Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Revolution

I recently read a short article about cursive handwriting's deletion from the Common Core State Standards. Many schools will no longer teach cursive to children, and are replacing it instead with keyboarding lessons. The abandonment of cursive saddens me, though I can't quite pinpoint why. Tradition? Familiarity? The beauty of a flowing script?

Whether one feels strongly or not about the teaching of handwriting in school probably depends on whether one uses cursive in daily life. My husband does not. He types most documents, and prints everything else but his signature. I, on the other hand, almost exclusively write in cursive. I find it much faster than printing, though my husband finds the opposite to be true—cursive goes slower for him. I like to handwrite personal notes whenever possible, whereas my husband prefers email.

Both of my older girls have learned at their school to write cursive, and in fact, my 10-year-old still is required in 5th grade to practice script. She hates it, and like her dad, finds it faster and neater to print. My 12-year-old takes after me, and writes in longhand most of the time. The twins can barely scrawl their initials, so I'll leave them out of my unscientific poll. They WILL eventually learn cursive, but it may be from me and not from their teachers, should the administration adopt the Common Core State Standards.

What do you think? Should we continue teaching what many feel is an outdated, old-fashioned, unnecessary form of handwriting?




Dinner last night: Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad on toast

Exactly one year ago:

Exactly two years ago:



19 comments:

Making It Work Mom said...

I, like you, feel attached to it for sentimental reasons I guess. When I was in Grade School it was taught and we even had handwriting contests - which I always competed in!
I also write in cursive a lot. Just a natural way for me to write. I think there needs to be a balance. Maybe it doesn't need to be emphasized as much as it was "back in the day", but it still she be taught to the children!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Really!? How will I ever keep up as a parent.
I write in cursive frequently. I hope my kids do learn - at least so they can write a decent thank you note.

Helene said...

WTH? This is the first I've heard of this!! I prefer writing in cursive than printing but I do have to admit, I'd much rather type an e-mail than handwrite a letter!

My big twins are in 1st grade and they take a computer lab class at school. My 6-year old son knows how to Google stuff!! Scary when you consider how accessible things are on the internet these days.

When I was in grade school, we were actually graded on handwriting. I remember getting a B for my printing and a D for my cursive. Made me work that much harder on my cursive and now I actually kind of like it!!

I have to go check out your smoked salmon and egg salad recipe....that sounds super yummy!

April said...

My daughter is 14 and never learned how to write in cursive. We were informed when she was in the 4th grade that it was no longer being taught in her school. I think it should be...I believe it's a good skill to have. Thankfully, my daughter has been able to teach herself how to write in cursive.

Jessica said...

I think our kids should be taught curvise. Then as they get older they can decide whether they want to write in cursive or print. My oldest is 7 and she has been trying to teach herself how to write in cursive because she likes the way it looks.

Anonymous said...

There is one 3rd grade teacher at our school who doesn't teach cursive which infuriates the 4th grade teachers, and while I see the point of not doing it, we still teach Latin, right? Okay, maybe not a fair comparison, but I found a letter from my great-aunt whom I was named after and whom just passed away, and it was beautifully written in script. I think handwriting is an extension of one's personality. It was fun to find her note in her flowy script. I'd like my kids to have a chance at making flowy script. So, yes, maybe it's tradition, but I see nothing wrong with that.

Unknown said...

I heard about the phasing out of cursive handwriting. Thankfully my 2 learned how to do it. I've heard stories of kids not knowing how to sign their name on job applications or on checks. Sad sad!

Kathy G said...

Wow. I understand that schools have a lot they have to teach, but they should find somewhere else to cut instead of writing skills.

Anonymous said...

Our son wasn't taught cursive and he's now in 7th grade - and can't sign his name. It makes me CRAZY that they've stopped teaching it. I get that most everything is typed out now, but c'mon. We're attempting to teach him just so he can at least work on his signature, but it's frustrating.

Katherine said...

I think it's ridiculous to stop teaching cursive. It will be just great in the future when some high schooler is reading historic documents and can't figure out what the cursive R or S is.

Vicki @ Grams Made It said...

It saddens me to think that some kids won't learn cursive writing. Maybe it's just sentimental. There is little that compares in elegance to a lovely hand-written note. For me the loss of cursive writing is the loss of another little bit of civility and class.

Karen M. Peterson said...

I can't believe they would stop teaching cursive. Computers aren't ALWAYS available.

Mother Mayhem said...

I taught Sweetums cursive. Since I am outdated and old-fashioned myself, I would keep me out of your poll too. ;o)

It makes me sad that handwritten notes and cards have been replaced by email and computer. Sigh.

LisaDay said...

I never write - always print. However, I think it's a skill that still should be taught.

LisaDay

Quadmama said...

WHAT?! I write in cursive a lot. In fact, I think my cursive writing is much neater than my print writing. I understand teaching kids keyboarding, but cursive seems like a must to me, too.

Traci Marie Wolf said...

I have to admit that kind of freaks me out. I don't quite know why it does but it does. I guess it's the same way texting freaks older people out. I remember learning calligraphy when I was a teenager, I guess cursive will become like that.

Stephanie Faris said...

I guess it's an outdated concept but I still love to write longhand. I can write my novels faster on the computer, but quite a bit of the joy of writing for me comes from taking pen to paper. It's a shame kids won't have that.

Joey Lynn Resciniti said...

I thought they would still teach it so people could develop a signature. How will they do that without knowing cursive?

Heather~sheaaa6 said...

I think it should still be taught. I love cursive writing. =] It will be sad if they do faze it out. =[