Old Methods versus Modern Methods

Megan shows off a notebooking page

Handwriting sparked a controversy on my Facebook the other day.  I had posted that my seven year old wants to try cursive at a time when most school systems are not teaching it any longer, or are barely covering the concepts.  With computers, learning and practicing cursive seems outdated.  A college friend of my daughter agreed with this, stating that he never uses it.  My daughter, who has always written out everything from class assignments to music lyrics by hand, disagreed.  I actually tried to lighten up the conversation because it was getting a little heated.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?referrer=

Today I ran across an article (above) that I believe brings some clarity to the issue.  We live in a technological age.  There is a push to get rid of older methods of learning, as if those ways don't work any longer.  Sadly,  the test scores over the years have declined to the point where the only way to raise them is to dumb down the tests and make them easier.  We look with disdain at learning methods from the past  as if, because we are more technologically advanced, we are somehow more intelligent and more educated. 

Laura and Jasmine do a basic Chemistry experiment

I disagree. We are technologically where we are because of the learning methods of the past.   Those older methods encouraged investigation and inquiry.  The educators of the past didn't have knowledge of which areas of the brain light up on an MRI after various learning methods. They only knew that certain things, such as notebooking and exploring and writing things out that they were teaching (narrating) work! 

Laura investigating a one-room schoolhouse

How else were farmers with only a few years in school able to read books such as The Last of the Mohicans, a grade 12+ reading level, with ease when the best sellers today have an average grade 5 or 6 or lower reading level?  Why else would illiteracy rates actually be higher since compulsory education?  Why else would test scores for Americans compared to the rest of the industrialized world keep dropping lower and lower as we institute "new methods" and start school at younger and younger ages?

We aren't smarter.  Just more advanced. Intelligence and advancement aren't mutually exclusive. 

As a homeschool, I don't have to use the "modern" methods.  I believe skills are important, such as computer training and keyboarding, but they are simply skills to utilize modern technology, not ways to create more intelligent students.  Knowing these skills, with a background of freedom to explore, be creative, and having curiosity is what will lead to more advancement.  It won't be because kids have passed some standardized test or have an iPad issued by their school.