How Important is Teaching/Learning Cursive Today in School?

[CarrieByTheSea 0]

My mother-in-law brought this up about a year ago--a strong proponent she is of cursive and its importance.

I wake up to the loud morning news each morning and the first thing I heard a few days ago was an elementary school announcing it would not be including cursive in its curriculum any longer.

What I love about this topic is how many ways the discussion/debate can go.

I know I do not/probably can no longer ever use cursive. I know instead of printing my signature on the automated screen when I swipe my credit card, I scribble several circles that bear no resemblance to my actual name (and instead of a signature on my credit cards, I print "see ID"). I know I opt for the Lucida Calligraphy in purple for my signature at work while everything else is in Aerial or some other professional font. I know I miss the days of handwritten cards in the mail, but do not miss the glittery Christmas card that is simply signed at the bottom and rarely in cursive. I know it is an awesome challenge at times to read any card my grandma handwrites me, but I am just happy she remembers and can still move her hands without pain. I know I am infinitely bored because my hunny is sick and we are unable to enjoy our Sunday Funday, but I did manage to do a bunch of online shopping that never required a signature, much less one in cursive.

"Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be." ~ Temple Grandin

[warpedskydiver 0]

It used to be the mark of a well educated and refined woman to have the ability o write well and have it look good too.

My daughter was not even taught how to hold her pen the right way.

She is extremely smart but it looks like she is wood carving.

[BillyVance 34]

If they don't teach it in school, you'll just have to do it yourself. I still sign my name in cursive but that's it. There are some letters that I've forgotten how to write in cursive.... That's how bad it is, and I'm 43!

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[CarrieByTheSea 0]

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It used to be the mark of a well educated and refined woman to have the ability o write well and have it look good too.

My daughter was not even taught how to hold her pen the right way.

She is extremely smart but it looks like she is wood carving.

I love this response for so many reasons--mostly personal.

First--to address the beginning and the latter--what reminded me of this topic was the one in SC about spelling and its importance. I think today proper spelling (and grammar) is a mark of the more refined (to debate this, please do so in the SC thread).

As for not holding her pen correctly, I was never taught how to properly hold a knife and fork. I rarely had meals with my parents and such "charm" was no longer taught in school. It looked the same as you describe when I would eat at the table, much to the chagrin of my father. An excellent copy-cat, I learned quickly to adjust what was once natural and worked just fine.

"Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be." ~ Temple Grandin

[wayneflorida 0]

At first I wondered who your mother-in-law was mad at.

Then I thought they don't teach elementary school students to curse anymore. WTF

Finally by the time I started to read your fourth paragraph it clicked. She's talking about writing long hand.

I don't think I have seen the word since 1966, so I really had to clean the cobb webs off.

I use to do a pretty good job of copying my Mother's
cursive writing to skip school.

[CarrieByTheSea 0]

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I use to do a pretty good job of copying my Mother's
cursive writing to skip school.

The only signature I can write in perfect-cursive likeness to the original is not mine either. But, I did not skip school once until I was a senior in high school.

"Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be." ~ Temple Grandin

[ryoder 1,381]

Airtwardo still hasn't gotten over the schools no longer teaching cuneiform.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Shotgun 1]

I still do a lot of writing in an actual notebook, usually in cursive. And I occasionally write an actual letter in cursive too. But then I'm kinda old.

As for how important it is for youngsters to learn cursive.... I don't know; I guess they can just trust us old folks to translate old documents for them.

[TriGirl 268]

Damn... I still buy personalized stationery and sent actual letters to my deployed friends. They have email, but still, people are surprised to learn how nice it is to get a real letter in the mail when you're deployed.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[dirtbox 0]

The value of cursive seems to depend upon which country you are from. I teach English in South Korea where the American teachers will not teach it (they reference some Harvard lecturer stating it is a dead art). Teachers from other countries (Australia, South Africa, UK, New Zealand) are more likely to teach it and write in cursive.

As to the importance of leanring cursive? The primary concern of anything written is to communicate a message and block writing does this just fine but like the computer to the abacus cursive writing is quicker and more efficient than block writing so I am personally in favour of teaching cursive even if teaching 'b' and 'r' is a pain in the @ss... but I also think 'color' and 'favor' need u's

[SkydiveJack 1]

The last couple of weeks I was working on tracing some family history on Ancestry.com. I was looking through old ship manifests, WWI military records and US immigration records from the 1920’s and earlier. Almost 100% of the information was written in cursive. And pretty badly at that! If someone didn’t know cursive they would never have been able to do it.

So not learning cursive in school would be a negative for anyone who wanted to get into studying and researching history. It is only one field out of many but it is a consideration.

And if they stop teaching cursive are they going to add anything in its place? Or are they just going to continue with the dumbing down of America?

[JohnMitchell 14]

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She is extremely smart but it looks like she is wood carving.

Don't knock carving. Twardo learned to write with a mallet, chisel and slate tablet.

[futuredivot 0]

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Don't knock carving. Twardo learned to write with a mallet, chisel and slate tablet.

They had tools when he was a child!!?

He's younger than he looks

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[CarrieByTheSea 0]

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WWI military records and US immigration records from the 1920’s and earlier. Almost 100% of the information was written in cursive. And pretty badly at that! If someone didn’t know cursive they would never have been able to do it.

So not learning cursive in school would be a negative for anyone who wanted to get into studying and researching history

I would be interested to see how well and/or quickly one could read cursive having never been taught how to write it. I am biased, but it seems to me the words look close enough to print that it would not be difficult to pick up quickly.

"Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be." ~ Temple Grandin

[Roxxx 0]

Cursive is... Information overload.

Back to the basics... master the life skills, then add -on skills.

In the schools, it's like we're trying to teach cats to fetch who can't, with dogs that can... it sucks for the cats... Does this make the cats stupid? Yes.

Just kidding! hahahaha

[SkydiveJack 1]

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WWI military records and US immigration records from the 1920’s and earlier. Almost 100% of the information was written in cursive. And pretty badly at that! If someone didn’t know cursive they would never have been able to do it.

So not learning cursive in school would be a negative for anyone who wanted to get into studying and researching history

I would be interested to see how well and/or quickly one could read cursive having never been taught how to write it. I am biased, but it seems to me the words look close enough to print that it would not be difficult to pick up quickly.

You have a valid point. However, I did find in my ancestry search that I had a lot of trouble reading things when I already knew cursive. Now part of that was due to some sharpness loss when the document was scanned. And some people had much better writing than others. But I certainly had a greater advantage deciphering most of records than a person who didn’t know cursive in the first place.

[stayhigh 2]

Cursive was the greatest tool, when spell ckeck were not available.
Get the first and last letter right and curve that shit away!!!

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[Nataly 38]

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I would be interested to see how well and/or quickly one could read cursive having never been taught how to write it. I am biased, but it seems to me the words look close enough to print that it would not be difficult to pick up quickly.

I have just been learning the Arabic alphabet and honestly the "cursive" form (connected letters versus the stand-alone/final form) is really not rocket-science. Took me about 1 hour to figure it out (once I knew the fundamental letters)... So on this basis, I reckon Latin-based languages should work the same way in terms of being able to "figure out" cursive without having been taught it formally in school.

But anyway, why take it out of the curriculum? How long does it take to teach cursive to kids who already know how to write? Perhaps what makes more sense is to teach cursive later in the school programme... That way it takes less time to internalise... In other words, teach students to read/write, and when they're older and already know how to read/write quite intuitively (I don't know - maybe when they're teenagers) cover cursive as one lesson!!

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[kallend 1,622]

I would hope that people know how to read it, because a lot of old stuff is written in cursive.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[NickDG 23]

Slippery slope? Will printing by hand be next?

One good electronic pulse (atomic, solar, cosmic, whatever) that renders computers useless and we'll have a nation of illiterates . . .

(Note to self: Start buying up old typewriters and make millions!)

NickD

[JohnMitchell 14]

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Cursive is... Information overload.

Back to the basics... master the life skills, then add -on skills.

In the schools, it's like we're trying to teach cats to fetch who can't, with dogs that can... it sucks for the cats... Does this make the cats stupid? Yes.

Aw Roxxy, don't sell kids short. Many of them, maybe most from stable, well educated homes are able to learn far more and far faster than most public schools teach. The initial problem is poor early environment and parents who put little value on scholastic achievement. I talked to too many parents who are worried to death that their poor little kid will actually have to suffer the work of memorizing some facts. God forbid little Johnny should graduate from school knowing something useful. This kind of attitude creates households that breed mediocrity.

Compound this with schools that are under pressure to dumb down the curricula and cure all of society's ills in 7 hours a day, five days a week. It's a wonder they learn anything at all. We decry the fact that video games, cell phones and high speed internet are creating a generation of ADD multi-taskers. How about we have the kids turn off the TV and write a two-page essay occasionally? Maybe that would help their powers of concentration. Maybe that might teach them to frame their thoughts, frame an argument.

We tried to have a stimulating, interesting home for our children. We had games, clay, coloring books and creative toys available. We read books, took nature hikes, played games, molded clay, did kitchen counter science experiments, built things and had long rambling conversations about everything. We also had certain academic standards we held them to. Our kids tended to excel. It wasn't magic. It just took time, energy and consistency.

So teach them cursive. Teach them some science. While you're at it, teach them some French too. Their young minds are much more capable than we think. Also, let's stop trying to build their "self esteem." Let them earn true self esteem by tackling difficult tasks, working through the difficulties and eventually mastering those things. Something given to someone is rarely valued; something earned is usually cherished. I'm tired of every kid getting some award just for having a body temperature.

Last note, when I was going through the FAA academy years ago in Oklahoma City, they kept telling us the brain was a muscle, not a bucket. And they were right. I learned tasks that seemed Herculean at first. And there was a helluva pay off for it.

>>>>>>>>>

[airtwardo 6]

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She is extremely smart but it looks like she is wood carving.

Don't knock carving. Twardo learned to write with a mallet, chisel and slate tablet.

Not far off!


I was 'taught' cursive but I write 'backhand' which simply means the letters tilt the wrong way, it's neat and clear just looks funky... in high school several of my teachers perfered block printing to my 'lefty look' so that became my norm.

Didn't see a lot of people printing in high school, but when I got to college I bet over 1/2 the people I knew did it instead of cursive.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[BillyVance 34]

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She is extremely smart but it looks like she is wood carving.

Don't knock carving. Twardo learned to write with a mallet, chisel and slate tablet.

Not far off!


I was 'taught' cursive but I write 'backhand' which simply means the letters tilt the wrong way, it's neat and clear just looks funky... in high school several of my teachers perfered block printing to my 'lefty look' so that became my norm.

Didn't see a lot of people printing in high school, but when I got to college I bet over 1/2 the people I knew did it instead of cursive.

I have been writing in the Architectural font for years now. Letters are neat and easy to read. Just a result of my educational background.

Doctors are the absolute worst at handwriting.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Amazon 7]

You had me till you got to that teaching them French thang


You two did a pretty damn fine job of raising your children John. Your kids are exceptional.

Well Done. I KNOW why you are so very proud of them

[JohnMitchell 14]

Thanks, Jeannie, yes, you know our kids pretty well. But we really didn't do anything exceptional except spend a lot of time with them and hold them to having standards for themselves. Everything else tends to fall in place after that.