Texas schools plan to bring cursive back to classrooms

kxan ^ | April 5, 2019 | Chris Davis

[bgill]

Cursive writing has fallen away from the curriculum in a lot of Texas schools in recent years, but the writing style is making a comeback. Austin ISD does not teach cursive to its general student body, but the district says that will change in the 2019-2020 school year, as it will for schools all over the state. The shift is due to updates to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, for language arts. The State Board of Education changed the requirements in 2017, and they go into effect next school year. Starting this fall, students will be required to know how to write legibly in cursive by 5th grade. Kids will start learning cursive letters in 2nd grade. But even the districts that cut cursive classes have kept teaching it to students with dyslexia. Manor ISD's dyslexia coordinator says it stimulates brain function, helps with memory, and allows students to focus on whole words instead of individual letters.

[Texas Fossil]

I write checks all the time at stores that require you to sign your name on a electronic pad. Also do the same with credit/debit cards. Some place accept a PIN, others require a signature.

My wife used to brag about the fact that she could not type. It kept her from being assigned jobs that required it. Later in life she was a cripple because she could not touch type, computers came along and hunt and peck is sure slow.

Cursive still has it’s place. If you don’t believe me, try to buy or sell real property without a cursive signature.

[bgill]

Right handed teachers don’t know how to properly teach a lefty to write. They teach us lefties to angle our paper the same direction as right handers do - to the left at about an 11 o’clock position. Well, duuuuh, of course lefties are forced to turn their wrists that weird way and write upside down. Simply position your paper to a 1 o’clock position and ta-da! The wrist will be straight and relaxed and you can go years without anyone noticing your lefthanded.