Discussion: Should cursive be taught?

[Margaret]

I came in on the middle of a radio discussion this morning. Evidently, one of the local schools was talking about not teaching cursive writing. Their theory was that the curriculum was too full already and they could not fit any more in to an already full day. If a child could print and sign their name in cursive (for a legal signature) they said that was enough.

So - discuss. Do we need to teach our kids cursive writing. With the electronic age, letters are not really written and if a person writes by printing - should we call that good?

My daughter learned cursive in kindergarten when she was in her parochial school. I learned in 2nd grade. In her public school, where she is in 3rd grade, they have not touched cursive. When I jot notes to myself, I print. If I write something longer, my handwriting is a combination of cursive and print - the first letter of the word is the printed form, the rest of the word is written in cursive. It's a beautiful form of writing and I think it gives us people with bad printing the option for our written words to be understood.

[guenwyvar]

I believe cursive has been taken out of most school's curriculum. My oldest is in the 6th grade and was told that she did not have to use cursive in her new school. She was taught cursive in parochial school also and with this being her first year in public school I was shocked to find out most of her classmates do not even know how to use cursive.

I'm worried my youngest won't even learn the art.

Frine

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

I was taught cursive back in 4th or 5th grade. Except for my signature, I've never used it. Not even back in junior high or high school.

Of all the things in school that kids say "when are we ever going to need this in real life", I'd say cursive is one of the things I can't come up with a good answer for.


Of course, thanks to a lifetime of typing, my handwriting is pretty terrible, but it doesn't come up very often.

[Pathos]

What exactly is the advantage of cursive over printing? I've never quite understood why it's supposed to be better or more polished than printing. Both are capable of being unique to the individual and very recognizable.

Except of course for the actual class where we did cursive I've always printed. Even back in the day when I used to write long stories by hand. I seriously doubt I could even do cursive anymore.

[Cyranno DeBoberac]

I think that in theory it's supposed to be faster. Maybe that's it? I don't really know.

[Ysobelle]

It's supposed to be faster. Is it? That depends on the person.

Also, I've noticed that boys tend to print, and girls tend to use script more often. But then, I've also noticed that I hardly ever write with a pen any more. I miss it.

[Pansy Faye]

Cursive writing and penmanship in general, has become a lost art. I for one am very glad, at least now, that my mother's punishments for me had always been copying the encyclopedia, first in print and then in cursive. I have beautiful penmanship. My kids' writing looks more like chicken scratch.

With the advent of the computer and the accompanying printer, who needs to write anything. PDA's and text messaging also don't help, either writing skills or spelling (but that's another thread). My daughter carries a mini tape recorder and talks herself notes. She even calls her home phone and leaves herself "notes to myself". Paying bills on line doesn't need a signature. Why bother learning how to write.

But back on the thread - I think penmanship should be put back on the cirriculum along with spelling and phone courtesy, hell, courtesy of any kind.

[Gemdrite]

Cursive writing and penmanship in general, has become a lost art. I for one am very glad, at least now, that my mother's punishments for me had always been copying the encyclopedia, first in print and then in cursive. I have beautiful penmanship. My kids' writing looks more like chicken scratch.

With the advent of the computer and the accompanying printer, who needs to write anything. PDA's and text messaging also don't help, either writing skills or spelling (but that's another thread). My daughter carries a mini tape recorder and talks herself notes. She even calls her home phone and leaves herself "notes to myself". Paying bills on line doesn't need a signature. Why bother learning how to write.

But back on the thread - I think penmanship should be put back on the cirriculum along with spelling and phone courtesy, hell, courtesy of any kind.

Spelling I can see continuing to be part of the curriculum. Handwriting, I hated in grade school and never use now. My cursive only made my writing harder to read, cause it was easier to be sloppier when everything was connected. Cursive is pretty, but also pretty pointless. If you want to learn cursive, fine, but it's kinda like calligraphy to me. People use to write that way too, but now it's an individual skill kind of thing. Phone courtesy, or any courtesy, is not something that should be part of any curriculum. It shouldn't be up to schools to teach kids how to be courteous. Especially on the phone, something kids don't use in school ever. Unfortunately, many parents have taken the attitude of "I send my kids to school to learn, so I don't have to teach them anything." I am aware that this is not the case with many of the wenches and rogues here, but unfortunately, it is becoming much more prevalent in the schools. And while we are busying "parenting" the children, it doesn't leave much time for "teaching" them.

[Dedeley]

I, too, learned cursive writing in parochial school (taught by a nun with very large breasts who always had chalk marks on the front of her habit from their rubbing up against the chalkboard). Anyway, I believe it's supposed to be faster than printing.

I think it should continue to be taught in schools. It is a unique expression of each person, almost a personal art form, per se. No one, not even those forced to write the ways the nuns taught us, writes exactly the same way. I can't draw, I can't paint, but I can express myself through my handwriting.

Who can forget the girls in high school who dotted their "i's" with little circles, or hearts, instead of simple dots? I guess you can do that with printing. But you can't put smiley faces in the lower case letters like "y" with printing, because you need that loop!

My son, 11, learned cursive in our local public school system, so not all schools are abandoning it.

Although internet, email, message boards, chat, etc. are all important means of communication, nothing beats a hand written letter.



Just my opinion.

[Dedeley]

And another thing . . . . (here goes the English major) . . . spelling should definitely be taught. And grammar. And basic politeness. And courtesy. And table manners. And doing a good job on whatever you are working on.

This, of course, written by a woman who went through a drive through window at Mc Donald's this evening, and only received half of what she ordered. Does that only happen where I live?