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| The Great Cursive Debate |
| posted by: Alix | April 01, 2011, 01:25 PM |
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Most adults today remember countless hours spent practicing their cursive in elementary school. These days it's hard to remember when we last used the skill, unless maybe to sign a check. According to reports, cursive instruction is dying out all over the country. Will the once staple of a grammar school education go the way of the abacus for today's children? Everyone involved in education knows that technology is changing the face of instruction. When two-year olds can operate iPads, is it really necessary for kids to spend hours perfecting flowing curves and fancy loops? As of now, 41 states have adopted the Common Core State Standards for English, officially omitting cursive handwriting from required curriculum. Now that it's not mandatory, schools around the country are debating whether or not to spend valuable teaching resources on classic penmanship. In New York, some schools are considering eliminating it altogether. One teacher admitted that she would rather "move on" than spend the half hour on cursive that she feels is outdated. One official in Colorado agreed, "In many respects, it's only inside our schools where we see such emphasis on paper and pencil. The move outside our schools, and in innovative schools, is toward technology. There will always be a role for the written word by hand on paper. But the experiences most of us have, with 30 minutes a day practicing cursive in class, has gone by the wayside." Others argue that teaching cursive is not merely a dying art, but a skill that ties together critical components of learning. One school administrator in Colorado believes that cursive instruction gives children the mental skills to understand broader concepts and become stronger readers. "When kids get to third and fourth grade, when they're supposed to be composing, they can use more brain space for content than mechanics," said Cindee Will, assistant principal at James Irwin Charter Elementary School of Colorado Springs. According to Ms. Will, complex letter strokes help guide students' eyes left-to-right and help correlate reading with writing, enabling children to grasp the entirety of the English language. Others argue that practicing penmanship helps children with special needs. Dyslexic children can benefit from the hands-on approach to English. Using cursive handwriting teaches students how to group words in the proper order and make it more difficult to swap letters. Some English purists insist that cursive is an important part of our history. One parent was disappointed that cursive was being phased out in her child's school. "I absolutely get that we're moving in a world that's technology-based," she said. "But I'm of the old school that believes you can't forget where you came from to get where you're going. There could be a day the computer crashes." What do you think about cursive being omitted from Common Core Standards? Comment below. Comments (7)
Narrow mind, type it.
written by James China, October 27, 2012
Yes I did notice that the prior James seems to have lost the knack of finding the shift key while typing. Do you also plan to phase out the capitalization of proper nouns? And hey lets eliminate punctuation too
IMO those who support eliminating hand writing instruction, whether it be block print or cursive, because of the ever increasing technology available in our lives, have viewed this very narrow mindedly. Researchers have discovered (using the high technology now available)that hand writing and specifically cursive has several significant benefits as a learning tool and not just as a way to put words onto some form of media be it electronic or good old fashioned paper. Teachers need to start looking at the big picture of how and what we teach by knowing the information available to us through the various disciplines of science, specifically neuroscience. I recommend this article as a start before you completely dismiss the idea of teaching cursive; http://triblocal.com/st-charle...ech-world/
Cursive Writing
written by Jeri, California, February 22, 2012
Did anyone else notice that "james," who thinks we should phase out cursive writing and only type, doesn't know when to use capital letters?
Technology isn't everything!!
written by Rachel, Chicago Illinois, July 08, 2011
It's extremely upsetting to me that most schools are no longer teaching cursive. Due to this change in the education system, my 13 yr. old son can't read or write cursive. I'm currently teaching him cursive at home, so the time not spent developing these skills at school, are now being spent at home. With the amount of homework he gets every night and with our cursive training; he never gets a break.
Lets not forget about fine motor skills and brain development. You would think that a teacher might know about these certain things...
What else will we do away with?
written by Vicky UK, April 11, 2011
Are handwritten exams then taking a leave of absence also? surely legible handwriting is a must if you want a good grade.
Unless exams are also to be computer based there is still a need for handwriting lessons - it's the only practice kids get with pen and paper these days!
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