Instead of learning cursive writing, students are expected to have proficient keyboarding skills. Many school districts are no longer requiring students to learn cursive, which is being viewed as an archaic form of communication.
For example, last week I wrote prose covering my entire whiteboard. It was in cursive and it was large enough for the students to read from their seat. Half the students exclaimed, "whoa!" while the other half said, "I can't read cursive." It was a big eye-opener for me as to the state of education. I was already aware that they no loner taught spelling or geography, but cursive? Some of my students said, "I hate writing in cursive!"
These are high school students. Shocking isn't it? The evolution of communication through written language, no longer required. At first spelling went out the window with the invention of MSWord. Then, the invention of the cellphone erased our need to remember phone numbers. Our brains freed up from that 'useless' waste of space reserved for remembering important pieces of information. Our phones. Spell check. MSWord. Why remember it if the little red line will tell us the word is spelled wrong? Why remember it if we can program our phone to dial someone's name instead of punching in the numbers?
Why use cursive if we can type instead? Which, by the way is the reason I started keeping a journal. It forces me to write in cursive as well as leave a bit of my own history for future generations. But, that's a whole different story.
According to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html, students are having problems not just writing cursive, but also reading the cursive letters their anscestors wrote in journals, diaries, and other papers. Districts spend much less time teaching cursive. The student in the article said that reading cursive was almost cryptic, like reading another language since they were not in the practice of reading it themselves. This reminded me of when our German teacher in high school showed us the old German alphabet in cursive. It looked like a foreign language, but it was still used among older Germans to this day, although replaced by the traditional Roman alphabet, it will most certainly die out in the next generation.
Professors as well as secondary teachers are also seeing an increase in sloppy writing. Students who are unable to use a pencils or manipulatives, eventually lead to the sloppy writing. Basically, if you don't use it you lose it.
http://tribstar.com/news/x1435410216/Archaic-Method-Cursive-writing-no-longer-has-to-be-taught
Most students now print their names in block print. Cursive signatures are out the window. Testing is also a culprit. Students are asked to enter information in block print as well. When asked to write the essay at the end they have to pause and recall how to write in cursive. If they choose to write it in cursive.
In one of the perhaps boldest moves in the forward (or perhaps regressive move) march in education is the State of Indiana's declaration that cursive no longer be required in its curriculum.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/indiana-schools-no-longer_n_892377.html
My question is: Will cursive be the new "heiroglyphics" of the next generation?
Hmmm....
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Blinddream
Texas Means Friends
Adela613
old new lefty
cheshyre grin
Tinkerbelle Nitely
Salon.com
Comments
Welcome century 21.
http://www.ibj.com/indiana-lawmakers-want-cursive-mandatory-in-schools/PARAMS/article/31128
http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=51169&information_id=102574&type=&syndicate=syndicate
Indiana is backwards in a lot of ways, but this did outrage pretty much everyone when the schools said that. We are fixing this. And who knows, maybe someday we'll be considered backwards for making cursive a law.
Strange how one letter makes a word mean two opposing things.
I remember when someone told me to figure out what my signature would look like as I would use it the rest of my life and it was unique. I worked for quite awhile to make it nice.
I love cursive. My grandmother and my mother had excellent penmenship. It is an Art.
Ah well, like I goes, "slaves don't needs no readin' n' writin' nohow."
.
Orange: That is so sad! I love cursive writing and calligraphy, the art of penmanship. What a loss that would be if it isn't taught anymore. One of the first shocks of my teaching life was to note that students couldn't tell time on an analog clock - all had digital watches! Now they won't be able to read a handwriting? Nooooo!!
R♥
Starting in first grade we learned block letters. Then in third grade we learned cursive, and it was also in third grade that we went from pencils to pens. It was a kind of rite of passage, and I remember feeling VERY mature when I could write in cursive.
I have heard of schools that teach italic handwriting instead of cursive. Italic handwriting is very beautiful and takes no more time to learn than cursive. In my old age I have actually started to change from cursive to italic, and I almost always write with a fountain pen.
But this idea of students not knowing how to read or write in cursive -- I don't even know what to say about that. It seems so . . . . uncivilized.
Starting in first grade we learned block letters. Then in third grade we learned cursive, and it was also in third grade that we went from pencils to pens. It was a kind of rite of passage, and I remember feeling VERY mature when I could write in cursive.
I have heard of schools that teach italic handwriting instead of cursive. Italic handwriting is very beautiful and takes no more time to learn than cursive. In my old age I have actually started to change from cursive to italic, and I almost always write with a fountain pen.
But this idea of students not knowing how to read or write in cursive -- I don't even know what to say about that. It seems so . . . . uncivilized.
Seems to me that some educational psychologists and epistomologists are suggesting a return to the concepts of education from the 70's and earlier which suggested that children do not need to be able to "decode"/read prior to 1st grade as many have insisted the last decade or so--but rather a return to "reading readiness" of socialization skills and the ability/self-discipline to sit still and focus are more important. Just wondering.
or in their block writing were magnificent
and meaningful, i would be the first to
say screw cursive.
The term cursive derives
from the 18th century French cursif
from Medieval Latin cursivus,
which means literally running. This term in term derives from Latin currere
("to run, hasten").
cursive is a quick way to get your overflowing ideas on the page.
the question is: what are the new ideas we gotta get our hands to write faster?
http://runningwithstilettos.blogspot.com/2011/07/in-praise-of-penmanship.html
Cursive is great for kids with dyslexia, because it's nearly impossible to make letters backwards in cursive.
Frankly, I'm tired of trying to decipher doctors writing.
@ Walter: you are exactly right, there is a direct relationship between cursive and neural development and eye-hand coordination as well.
In Europe I read that cursive is taught first, with the more difficult block writing learned later. I think that makes so much sense.
It does feel as if cursive will be as odd as looking at shorthand in the not too distant future, which will be a loss, I think.
Thanks for taking the time to write about this!
~R~
They should be studying math and science, we have enough unproductive lit majors anyway.
.
Yep - handwriting (printing is printing, handwriting is handwriting. I don't know what people call it cursive...sounds silly).
Did you know they give 15 points for this on the SAT now? That's bullshit. I want my 15 points retroactively added into my score. I had nuns give me bloody knuckles over this shit. Those 15 points are mine by birthright.
Oddly enough, although I find some of the cursive fonts on my computer to be very attractive, my handwriting has always been of the sort that makes people say that I should have been a doctor. I've always used block capitals and can write with them just as quickly as most people can write in cursive.
@hyblaean-Julie,
Doctors don't write in any known style; they write in a secret doctor/pharmacist code. That some non-medical people can decipher it is amazing!
.
I've heard this at least 5 times in teacher meetings this week by my administration.
So, some of my colleagues "let them pass with a D"... instead of filling out paperwork. I knew it was coming.
Then, at a meeting, they put the stats up.
1. Pre-final Grades vs Final Grades.
AMAZING... you mean.. 80% of the kids IMPROVED? wow.
*face in palm*
People don't want to hear the truth about our kids because they're getting pressure to pass them, but they pass them and the skills arent there because we arent allowed to go back and reteach it.
To take some pride in your printing is to take some pride and ownership in the words you write down--perhaps if kids were to learn (or keep learning) that concept, they may think just a little bit before they start throwing smack around on Facebook and every where else where they feel they have no accountability attached to what they type. I hope cursive never dies, but I'm not too hopeful--one doesn't need cursive to fill in bubble sheets on a standardized test... :(
Hell, I took calligraphy in high school. So did Steve Jobs. It was a huge part of what helped in the development of the various fonts we use today.
History is important. Handwriting is important. Spelling is kinda important (mostly to discern word origin, but there are so many variants and rule exceptions that I personally like spell checking and find it to be useful for a great many things. Seriously - who cares if I can spell onomatopoeia or not...have I read the word before? do I know what it is? can I give you a definition and an example of it? Then, we're good...ps, I can't spell it...spell check corrected me, I missed the 'e' at the end).
Sports are important. Music is important. Ya know what's not important (for everyone) - Geometry. Calculus. Physics.
Don't get me wrong, these things are important, but what does it matter to you that Special Relativity is about to be proven wrong? You planning on traveling faster than the speed of light sometime soon?
People don't think ahead. Shit, maybe that does make relativity important. Scratch everything I said.
http://www.jconline.com/article/20120206/NEWS/202060309/Legislators-weight-creation-science-bill?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News