should cursive writing be taken out of the elementary school curriculum?

@asyria51 (2861)
United States
July 15, 2011 5:11pm CST
I still teach it and make my fourth graders use it on a regular basis. some people say that taking the time to teach that takes time away from other things but you can incorporate the practice into the curriculum. i know that the debate was in place from when I was in grade school with the idea that computers are used so much that kids do not need to know anything more than how to write their name.
3 people like this
8 responses
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
15 Jul 11
With the spread of technology, cursive has become outdated. It's purpose was to increase writing speed. Typing is much faster than cursive. Cursive really is pointless. I don't use it for anything, but writing my name, as you said, and it is becoming increasingly popular to esign over the internet, so one day, hand signatures will probably not even exist. I do believe that the time spent learning cursive could go to much more useful things.
1 person likes this
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
18 Jul 11
yet due to funding, we do not have computer for every student. I am not saying that we should not teach typing, I try and get some teaching of that in every week as well as the cursive. The student's cursive practice mostly takes place right after recess as a way to calm down and focus back on work while the kids are changing shoes and using the restroom.
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
18 Jul 11
I am not saying that typing should be taught in schools instead of cursive. If there aren't computers and the students aren't able to type, learning cursive still isn't going to help them in the real world. Eventually, they will get the opportunity to learn how to type because they will have to learn it. But cursive, it doesn't truly matter if they learn it. It is good that cursive can be used to calm the students down, but I just do not see a life application.
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
15 Jul 11
I don't think it should. For one thing it might be some small token to prevent kids from just being only capable of sending texts and doing everything by abbreviations. Also, how would they be able to have a proper and distinctive signature?
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
15 Jul 11
Good for you. I think you are correct in doing that.
1 person likes this
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
15 Jul 11
You mean I can't just put an X on the line and call it my signature? I still support and will teach it until I am expressly told I cannot teach it.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
16 Jul 11
It astounds me that this should even come up. How could one ever sign a name? And if a child can't write it, he can't read it, either. That does away with original copies of the Declaration of Independence, signatures of famous people throughout the ages, recipe notes of grandmothers, and more. Cursive writing is a part of our lives, even if we type more than we write at this time. When the power goes out and we need to record something, then we need to laboriously print it all? Depending too much on technology is short sighted and precarious. All that to say, keep teaching it! And feel sorry for the students who don't get a chance to learn it.
1 person likes this
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
18 Jul 11
I have it worked in my schedule for just a few minutes a day as a cool down after recess. I agree that depending too much on technology is short sighted. I have learned that while technology can make a lesson more interesting, you cannot rely on that technology is always going to work and you have to have a back up. The same is with typing...the back up is being able to write quickly in cursive.
15 Jul 11
The day handwriting is removed from the school curriculum is the day the human race is doomed to extinction. Basic basics are far more important than modern basics. If kids can't even write, how can they be expected to do anything more complicated? Reliance on technology is all very fine and good until there's a power cut.
1 person likes this
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
16 Jul 11
i agree with the being able to do things without technology. our school internet is inconsistent at best and completely unavailable at other times, the students need to be able to use a dictionary or encylopedia or a book to look up information.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Jul 11
I think its appropriate to learn it early on so kids can build up skills through the rest of their life from elementary school. The more time they have to get use to it the more they get experience with it.
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@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
15 Jul 11
my school district teaches the formation of letters at the end of third grade. they really concentrate on it hard at this time. Third grade reinforces the letter formation and starts to require that their name be in cursive and then incorporate it into spelling. Research says that you think about what you are writing more when you are writing in cursive than when you print, so practice could be spelling words, or vocabulary so it is not a "waste of time."
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@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
15 Jul 11
i meant to say that they really focus on the formation at the end of second grade...maybe if i had written in cursive i would not have made that mistake
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jul 11
I think it should be kept alive.Its a beautiful form of writing.My little girl is going into fourth grade this year and she is very excited to learn to write in cursive.Its nice to be able to take the time and write a hand held note instead of just typing all the time on the computer.Writing is a art form that should be learned and enjoyed.
1 person likes this
@marie2052 (3691)
• United States
17 Jul 11
I think its important to know how to write. When writing your brain is complying with your coordination and teaching you to learn to write letters and words. My son had a reading disability, and he was about 4 years behind from his school year. He begged me to homeschool him. I never knew I would be such an asset to my child as teaching him for the last 3 years of high school. He can now write and read so much easier, we had a full year to learn so I could go at a slower pace than the 9 month go to school. We could take field trips with hands on experience which my son found easier to learn. I had him assessed in 3 different schools before deciding to homeschool him. All of them assessed him with paper and pencil and pen. What would he have done if he could not have wrote? I never dreamed I could teach a full 6 classes a day. We know most high school teachers only do 1 kind of class several periods. I had to learn everything my son needed to learn at least a week ahead of him. I printed all his lessons off the computer and we sat at the table and wrote out his answers to exams and tests. Then I would input his answers on the computer. He graduated with a 3.42GPA I am so very proud of him, and prouder still that he was willing to take the time to learn what the public schools were just herding them through. When I grew up we had the three "R"s reading, riting, rithmatic as it was called. Nowadays kids can't even make change. My son learned from me to write a check, how to write out his name properly and more efficiently, balance a checkbook etc. He is now 21, he does not use the computer to do his online banking. He goes to the bank, he pays his car loan in person, I am amazed how on tract he is with his life in his responsibility. He tells me none of his friends ever had their parents to teach him these basic things and now he is taking young adults under his wing and teaching them what they need to know for life. So he is teaching them the importance of writing. Another thing about writing that cannot be compared with a computer, cursive writing has always fascinated me. I was in the Army and stationed at Walter Reed in D.C., I remember going to the building on Pennsylvania Ave in D.C.and seeing first hand the original Declaration of Independence, and Constitution under glass. This was back in 1970-72 What impressive cursive by the eloquent men that were our founding fathers. I can't imagine not writing. I have several illnesses now and my handwriting can get bad if I write for a period of time. But I still do write the occasional letter. After all its so nice to get mail. And if you go back to the haulocaust and civil war and read the letters that were written by a special person from that time. I would much rather read it in their handwriting and see how painstakingly the time they took to write even during severe weather or harm they were living in. I hope sincerely that writing does not stop in schools Its a legacy since time, and I know China, Japan and other countries take much pride in their writing and train their kids in rituals of past and present. I wish every person would take time to spend with their children to read and write.
@thatgirl13 (7294)
• South Korea
18 Jul 11
I find no harm in students learning how to write cursive. And I read a discussion here in mylot about someone banning the use of cursive writing or something like that. I don't really understand the reason for banning the use of cursive writing Anyway though my cursive writing isn't so good, I'm proud I can write in cursive
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
18 Jul 11
when i concentrate I have pretty good cursive handwriting. I have also taken a calligraphy class or two so that my penmenship is pretty when writing in cards or when i am scrapbooking. I feel that cursive is just prettier (in most cases) than print, and as long as cards are going to be sent people need to learn to write.