students the model of good penmanship.

And now cursive could become a lost art. Hawaii has adopted the common core standards, which eliminates (among other things) the requirement that students be taught cursive. It’s not essential in the digital age, or so goes the argument.

Some principals are not convinced and are going to see that it’s taught in their schools, anyway. Good. It’s hard to imagine how sad signatures will be in block letters. Just picture what the Declaration of Independence would look like: Ugh.

Become a friend of HPD on its new Web page

In contrast to its recent attempt to withhold public information from  the public, i.e., the content of certain 911 tapes (a move being challenged in court), the Honolulu Police Department has admirably set up its own Facebook page to provide more information to the public about what the department does on a regular basis.

Go to is.gd/nzweum and you can read brief synopses of crimes and traffic accidents, find links to HPD programs and services, and comment on the entries on the department’s Facebook page.