A person needs to be able to write quickly and legibly, therefore 'script' or cursive is the way to go. As for spelling, to stop teaching spelling is idiocy of the highest order. Years ago I used to work for a small builder and we advertised for an admin person, this chap wrote in with a typed CV and a hand written cover letter. In his cover letter he stated 'practicing Christian who served at the alter' his misspelling of altar meant that he did not even get an interview.
Cursive instruction: Should it be in the schools?
- Thread starter bcraig.waciii
- Start date
If you can't write cursive legibly and faster than printing, then you never learnt it properly!
Should it be taught? Not my business any more I guess, but it is a useful skill and once it's lost it will be gone forever.
Next steps: why bother writing at all? Why bother with text of any sort once voice recognition and multimedia can replace it?
God help the human race if we run out of ways to power the tech that we use as a substitute for skills.
Here in the UK it's not taught so much in State schools nowadays, though some still do. However the standard of school handwriting has been recently criticised in government and there has been a drive towards improving standards so it is getting pushed back onto the agenda.
Most independent schools teach it as standard if the children are not taught it already at home. When I was at school in the 1980s (independent school) nearly everyone was taught it by parents or grandparents beforehand when we were aged about 10 or 11, ready for entering upper school rather than actually learning at school.
Most independent schools teach it as standard if the children are not taught it already at home. When I was at school in the 1980s (independent school) nearly everyone was taught it by parents or grandparents beforehand when we were aged about 10 or 11, ready for entering upper school rather than actually learning at school.
I'm ashamed to admit this but I went to a private school and I had handwriting lessons from Kindergarten through sixth grade - 7 years of writing lessons! For some reason, my writing is STILL atrocious. I love to write and I do it anyway - I just feel bad for the people that have to read it.
I think it should be taught in school and I think it is important. Unfortunately, Not everybody will do well at it. You can give a pupil piano lessons for 10 years and they may still end up a lousy pianist. That said, it's the lessons that are important.
Strangely enough, I have never had a cooking lesson in my life and I'm great at it (and not just in my own opinion - ha ha ha)
I think it should be taught in school and I think it is important. Unfortunately, Not everybody will do well at it. You can give a pupil piano lessons for 10 years and they may still end up a lousy pianist. That said, it's the lessons that are important.
Strangely enough, I have never had a cooking lesson in my life and I'm great at it (and not just in my own opinion - ha ha ha)
That whole sentence would have stopped me. Sounds too "Bible thumper" to me.
I agree with a lot of what's already been said. I had to learn printing and cursive in elementary school, typing courses in middle and high school (I type about 60 words per min), and I took a drafting course in high school (mid 1990's) where I learned to print for technical drawings. Computer-based drawing programs were also taught in the drafting class. I think manual and computer-based methods should be taught side by side.
I couldn't make corrections on a document that needed to go to the EPA when I couldn't read my boss's handwriting in one of my previous jobs. That wasted time. Illegible handwriting causes problems, and a lack of technological understanding can cause others. I find the growing improper use of the English language the most worrisome problem, however. Kids are entering university with poor English writing skills. I taught such kids for 3 years while I was in grad school at a major state university. That's already been addressed in a different thread in the The Barber Shop, though.
I think cursive should be kept in education because it helps learn hand-eye coordination and requires the use of parts of the brain that aren't engaged while typing. It's also an art. For practical use, I don't care if people print or use cursive, so long as I can read it. Legible writing should be taught in school and valued by society.
-Andy
I couldn't make corrections on a document that needed to go to the EPA when I couldn't read my boss's handwriting in one of my previous jobs. That wasted time. Illegible handwriting causes problems, and a lack of technological understanding can cause others. I find the growing improper use of the English language the most worrisome problem, however. Kids are entering university with poor English writing skills. I taught such kids for 3 years while I was in grad school at a major state university. That's already been addressed in a different thread in the The Barber Shop, though.
I think cursive should be kept in education because it helps learn hand-eye coordination and requires the use of parts of the brain that aren't engaged while typing. It's also an art. For practical use, I don't care if people print or use cursive, so long as I can read it. Legible writing should be taught in school and valued by society.
-Andy
+1. Well put.
Thanks. I used to be an environmental geologist, and I did a lot of field work collecting soil and groundwater samples for potentially contaminated municipal, commercial, and industrial properties. I had to fill out tons of log books, forms, and chain-of-custody documentation to accompany samples that went to the lab. The latter were not only used by techs at the lab to identify my sample and project information but were legal documents, as well. Legible handwriting was a very important part of my job. One or two of my coworkers had nice handwriting. From everyone else I got the typical, "Good luck reading my writing. I'm sorry it's so bad." If you're really sorry, do something about it.
I agree that developing decent handwriting is more difficult for some folks, but it's like anything else. Practice makes perfect, or at least better, anyway.
-Andy
I agree mostly, but what it comes down to is practice makes permanent. That is why I think it is important to teach kids to write. If they write sloppy as hell and there is no guidance things are not likely to improve on their own. I don't even feel that it would take too much time out of the day to teach as writing must be paired with any other subject in school.
All our English class essays had to be legibly written by hand, even in junior and senior years of high school. I graduated high school in '97.
-Andy
-Andy
It has been proven several times, that cursive develops the fine motor skills, which is a stepping stone in a childs learning process. Being a motor skill, it requires practice to maintain the motor memory to do it well.
If children are not allowed to develop this skill, we will all suffer later.
humbly
al in colorado
If children are not allowed to develop this skill, we will all suffer later.
humbly
al in colorado
Al, agreed for the most part, but there is a huge difference between "not teaching in school" and "not allowed"
Seeing my dad's handwriting when I was a kid made me want to develop nice, or at least legible, handwriting. My sister and I would both practice on our own as children. It was fun developing a style that was "your font." My sister writes in a beautiful print style. As an adult, I've never watched her write, but in cards and letters, it looks like a lot of time was spent on it. It's probably just second nature for her, though.
-Andy
I think it should be taught along side typing from early on so kids can know both, but I also think that PE should be manditory to grade 12, and I mean actual physical education not bowling. I know some people have actual issues preventing that, but as a fat guy I loved PE and took it as much as I could.
Written communication and the style of writing have changed many times over the history of language. At some point, older styles get left behind and newer ones come into use. I have pretty terrible cursive, even though I grew up at a time when it was required in all schooling until university, where I actually had a computer in my dorm room. And as for this developing certain motor skills and areas of the brain, there are many activities which can do the same thing. It depends on whether one believes school should be preparing a child for the workforce with a certain set of learned skills to fill a role, or developing a child as a complete person who is confident and self-aware with a wide variety of skills and abilities. Both approaches have their benefits and drawbacks and they are not mutually exclusive.
All our English essays had to be handwritten and if your writing wasn't good enough the teacher would make you write it all out again or it wouldn't be marked, which soon made people improve quickly. Everyone was taught cursive in my class and you didn't have a choice.
I began as a left-hander, was switched (literally and figuratively); and still make O s and A s "backward" unless careful. As a result, I thought my cursive is/was lacking in artistry but today it is considered very good (by some).
The field of Education changes frequently i.e. exchanging Phonics for Whole Word created Johnnies and Janies who couldn't read or spell; couldn't do math "Modern Math". Nowadays institutions of "higher learning" offer remedial courses of this ilk which may be indicative that our education system(s) may be the problem when they are supposed to be the solution. I graduated from High School in 1962, college 1966, was a substitute teacher for about 10 years after retirement, my mother taught 30+ years primarily first and second grade and even in a one-room schoolhouse where she taught grades 1 through 8 and we wonder if our education system has progressed or regressed; probably depends on one's perception, bias, etc. "The more things change; the more they remain the same?" Regardless, education is/should be a valued resource; the knowledge we gain and retain will primarily determine our future(s).
The field of Education changes frequently i.e. exchanging Phonics for Whole Word created Johnnies and Janies who couldn't read or spell; couldn't do math "Modern Math". Nowadays institutions of "higher learning" offer remedial courses of this ilk which may be indicative that our education system(s) may be the problem when they are supposed to be the solution. I graduated from High School in 1962, college 1966, was a substitute teacher for about 10 years after retirement, my mother taught 30+ years primarily first and second grade and even in a one-room schoolhouse where she taught grades 1 through 8 and we wonder if our education system has progressed or regressed; probably depends on one's perception, bias, etc. "The more things change; the more they remain the same?" Regardless, education is/should be a valued resource; the knowledge we gain and retain will primarily determine our future(s).
Handwriting is an essential skill (still, I hope). Unfortunately, my kids didn't get the same amount of handwriting lessons that we (primary school in the 70's) got. As a consequence, they type as much as possible, now they are older.
I only have one complaint about the lessons we got; they didn't pay enough attention to us lefthanders. We were taught a hooked writing style, because we had to go with the "right handed slant". I had to unlearn that later on my own. Now I write with my hand under the writing line, in a mixture of cursive and print.
I only have one complaint about the lessons we got; they didn't pay enough attention to us lefthanders. We were taught a hooked writing style, because we had to go with the "right handed slant". I had to unlearn that later on my own. Now I write with my hand under the writing line, in a mixture of cursive and print.
BINGO. With the amount of history that was hand written in cursive, if people cannot read it it will be like Sanskrit to them and they won't have any idea of the history of either of their country or their family. For these reasons, I think it is imperative that cursive should stay in schools.
plus people that tend to write illegible cursive script .. their print script is not much better as well IMO .. I had to learn to read and write - Latin and Cyrillic, print and cursive scripts in school (don't know if that is done still). There was a separate subject called "Краснопис" or pretty writing, I guess in a lose translation. And we wrote rows and rows of letters with dip pen's and ink.
And if I didn't know how to write cursive I would have never been able to catch the huge amount of notes during classes at University. I actually don't like writing in print much .. on documents I always start cursive till I see the fine print telling me to write in capital print letters argghh
And if I didn't know how to write cursive I would have never been able to catch the huge amount of notes during classes at University. I actually don't like writing in print much .. on documents I always start cursive till I see the fine print telling me to write in capital print letters argghh
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