Tag on About Cursive and Nostalgia.

I think teaching kids to RELY on technology is not smart. I think it will be a sad day when someone can't write a letter on a piece of paper.

Writing is an important skill. Being able to sign your name or write a letter is important and personal. I can't believe they are taking that away!

Also, it IS important to have that spacial reasoning and the ability to form letters. The Waldorf stye of learning even has form drawing as part of the curriculum. This includes lines and drawings.

I'm slowly losing faith in the school system.

Call me a literary snob, but I would answer your question on future writers being as great as past ones by this: my friends and neighbors, in their MID-THIRTYs, are reading the 50 Shades of __ and The Hunger Games, thinking they're all so great. I am not trying to be mean, but the 50 Shades books are very (very) basic writing skills and The Hunger Games are for young teens. The Twilight stuff? Again, for the under-18 set, in my opinion....yet here the adults are just eating this stuff up. I think society has already started losing its standards when it comes to great literature and turning to airport trash novels instead (again, nothing wrong with reading one absentmindedly while eating a pretzel at the airport.....but it's not "great").

I've read several articles and watched a really interesting report about how cursive writing actually helps create different pathways in your brain and those are beneficial in different ways. I was so impressed that I started taking up cursive writing again (out of laziness, I started printing in 11th grade, 1993, and just kept that up). I've started doing it again. My son is going to public school (he's just in kindergarten right now), but I purchased the K5 cursive writing material from a beka's homeschool program to help me teach cursive at home. Sure, he can follow his school work for what is supposedly more important (they're cutting out much more than I see them adding though, and ours is an award winning school!).....but he's got the printing down well and I'm going to start working with him after Christmas break on cursive at home. My husband was classically trained in a private school in England and won cursive handwriting awards in kindergarten, but I didn't learn it until 2nd grade where I attended. Now, it's just being done away with? Not for MY children!
I guess it all comes down to this: I don't want to decide "Nah, you don't need this" and not provide the opportunity to learn something. I think we should be providing every opportunity we can to teach them and prepare them for whatever they may need or encounter in life. Yes, once they are adults they're responsible for their own education and where their paths lead, but under my watch, I want to do what I can to keep their choices and opportunities open.

What I think stinks more than cursive not being taught is that kids aren't required to learn how to hold a pencil correctly in kinder and first grade. There are always kids who come in holding pencils very badly and that wears their little hands out. If that habit could be broken, it would help the all along the way. Printing OR cursive has to be used all the way through school.

It seems silly to me that 3rd grades can no longer carve out a bit of time for cursive writing. It wouldn't be hard if kids had learned proper pencil holding in the earlier grades.

I will tell you that as an older adult, writing on the computer mostly now, I have a harder time writing. I make lots of mistakes writing. More than when I type. But my brain is developed now. Kids do better when they are writing sentences and paragraphs by hand. Even my son told me that he thinks better when he writes before typing.

I wonder what schools are going to drop next.

Dawn

I almost always write in cursive. I have been complimented countless times on both my penmanship. (Both print and cursive.)

I home school my son. He WILL learn cursive, how to research from...gasp...BOOKS!! He goes to the library. He plays with puzzles. He uses his imagination. He will NOT be ruled by technology. He will know how to use it, and be proficient. I hope I can raise him to appreciate these things that are valuable, and not rely on technology for everything. I see so many mindless children running around, who can't us their imaginations for anything. Unless a screen is telling that what to do, think, and feel...they don't know how to function. I am actually scared for this generation. They are obese, unhealthy, lazy, creatively empty, reliant on gadgets, and unable to creatively have goals. I realize many children are not like this, but they stick out to me, as the minority.

I agree that it is an important skill to master..... so many students in middle school have very illegible handwriting!

One more thing getting the axe due to budget cuts... what is this saying about our future generations of learners?

You are totally right. Just because I don't use cursive myself doesn't mean the skills it takes to master it aren't valuable. It's like memorization, when I was a kid we had to memorize the 50 states and caps, the Gettsyburg address etc. Now they fill in worksheets and bubbles in most public schools.

My girls ARE getting critical thinking skills, art classes, music, drama so I don't worry so much about the cursive. But you are right, like the entire education issue, it's complicated. Cursive is not just about writing, it's about developing a whole person. Sometimes I think the powers at be do not want a smart well educated population, it's easier to control dummies and besides we need people to fill up all those prisons, right?

I still teach cursive... All the third and fourth grade teachers in my building do. So, it's still around in some places. :)

That is an excellent question. My husband and I have been talking about this very thing recently. Our boys are in middle and high school, and they do NOT have a "signature". They print. Still. In fact, my husband has made them sit down and write a cursive signature because they will need that, when they write checks and all that adult stuff. Anyway, I took our youngest boy to get his learners permit on Friday, and they asked him to sign his signature. He couldn't do it. He laughed and said, "really, in cursive??!" Anyway, he fumbled through it and he brought it home and showed everyone his license, but he couldn't stop mentioning "look at my signature" as he was laughing. So in answer to your question, yes they have taken it out of the schools, but our schools are giving excellent computer classes and I feel the kids will be ready for anything when they get out of school. But I do think it sucks that they don't do handwriting anymore. And so true what you said, skipping numeric understanding and going straight to the calculators. Something to really think about!!

My son's cursive is better then mine. I'm glad they still emphasize on handwriting. I think if our society as a whole becomes to dependent on technology that one day when it breaks down, we will be lost. It is scary to think that many children rely on computers, ipads, and the t.v. for learning. I remember I couldn't go without a pen and a paper. Still can't. I find it is impersonal to write an email or facebook someone for their Birthday, instead of sending a personal card or note.

I loved getting mail when I was a child. I had a friend in New Zealand, so I could never call or talk with her in any way. Except through the mail. It was so much fun. We still communicate, but now, through facebook. Which , is great to keep in touch, but sometimes I miss the waiting...

So, to answer your question, I think it would be detrimental to take cursive, or plainly handwriting in general out of school. Kids need to learn to write!

Cursive writing was an art and a tool in a different generation. Even the cursive that people pride themselves on today would look like chicken scratches to people in the 17th century. My kids started computer skills in K and learned to type in the 2nd grade. They went to public school. As far as cursive writing being a form of art, well, I guess for the gifted in handwriting.
By far the most valuable thing about writing is the content, expression and communication of the writing and that IS the real art of writing. It is still alive and thriving in many forms today. Cursive doesn't make great writers. What are we doing right now? The sharing of ideas and preferences and beliefs through the computer. If not for this medium I would not have this great window on the world. My kids are able to do much more research and have amazing resources because they were typed on the computer. They can write much longer papers because of typing and those poor teachers can read the things they write!
I am more confused than ever with this theory of "someone" trying to keep people stupid? Really? By restricting government spending "they" are trying to keep people down? People who want to learn, learn. Government doesn't prevent people from picking up a library book, in fact it pays for it.
People were educating themselves long before public schools. Try it, you will like it.
If you want good academics, quit giving all the money to sports programs. When did you last have a pancake breakfast for the English class? When have you last rewarded your kids calculus teacher? Did you have an academic booster club?
I am much more concerned with the growing lack of real art classes and music classes than football. They teach right brain skills and will make better writers in physical and mental ways.
Yes, we have problems but we also have some bad priorities.
I feel for young mothers and the battle for getting kids to think apart from technology but it's not the enemy. I have seen the enemy, and it is US!

All I can say is that my son HATED writing until the fourth grade. His fine motor skills were never great, and it's not like practice ever made it perfect, you know? It just wasn't his strength.
Once he learned how to type his stories and reports came to life. He said more, he embellished more, he added details. He actually LIKED writing, especially creative writing. I still have his first typewritten (and illustrated) stories. They are precious to me because I can really hear his voice coming through, unlike the blocky and rushed handwritten work that he did prior to fourth grade.
Penmanship is a noble skill, but I'd rather have a strong and confident writer than a kid who can just sit and make perfect and pretty copy. The structure, presentation and organization of ideas is far more important than the method in which it is delivered, IMO.
ETA: we all know doctors are notorious for their super sloppy handwriting, why do you think that is? :)

I don't really have the time now to go into this. But if everyone was educated as to how the human forms and develops thinking, feeling and willing they would not stand for the schools taking writing out. Computer skills can always be learned and actually shouldn't be learned till around the age of 12 or 13.

Taking away writing will make our children dull, dull, dull. Ask the professors at the universities and they'll tell you that the kids arrive with no thinking or writing skills. They're not even sure how to address the problem.

The use and flexibility of the fingers and hands matches the flexibility of the brain and to solve problems and to think and learn you must be flexible.

Our school still teaches cursive, and the kids get keyboarding starting in K.
They also get a handwriting grade on their report cards.
I'm glad because no do think its important and, like you said, teaches volumes about gathering thoughts, organizing them, planning ahead, etc.

It is taught in our budget-slashed Northern California public school, a little in 3rd and then more in 4th. I wrote on the other post that I didn't get why it was still taught, and find your description really interesting, it makes sense. Now I'm really glad my kids get it!

The ENTIRE reason for teaching cursive writing is because it is faster than printing. Period. It is a way to write without picking your pen up off the paper, so you are able to get words out more quickly. It is ALSO more difficult to read (partly by nature and partly because of the speed, which is the point). Typing serves this purpose AND is easy for the reader and can be quickly edited.

Also, the argument about better writers is about WRITING not penmanship. Writing is about getting ideas out in organized thoughts. Yes, it makes sense to teach kids to do this by hand (especially for kinesthetic learners), but whether they print or use cursive to do this is immaterial. When cursive was the fastest, easiest, most portable way available for most writers to get ideas down on paper, of course that's what they used. NOW, most writers type on a laptop, for that same reason.

Clearly, having neat (or even legible) handwriting is not the marker of an intelligent, happy or successful person... have you taken a glance at a doctor's Rx pad lately?

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm MUCH more concerned with the disappearance of music, art, and professional librarians in many schools, but that's just me.

Writing in cursive is faster. Even for those of us who learned to print fast for work (architects and engineers).

My son told me there was a study that found that students who wrote their SAT compositions in cursive scored higher.

My daughter learned cursive in 2nd grade. Then in 3rd grade it was hardly ever used. Now the 4th grade teacher insists everything be in cursive because of some study that says that cursive writing promotes better reading skills.

I don't necessarily buy into that but I think that they need to make up their mind whether it is in or out.

I also will raise a stink the day that she marks a spelling word wrong because my daughter didn't form her "m" correctly even though it was an "m". So far that has not been the case but I am waiting for that day to come...

There does not seem to be a penmanship standard like when we were kids so whether they leave it in the curriculum or take it out, I never want to see a pemanship grade on her report card.

I think they should focus on printing.....which many still need a lot of help with. As far as cursive, I feel if the child will be able to sign their name some day it will be enough. Of course, I am an engineer and am not allowed to use cursive for any calculations by hand.

Also...I think learning cursive is more of a hindrance in some instances. My first son learned it in 3rd grade, did it quite well, but it ended up getting messy and he basically had to re teach himself printing. My second son could write ok in cursive, but since he has a learning disorder, there was no way he could figure out how to write in cursive and do anything else, like take his spelling test in cursive. He couldn't figure out both spelling and writing at the same time. I think with both of my kids, it was a waste of time. Now I know they could be the exception.

Updated

I think they should focus on printing.....which many still need a lot of help with. As far as cursive, I feel if the child will be able to sign their name some day it will be enough. Of course, I am an engineer and am not allowed to use cursive for any calculations by hand.

Also...I think learning cursive is more of a hindrance in some instances. My first son learned it in 3rd grade, did it quite well, but it ended up getting messy and he basically had to re teach himself printing. My second son could write ok in cursive, but since he has a learning disorder, there was no way he could figure out how to write in cursive and do anything else, like take his spelling test in cursive. He couldn't figure out both spelling and writing at the same time. I think with both of my kids, it was a waste of time. Now I know they could be the exception.

I love cursive, it's the only way I write and it's beautiful, but as a child I spent hours and hours honing that skill.....away from school, because it's what I wanted to do.

I agree that there are benefits to it, but it isn't one of those things that is necessary. I mean there is benefits to video games....but we don't teach that in school.

I am a drug and alcohol counselor and I run the adolescent group where I work. Each day the clients have to sign a sign in sheet. These kids who are in their teens cannot even sign their name. Never learned cursive. It's sad. How can you sign a paycheck, write a check, apply for a loan, etc as an adult if you never learn to sign your name.

Cursive will be about as useful to this generation as a slide rule was to mine...

Schools have new and updated knowledge and skills to impart to students every year. Something has to go. My 10 year-old is learning amazing things already in 5th grade along with ways of doing research, thinking, creativity, and working in groups that I never got, not even in high school.