Cursive writing - tomorrow's hieroglyphics

[beaucoup]

I can't read my high school & college age niece & nephew's printing. It's terrible. It looks like kindergarten scratch. Embarrassing!!!!

If they aren't teaching cursive, it sure doesn't look like they spent much time on penmenship at all in a very long time. Computer computer computer.

And now you have schools giving iPads to every kid in school starting in elementary school. Not sure where they are going with this!


For me, I sign my name. The rest of my writing seems to be hand printed because working in an office meant a lot of forms that had to be printed. When I write out a check, its my own unique mix of cursive & handprinted. Not sure how that started but I've been doing it for a very long time. People say I have nice handwritting. It used to be better. Now its done in a rush, and not as nice.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think it would be relegated to the status of calligraphy. Heiroglyphics is a totally different language.

My 11yo struggles with her hand writing. It is neater in cursive and we will begin enforcing that. She has similar issues that I did with handwriting. It is painful!!! Doesn't matter what it is. Print allows for places to pause since the letters are not connected.

But my 8yo is holding her own.

The rest of my children will learn it.

 

[Feralpeg]

It just seems strange to me that one day very soon, ordinary Americans may not be able to read the original Declaration of Independence or U.S. Constitution. An original Mark Twain manuscript will appear foreign. I understand that technology has made cursive writing largely obsolete, but it feels like we are losing a link to our heritage/history.

I totally agree.

 

[Sorsha]

Granted, its nowhere near as important as being connected to our National Documents (which can be translated a la the Rosetta Stone, so I am not too stressed) but there are a whole bunch of skills that have become obsolete, and I don't mourn their loss either.

Maybe my grandkids won't be able to read/write cursive; but they also probably won't be able to operate a record player, dial a rotary phone, drive a steam-driven-anything, plow a field using a horse, or make their own bricks.

We lose skills when they become no longer necessary, why bother to hold on to them?

 

[C.Ann]

Thank you for your kind attention, and have a magical day!

And thank you! For some reason that just made me chuckle out loud..

MTE. I write exclusively in cursive since the second grade. I remember how excited and grown-up I felt learning it! I understand about technology, but I think it'd be sad to lose that link to our past....not just historic documents, but imagine finding a stack of letters or a diary from our great-grandparents or even older ancestors and not being able to make them out....I can't imagine.

Also, I may be wrong but I believe this trend to toss cursive aside is only happening in America. I think the rest of the world is still using cursive and finds printing infantile.

I'm happy to read from posters whose children know and use cursive, and hope it remains a part of our lives for a long, long time.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

When DS was in third grade in Alaska, I asked his teacher when they would start cursive. She told me that since it wasn't tested on, it wasn't a priority and they would start the next year. They had a unit on it and he never learned it. We moved to South Carolina he went to a private school and they required it, but the entire curriculum was outdated and involved no technology. Now he does school on the internet and types everything.

DD is in 6th grade in public school in South Carolina. No cursive is required. When I brought this up in an IEP meeting, the teachers all bemoaned the death of cursive and the general acceptance of "text talk" in writing.

 

[seashoreCM]

When DS was in third grade in Alaska, I asked his teacher when they would start cursive. She told me that since it wasn't tested on, it wasn't a priority and they would start the next year. They had a unit on it and he never learned it. We moved to South Carolina he went to a private school and they required it, but the entire curriculum was outdated and involved no technology. Now he does school on the internet and types everything..

I think that much of the curriculum of 50 years ago, cursive writing and all, can still be used today. One hour a day when kids get their hands on technology. You learn how to use a word processor, not to use it all day long every day. Calculators can be allowed but kids should still memorize the multiplication table and learn how to do long division. Some of the technology hours might be the home economics course. Some of the technology hours might be geography and history to teach more recent events.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

I think that much of the curriculum of 50 years ago, cursive writing and all, can still be used today. One hour a day when kids get their hands on technology. You learn how to use a word processor, not to use it all day long every day. Calculators can be allowed but kids should still memorize the multiplication table and learn how to do long division. Some of the technology hours might be the home economics course. Some of the technology hours might be geography and history to teach more recent events.

At DD's school all of history is computer based. All students are required to have a jump drive with them for all classes and many kids turn in assignments on-line. I'm not saying it's outdated to learn cursive, I'm just saying it isn't being focused on. Also, once they have the cursive unit in school, practice is necessary to solidify the skill. As none of the teachers require work to be submitted in cursive, the kids don't use it.

I am sad to see cursive fall by the wayside, but I think being technologically savy will be more important for our kids in the future because everything is changing. I was just thinking the other day that one day there won't be books because everyone uses e-readers or tablets to read.

 

[ccgirl]

The "funny" thing is that when the technology is unavailable people seem to have no clue what to do anymore. When computers go down or the cash registers aren't working people don't know how to compute things themselves. I still say it is just as important to teach the basics so you know how to function should the technology become unavailable.

 

[Music City Mama]

My 3rd grader is learning cursive, BUT not during regular class time. Rather, as part of their homework -- they learn 2-3 new cursive letters a week via worksheets. My DS knows about 1/2 of the lowercase letters right now and he has asked me about ones he hasn't learned yet, so he already knows how to write quite a bit in cursive.

I think this a fair way to still teach kids. He is obviously getting it and I have no doubt that he'll be able to read/write cursive from doing it this way.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

I write in cursive most of the time. I think it looks nicer. My DS 12 always writes in cursive because he says it is faster. My DD 10 learned cursive last year in 3rd grade. Her fourth grade teacher is doing some review and then require them to write in cursive second semester.

Indiana just said the schools no longer have to teach cursive. At our school - public - there was a lot of parent backlash. Through the parent grapevine, I heard that the third grade teachers will still be teaching it. I'm hopeful that my 1st grader will learn it in two years. If not, I'll teach it because I believe he needs to be able to read it. My grandma's journals and letters are all in cursive. I want my kids to be able to read their family histories.

I taught cursive. It does not take that long to teach. I did about 20 minutes two or three times a week. The issue is follow through in the next grade. They need to do cursive for about a year to really get the speed (not having to think about each letter.) After that, they can switch back and forth and not "lose" their cursive.

 

[KatieCollette]

Funny story, I'm a scanning tech and right now I'm working on a project that dates back to the 20's. Back then people used cursive, and I mean PROPER cursive. Was trying to decipher some of the writing, and I had a letter that was part of the file name that looked like a backwards 2. I had NO idea what it was. So I googled Upper Case cursive letters and lo and behold, it was a upper case Q! I was shocked that I didn't remember that from my days in grade school.

I barely use full cursive anymore, instead my writing is a mix of both cursive and print. Usually I tend to mix both in every word I write I remember being graded for my cursive, but I don't think my son has that on his report cards anymore.

 

[Robinrs]

My son also learned it in the 3rd grade... and not one second since. He's a senior in high school now and only uses cursive for his signature.

 

[Coconut36]

The "funny" thing is that when the technology is unavailable people seem to have no clue what to do anymore. When computers go down or the cash registers aren't working people don't know how to compute things themselves. I still say it is just as important to teach the basics so you know how to function should the technology become unavailable.

I agree. Technology is great and a useful tool but it does not replace the need for basic skills and the ability to calculate change or write something.

My boys learn cursive starting in preschool as they attend Montessori preschool and they teach them to read and write in cursive first (part of it being that the movements are more natural at that age).

I use a mix of cursive and print in my writing (as does my Dad..my Mom uses full cursive and my DH generally prints everything) but just because I don't use it 100% of the time doesn't mean I don't find value in it. If my kids school doesn't teach it (and it does appear they do) I will do it myself.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I barely use full cursive anymore, instead my writing is a mix of both cursive and print. Usually I tend to mix both in every word I write I remember being graded for my cursive, but I don't think my son has that on his report cards anymore.

I have a hybrid print/cursive writing too. Drives my kids nuts! LOL

All my kids learned in 3rd grade, DD might learn (she goes to a different school). My 2 oldest have terrible hand writing (fine motor skills issues) so cursive is a real challenge for them. DH is the same way, plus the Navy makes you print everything so he has nice print writing, albeit small font! DS9 has beautiful cursive writing. He learned in public school, 3rd grade, but really mastered it in 4th at Catholic school. Sister Michelle really stressed penmanship, which I appreciated.
I've been teaching DD a little here and there because she's interested now. She's actually pretty good at it.

 

[AverageDiser]

I do handwriting for a couple of different mail marketing companies, sometimes just addressing envelopes, other times doing whole cards, all in cursive. When I started, it was like getting into a secret society, hiring was all word of mouth. Now they're running ads in the newspapers because they can't find enough people with nice cursive writing skills. DD(10) had maybe three months of cursive instruction total, but she really took off with it, her cursive is much nicer than her printing. I do think it's a dying art, and I think that's a shame. There's something very warm and personal about receiving a hand written note.

 

[ccgirl]

Funny story, I'm a scanning tech and right now I'm working on a project that dates back to the 20's. Back then people used cursive, and I mean PROPER cursive. Was trying to decipher some of the writing, and I had a letter that was part of the file name that looked like a backwards 2. I had NO idea what it was. So I googled Upper Case cursive letters and lo and behold, it was a upper case Q! I was shocked that I didn't remember that from my days in grade school.

I barely use full cursive anymore, instead my writing is a mix of both cursive and print. Usually I tend to mix both in every word I write I remember being graded for my cursive, but I don't think my son has that on his report cards anymore.

As soon as I read that I thought, sound like a an upper case Q to me! I tend to write mainly in cursive myself. My cursive is actually must neater than my printing.