Should Cursive Be Required? (Semi-Vanity)

[nmh]

All he needs is to learn how with the RIGHT attitude. With some practice, he'll be fine. If you have the wrong attitude in teaching him, he'll pick up on it and drag his feet learning how to improve both his printing and cursive.

[Tribune7]

Suppose he's lost at sea and has to carve a message into a coconut. You want his rescuers to think him uncouth?

[LikeLight]

Of course all children must be taught cursive.

Just as we teach all children how to sharpen the plow, talk with the telephone operator, keep the woodstove hot and calculate with the slide rule.



Okay, sarcasm aside, cursive is an archaic skill. A holdover, a throw-back. Better off to spend a few weeks helping each child master a cool signature of their own, then move on. That's about the only justification we're hearing, that and speed. And if it's really about speed, why not teach them shorthand instead of cursive? It's faster.

[Sacajaweau]

I was told to STOP PRINTING in the all girl Catholic School I attended (age 17) and told that it was a waste of time.

Wound up making $50,000 a year for several years....How??...Drafting.

If it's not a "bad thing", there is no need to correct someone.

The only thing I like to do in cursive is "friendly letters". It give it that personal touch.

[jdm]

I thought everyone did calculus in cursive. /s

[Lokibob]

I give up!!!

Why teach kids to read, since books are now on tape, and road signs are on their GPS.
Why teach kids to read an anologe clock, since all clocks today are digital.
Why teach kids to make change, since the cash registers do it for them.
Why teach kids to spell, since spell checkers are here.
Why teach kids to add, since calculators are in every kids back pocket.
Why use question marks in computer forume, since everyone has the same questions.
Oh, I forgot, does anybody know how to manually find a square root (no calculators, now, manually!!!) I racked my brain and remembered it from 40 years ago.

[green pastures]

I've never bought the "cursive is faster" argument but then I'm left handed and have to curl my hand around in an awkward fashion. In a writing contest against others, they would win whether cursive v. cursive or printing v. cursive or printing v. printing. In college I had a professor who insisted cursive was faster, so I made it a point to write his exams in cursive to avoid point deductions.

The best reason I've read is so that they can read cursive. And I would further add that it probably helps with development of fine motor skills.

Ironically, when I was in second grade, I had learned a few cursive tips, and showed my teacher a few words I had written in cursive. I was scolded because I was not to learn cursive until it was presented in the curriculum.

When I was a student teacher, cursive was part of the 2nd Grade curriculum. That was a long time ago, I never went into teaching, and I don't recall any more information about the cursive curriculum.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

Same here :)

[SE Mom]

Plenty of reasons- some more useful than others.

Here's why I think it's an important skill. It increases a child's ability to focus, pay attention to detail, and imposes some self-discipline.

There's not much in today's curriculum that really forces those qualities on children's minds...

[HairOfTheDog]

Agreed. Good handwriting will probably always be valuable in life.

[Sacajaweau]

I'm trying to remember the last "cursive" book I read.

[Crazieman]

I disagree. There are times I struggle to remember the last time I had to put pen to paper and write something. Sometimes it can number in months.

[cripplecreek]

Same here.

[MikefromOhio]

yeah...

I can't tell you how hard it actually was for me to actually write legibly in some of my classes this past year in college....

Thankfully I haven't had to write much :)

[Michael Goldsberry]

[Tijeras_Slim]

Good penmanship increases fine motor skills and required discipline. Two things kids need.

[cripplecreek]

I'm the king of the 6 humped Z.

[HairOfTheDog]

You've not written a check?
Filled out a form?
Written down a phone number or address on the road? Are we never away from a keyboard?

I think we write and have to read handwriting more than we realize.

If no one needs to write anything any more, why do we all have sticky note pads on our desks?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

No one has been able to give me a good reason why cursive should be required. Am I missing something?

Well in part it will help him develop his small muscle control.

And being able to write neatly is a useful skill.

[Crazieman]

You've not written a check?
Occasionally

Filled out a form?
The last one was an application... on the computer.

Written down a phone number or address on the road?
I memorize it.

Are we never away from a keyboard?
My Treo says no. :)