Does your child's school teach cursive?

[goofy4tink]

My dd, now 19, wasn't taught cursive officially. Not like when her siblings were in school. This whole argument that they have too much on their plates already? I don't believe it. I have seen the wasted time in the schools. I was a library sub for years. Those kids came into the library for 45 mins each week, sometimes twice. All they did was watch a movie or have a story read. Then they went and picked out books. Half of that time could have been spent on writing skills. Plenty of other time during the day as well. I didn't see those kids learning anything huge...and I was in classrooms during the week, filling in for teachers that had dept meetings!!
My two oldest write cursive very nicely, but they are 36 and 39!! I write cursive..and find it much faster than printing. My 19 y/o??? Her cursive is very 'young' looking. But, ask her to do a Princess autograph!!! Beautiful cursive. Go figure!!
It's not that hard to learn to write cursive...it should be just another skill taught in school. Used to be that kids couldn't wait to write in cursive. It made them feel more grown up. Now? They can't be bothered. And many times you can't read what they have put down on paper either.

 

[torinsmom]

IMO, the primary reason that it is important for most people is speed. The average person writes more quickly in cursive than by printing, and that is important when you are taking notes in a class that forbids laptops or when doing a timed essay exam. Of course, for an exam it also needs to be legible.

My kids go to Catholic school and they still have quite an emphasis on it. Once past third grade it is not a separate lesson, but they get fractional point docks for illegible words on assignment papers. For that reason it can cost you if you don't learn to write clearly and quickly, by whatever method you choose.

FWIW, DS15 has dysgraphia, and it was a struggle for him to learn to write legibly at all, but cursive was easier for him in the end than printing was. He has issues with spacing the letters properly when he prints, so he used to get docked for writing something nonsensical like "a he ad" when what he really meant was "ahead". Since cursive physically links the letters in a single word, it essentially eliminates that issue.

PS: The best program for DS turned out to be Handwriting Without Tears, and I would recommend it for kids who have difficulty with handwriting. You don't have to go whole-hog on the manipulatives and all that; the workbooks are quite good all by themselves. I asked permission to have DS use HWT style instead of the more serif-heavy script that was being taught in his school, and his teachers were fine with it; they just wanted him to be able to write clearly. As it turns out, the preschool/Kindergarten that my younger DD attends has formally adopted it, and it is working great for her as well.

My son has dysgraphia too and he is 18. You never know how much writing is involved in every subject until your child has trouble with it. My DS did not want to learn cursive and still prints pretty much everything. His letter formation is pretty strange at times. The guidance counselor called and asked me if his name had an accent mark over the r(His name is Torin). He writes his rs from the bottom up and then puts the little top on them. Thank goodness she asked or he may have ended up with an accent mark on his diploma.

 

[Donnainnj]

Our local paper (maybe yours to?) had an article last month on this topic. Funny thing is within a week of the article one of my 10th graders teachers made them do a paper in script. She had to look up a few letter that she had forgotten.
Donna

Does your child's school teach cursive? Do you think it is necessary to learn? If your child's school is not teaching it, are you going to take it upon yourself to teach your child?

My cousins are 2 years apart and both attend the same school. The younger one learned cursive last year (in 2nd grade) while the older one never did because it was left up to the teacher to decide if they wanted to teach it (district's decision). He is now in 5th grade and that teacher wants her students to write in cursive, however bc his previous teachers never taught it, he and another boy are starting to learn it now.

My daughter saw my other cousin writing in cursive (she is in 2nd grade now) and wanted to learn it so they were writing their letter and she figured out how to write her name, not they best, but its legable. She was writing it that way on the top of her papers at school and the teacher wrote "Print Please" at the top. My daughter said the teacher said they will learn it next year. I kind of felt like maybe it discouraged her a bit though, as she was excited that she knew how to write her name in cursive. And I am hoping it is taught next year because, while I understand that we are moving into a technological world, how are you going to be able to sign for a package, your drivers license, checks, etc?

 

[ImAllEars]

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[aprilgail2]

Well, whats a check?

There is your answer to the necessity of cursive.

For most things, the "signature" is processed by a computer and as long as your mark is the same or with in the programs learned range of your mark, then it doesn't care.

I can't tell you the last time I had a check or wrote a check- my job requires you to have direct deposit so no paychecks to deal with, no reason for anyone else to write me a check and I don't write checks really at all. I pay all my bills electronically. My friends and I all use chase quick pay so if one owes me money or i owe them money we just use quick pay. My daughter would get a check even when she was little and would just print her name and deposit it that way- she can sign her name now but its sort of a half and half thing, she signed her library card, student ID, bank account all that way. Just printing with little lines attaching the letters so it looks a bit like a signature LOL.