Cursive Writing

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  • roachhaley
    roachhaley Posts: 978 Member
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    Huh? I write in cursive and know many people who do. We spent probably a max 3 weeks in third grade learning it, not really that much time "wasted"
  • sjtreely
    sjtreely Posts: 1,014 Member
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    Huh? I write in cursive and know many people who do. We spent probably a max 3 weeks in third grade learning it, not really that much time "wasted"

    Yes, in third grade when it's typically taught for the first time. What I'm saying is why spend an hour a week or more in grades 4/5/6 to perfect the skill. However, I think if you go back and ask your teachers how much time was spent on the skill, their memories would be different than yours on the amount of time spent learning it.

    I applaud you if you write in cursive. Most don't. Rather they create their own style of part cursive/part manuscript. When I send a greeting card, I write in both. And in today's world, many revert to word processing for most things. I rarely write down a grocery list anymore. I text it to myself.
  • roachhaley
    roachhaley Posts: 978 Member
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    An hour a week isn't that much time either. Most kids probably spend tons of time on leisure activities, I think one hour learning a (in my opinion) beautiful way of writing is only beneficial. Or is spongebob more important?
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    Fox news just had a segement about Cursive writing .. The discussion was about the consideration of REMOVING teaching cursive writing to our children ... On the premise that the way technology is now a days (texting , tablets , laptops etc) how often do our children actually sit down and write something long hand like that other than in school ... Is the time spent teaching them this skill wasted and better used elsewhere? Personally I feel that it is a skill that should remain.. There are plenty of times where a handwritten letter is FAR more appropriate than something formal and typed ...

    Thoughts ??

    Dude, they already aren't teaching this. I thought it was a dead issue. My kids have no idea how to write in cursive. They are 10 and 8. It is already not being taught.

    Way to be on top of the issue Fox News.
  • macpatti
    macpatti Posts: 4,280 Member
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    My daughter's school has already stopped teaching it. Maybe she will never have a need to write it, but how will they learn to read it? There are still many things written in cursive.
  • DieVixen
    DieVixen Posts: 790 Member
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    They already have where I live,my son is 16 and still does not know how
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    My daughter's school has already stopped teaching it. Maybe she will never have a need to write it, but how will they learn to read it? There are still many things written in cursive.

    If you think about it, only old people write that way now. So, it will just die. It's not a problem, I don't think. I don't think people handwritten anything anymore. Everything is electronic now in my world.
  • agbaeb
    agbaeb Posts: 179 Member
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    We can stop teaching them math while we're at it since we have calculators and all that.

    For real. Our kids are becoming more and more stupid, because we're requiring less and less. We are slowing becoming one of the most lazy and stupid countries in the world!
  • TheDudette
    TheDudette Posts: 174
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    Well then... I guess I will never become the super successful author in death I dreamed of being in life because no one will be able to read my journals. Someone should start making a new Rosetta Stone.
  • LastSixtySix
    LastSixtySix Posts: 352 Member
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    We can stop teaching them literature, too, since they already know how to read and, we all know, critical thinking is innate, we don't need to learn it. If they want to know how to think, they can just watch or listen to any number of shout-down newscasts.

    NOT!

    -Debra
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
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    My coworker was just saying that she doesn't know how to write cursive, that even when they were teaching it in school she kept failing that part.... My Director was actually surprised that they still teach it in school...

    However, I just think it is important to teach. It is also building strong fine motor skills....
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    We can stop teaching them math while we're at it since we have calculators and all that.

    For real. Our kids are becoming more and more stupid, because we're requiring less and less. We are slowing becoming one of the most lazy and stupid countries in the world!

    Yes, we most definitely are. But, not because of cursive writing. Lol.
  • AZnewme
    AZnewme Posts: 228 Member
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    Learning cursive is another way of reinforcing reading and writing skills. It is usually taught in third grade. If those reading and writing skills are not solid by the end of third grade it becomes much harder for the student to absorb that material. I think it would be a very sad thing to lose for a lot of children.
  • LastSixtySix
    LastSixtySix Posts: 352 Member
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    My daughter's school has already stopped teaching it. Maybe she will never have a need to write it, but how will they learn to read it? There are still many things written in cursive.

    If you think about it, only old people write that way now. So, it will just die. It's not a problem, I don't think. I don't think people handwritten anything anymore. Everything is electronic now in my world.

    "everything is electronic now in my world". Yeppers. And how secure is this electricity that we are ALL addicted to? Will we always be able to afford it? Will it always be available? Eliminating cursive writing training is about as far-sighted as a hare walking into a fox den! Saves the fox the trouble to have to go find and chase it!

    -Debra
  • squishycow7
    squishycow7 Posts: 820 Member
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    There are plenty of "useless" things I learned in school, but taking all of the classes out that weren't "practical" would have left me with a lot less education! For instance, a class I took on Benjamin Franklin.. not relevant to my real life experience thus far, but it taught essay/research skills. Or, a class on writing about my dreams; I don't do that on a regular basis but it helped creative writing. Or, theater class? Chorus? Band? I don't sing, act or play an instrument in life but the discipline taught by each of those is something you carry with you.

    Things like cursive shouldn't necessarily be thrown out just because they're not practical in the literal sense. Why not just throw in a segment on cursive in elementary school, then move on... it can at least still hone in on some handwriting skills. And handwriting is NOT going away, not entirely! You still have post-its to use! :P


    Edited because of spelling errors... which I learned to notice in every class ever, probably including cursive.
  • jus_in_bello
    jus_in_bello Posts: 326 Member
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    that said, does a kid need to know cursive to read cursive? I mean, there are some historical documents written in cursive that i would want my chile to be able to read and not rely on a "translation" from cursive to print.

    This. Kids should be able to read cursive. I have specific things that I'd want my kids to read that I know are in cursive, we have all the letters a group of brothers wrote to their family in Scotland during the Civil War, it's hundreds of letters our ancestors wrote, all of them in cursive, I'd want them to be able to read it. I'd want them to read the letters we have from my great-grandmother to her sisters. Not to even mention historical documents that have to do with national history.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    My daughter's school has already stopped teaching it. Maybe she will never have a need to write it, but how will they learn to read it? There are still many things written in cursive.

    If you think about it, only old people write that way now. So, it will just die. It's not a problem, I don't think. I don't think people handwritten anything anymore. Everything is electronic now in my world.

    "everything is electronic now in my world". Yeppers. And how secure is this electricity that we are ALL addicted to? Will we always be able to afford it? Will it always be available? Eliminating cursive writing training is about as far-sighted as a hare walking into a fox den!

    -Debra

    They can still write. Lol. Cursive is stupid. I though sp when I was learning it as a kid. I have always printed my letters. I never took up writing in cursive, I agree with the movement because I think cursive writing is lame. So, that's my stand on the topic. No one is losing anything. Intelligence is not being lost. The ability to write letters is not being lost. No one is losing anything. I can't understand why this is so emotional for people. Who cares? Its nothing.
  • rydn4h2o
    rydn4h2o Posts: 255
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    I think as long as they can sign their name - cursive signatures are still and will always be important. The rest, nope, everything needs to be printed or typed.

    they should spend more time on spelling and grammar!

    This! ^
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,139 Member
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    We can stop teaching them math while we're at it since we have calculators and all that.

    That would be super. Math has been useless to me.
  • Artemis_Acorn
    Artemis_Acorn Posts: 836 Member
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    Cursive IS faster to write than block/print letters, and I take notes in cursive in meetings at work all the time. If I had to take notes without cursive, I would miss stuff. I also write thank-you notes in cursive, greeting card messages in cursive, checks in cursive etc. They have studied brain activity when someone is writing longhand vs. typing the same thing on a keyboard and have proven that writing is better for your brain - these were studies on people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and they recommended that those patients spend time every day hand-writing things to slow down the progression of the disease. It's more effective than doing crosswords or other puzzles for stimulating the mind.

    If they take it out of the core curriculum, they should at least offer it as and optional course in the higher grades (Say Jr. High and up) so that it doesn't become a completely lost art, and that those who would like to learn it have a good way to do so.

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