Cursive Writing

aamb

i'm in shock that kids are not being taught to write...anything!!! :huh:

lorib75

one more way to fall behind the rest of the world in education.

goldk

Great topic! My daughter's school is not teaching cursive. I told her that I will be teaching her cursive over the summer :bigsmile:

Kelleinna

I'm 29 years old, and I actually learned cursive before I started kindergarten because my mom got me a cursive writing tablet and I self-taught (and I started kindergarten at age 4). However, I have never, EVER used it outside of a school setting since then aside from signing my own name. Print is generally clearer and easier to read, especially when you spend most of your time with people who had maybe a 4th grade education in a third world country and don't read so well in their native language, much less English (and this is the crowd I usually run with). I am a business professional and have never, NEVER needed to use cursive at work aside from my signature.

I guess what I'm saying is that it doesn't bother me any if they drop it. Of course, my ten year old already knows it.

linda1243

I think they still have to learn it until people completely stop using it. what are they supposed to do when they get a letter with cursive hand writing? A lot of thank you notes (business and personal) are still done in cursive. Would you be able to look at it and read it if you didn't know what cursive letters looked like?

kstrunk1

I am a teacher and it broke my heart when there was talk of taking it our of our curriculum. Luckily, our district has kept it in so far. I teach 1st-3rd graders and although it is a standard for third graders, many of my seconds were dying to learn it this past year and were developmentally ready so I taught it. They LOVED it and were trying to write everything in cursive. They wanted to write more stories during writer's workshop. There is a pay off right there!!

At a minimum, they have to learn to sign their names in cursive for their paychecks when they get older. Plus, I agree with the poster who likened it to becoming a lost art. When I'm not teaching the *correct* form to my students and am writing in my every day life, my writing is a combo of printing and cursive BUT it's mine and it goes faster for me. I never would have come up with my own chicken scratch if I'd never learned cursive. If we only teach printing or keyboarding, then we are taking this opportunity to learn it away from the following generations.

Just my two cents worth ...

Now don't get me started on taking away recess, physical education, art and music ... GRRRRRRRRR!

CoffeeNBooze

We can stop teaching them math while we're at it since we have calculators and all that.

This.

Ok I am really annoyed they would think of taking it away just because of technology. Newsflash! Some of us write in cursive!! I do!! And not all of us are addicted to our iphones and tablets and whatever the hell else is making us dependent and whiney.

bpwparents

I think that they are already phasing it out. I can remember that once we learned cursive in school, we could no longer write any essays/papers in non-cursive. My kids at 10 & 13 never have to use cursive, EVER. They had to learn it, but that was the end of it. I do agree though about the grammar. Due to texting & spell checks, they need to spend MORE time on proper grammar now. Or at least they should.

kstrunk1

Great topic! My daughter's school is not teaching cursive. I told her that I will be teaching her cursive over the summer :bigsmile:

YES!!!! Good for you!! My students look forward to learning it!!

_VoV

I homeschooled my kids and taught them traditional cursive, as well as the more practical Getty Dubay italic style of writing. The italic style is faster than the loopier style, and works well for taking class notes.

My kids are 20 and 16 now, and definitely use italic for notetaking, and they can write a mean thank-you note. They also learned to type at very young ages, and like so many kids who grew up in the information age, they can type around 90 words per minute. This was mostly self-taught, I might add.

zenchild

When I took the SATs there was a little bit at the end where you had to copy, in cursive, a little blurb about how you'd been completely honest and hadn't cheated and then you had to sign your name, also in cursive. There was a guy in the classroom who had been homeschooled and didn't know how to write in cursive. The teacher had to stay after to help him write out a paragraph that took the rest of us 5 minutes.
In college, there are both written tests for class and placement exams. These are all handwritten. Study after study has shown that a neatly written paper will be graded higher than a sloppy one.
Even if all that is eventually replaced by computer exams, an occasional handwritten note is still necessary. Several times today I've had to jot a question or remark on and invoice and hand it to someone else. They have to be able to read what I write.

frootcat

I find all the comments that 'signatures are cursive' odd. Signatures are ... the way you sign your name or signify yourself. There are no rules.

That said, my daughter didn't learn it in school but wanted to know how, so we printed some worksheets off the internet and she's good to go. I remember we wasted a ridiculous amount of time on it in school, so I had no issue with it being skipped. They also still had all the print/cursive letters up around the classroom so the kids would be familiar with what they looked like; it isn't like cursive is hieroglyphs to them or anything.

Blaqheart

Instead of teaching printing start with cursive. It is very important because if you can't write it you cannot read it. Many of our beloved historical documents (The declaration Of Independence) are written in cursive. STOP dumbing down our children! We rank very low throughout the world on many subjects such as English, Literature, Math, Spelling, Reading, Grammar. Isn't it time we returned to top ranking? Start teaching your children now because once they reach adulthood they will need these skills for employment.

I'm dyslexic too, but cursive writing is by far faster than printing. I say continue to teach the children cursive and eliminate the printing because they only print for a year at the most and will use cursive the rest of their lives - such as signatures and writing reports.

natvanessa

I don't really have an opinion on if kids should learn it going forward, BUT I always write in cursive and probably always will. I prefer it, and I just think it's pretty! I hope people can continue to read my handwriting though :laugh:

snoopytwins

I will quit life if I see people in workplaces emailing things like "heyy did u get dat project dun dat i askd 4? lemme kno asap thx " just because they only learned "technological shorthand"

Boo that. Language all the way.

^^^This...I can't figure out half of what people are saying when they text or FB like this!

_Thanatos_

Closest thing to cursive I've written lately is my signature. And even that just isn't the same.

meerkat70

I think there's something *pleasurable* about cursive writing though. I don't think it's strictly 'necessary', but it's a lovely thing to be able to do. When I think about learning to write, I remember an almost sensual pleasure in using a good pen, and in the swoops and lines of the writing.

In terms of writing skills per se, being able to 'join up' your writing does speed up writing performance. We may well find that kids that can't do cursive writing write more slowly - this will have implications for note taking and for exam writing.

I don't think paper and pen writing will ever be entirely eclipsed by digital comms. I think there will always be cognitive functions that are better served by sitting down with a pen than using a virtual notepad.

JanetLM73

My son has many learning issues and have problems with fine motor skills. He is 13 years old, they gave him a laptop at his school because he has an IEP in place. When we were going through all the testing they told me that they were not going to help too much with the cursive writing because everything is done on computers. He can type faster then alot of adults.

I know the laptop in his case has kept him from falling behind his class.

sjtreely

Full closure ... I haven't read the four pages of remarks.

The whole not "teaching" cursive I think has been misunderstood. I'm from Indiana and my state also went through this discussion. Never was it intended to not teach cursive. We were always going to teach it. However, we weren't going to perfect it over the years after its initial instruction.

I don't see how spending 20 minutes a day on a skill that is antiquated if of value. Yes, it needs to be taught. Perfected with repeated practice for 2-3 years? I don't see the need.

Sister_Someone

I hardly ever write by hand anymore, but when I do, it's almost always cursive because it's quicker! My signature, on the other hand, has nothing to do with cursive. In fact, someone who doesn't happen to know my name would hardly know what it says.