kids not being taught how to write in cursive at schools, anymore?

[penn19]

Both my children learned cursive in 3rd grade. The 4th and 5th grade teachers usually required them to write only in cursive for one subject...maybe vocabulary or something. Since then it's never been used. I'm sure they've completely forgotten how.

BUT, if we don't teach them cursive, how will any of them be able to "sign" anything. Everything you do as an adult asks for your signature. If you can't write in cursive will your signature just be your name printed? I wonder how this will work out in the future.

This. My oldest son was never taught cursive in school. They were so busy trying to prep them for the standardized tests that they "didn't have time", so they said the next year the teachers would teach them. I guess they didn't inform the next years teachers of that fact. So he never learned. Then one day in hs he had to sign something. He was totally confused. He didn't get why he couldn't just print it.

 

[golfgal]

This. My oldest son was never taught cursive in school. They were so busy trying to prep them for the standardized tests that they "didn't have time", so they said the next year the teachers would teach them. I guess they didn't inform the next years teachers of that fact. So he never learned. Then one day in hs he had to sign something. He was totally confused. He didn't get why he couldn't just print it.

I would have to agree with this, your signature is what you sign, it doesn't HAVE to be in cursive. Most people do just because that is what they are used to. Heck, you can sign with just an X if that is what you do every time.

 

[descovy]

Our school district teaches cursive... you could say as early as Kindergarten.

The handwriting books in Kindergarten-2nd grade teach the kids to write their letters with rounded lines and little hooks on the end. (pre-cursor to cursive) Starting in 3rd grade, their weekly spelling books have the spelling words & activities written in cursive. So cursive is alive and well in Katy, TX!

But also, my 3rd, 5th graders type better than me. Someone has taught them to type with "home row" ... not me, because I am a 2 fingered "pecker" So the school obviously teaches to the digital age as well!

BTW, my dad (cranky, crusty 70 year old manly man) has perfect cursive. The kind they teach in school where the capital F's and T's look like sail boats He went to a rural 2-room schoolhouse for grades 1-8 and claims teacher taught cursive before she taught print. Whereas the majority of us learn "proper" cursive and later our handwriting changes (for sake of style or sloppiness) He learned it one way decades ago, and never changed it. Even his signature, with a last name 12 letters long (and a sailboat capital F) looks like it was written by an old school 3rd grade teacher!

 

[loxie]

It should be noted that the purpose of learning Algebra is mostly to learn patterns of thought, rather than actually learn how to "do Algebra". Elementary, secondary and college mathematics is all about learning how to learn; learning specific ways of thinking, of analyzing.

I was just kidding about not teaching that, although I just turned 26 & have never used it in "real life" outside of school.

 

[luvsJack]

I disagree, there is no reason for most kids to do math in their heads beyond simple math (percentages, etc.) and most kids I know can do this. There were plenty of kids back before calculators and computerized cash registers that couldn't count change or add too. If a child knows how to get the answer, like using a calculator, I don't see an issue. It isn't any different then needing a book to look something up.

I disagree with what you are saying. Its great that we have the technology to do the work for us but it is causing a whole generation of people who cannot simply use their brains. Using the technology should come AFTER learning to do it yourself.

Not being able to count change should keep someone from being able to work at a cash register but it doesn't. Computerized cash registers will only tell you the correct answer for the info you put in, what if they hit the wrong button. I have actually had to tell someone how much change to give me because the cash register got it wrong. All the kid could do was give me a blank stare. Also, not being able to actually count the change to the customer (or to count your own change) can cause more mistakes to be made.

As for writing in cursive, I think there needs to be a happy medium from where it used to be. Both of my sons recieved grade for handwriting. I don't necessarily think it should be graded, but it should be taught. Computers are wonderful objects and texting and email but again, they need to learn how to write it themselves and THEN learn to use the technology that will do it for them.

As for your signature not needing to be in cursive--we have many, many forms that have to be completed for our students to take to different agencies. These forms must be filled out by hand in ink and the person filling them out is required to "sign" their name and then "print" their name. Someone filled it out and printed for their signature--the form was sent back for a signature. Our FA office sends forms to students to fill out and SIGN--it has to be a cursive signature or it is sent back. Although I print many forms for students proving their are in school, showing their financial aid, etc, there are many times I have to write something on the form to show something that is particular to their case--this is always done in cursive and ends with my signature, not my requirement but that of my supervisor. So, it is a good thing that I am able to write legibly in cursive.

 

[sjs314]

More importantly than writing it (although I think writing it is very important still), how will these kids read other people's writing in the real world? Many, many people still write in script, and these kids who don't learn script will be at a huge disadvantage in the job market. We own a small business, and I can tell you I couldn't and wouldn't hire someone who couldn't read script. Don't know if I'd even know that in the interview, but if they couldn't read it they wouldn't be able to function at their job, and I'd know soon enough.

My kids went to a private catholic school until 4th and 2nd grade... I think they taught cursive starting in 2nd there (maybe 3rd).

We homeschool now, so it's in my hands (as was their education even when they went to school - one of the big reasons I started hsing in the first place), and of course they will use cursive in their lives in the real world, so of course it's something we do.

bellebud- You bring up a very valid point, we hear all the time how the children in other countries are better educated than the children in the US, how most are proficient in two languages one being english, how they attend school for more hours such as in Japan. How sad will it be that someone born in this great country of ours will not be able to use correct grammer, calculate a simple math equation without the use of a calculator or sign their own name and be passed over for an employment opportunity one day by someone from another country who is adept at this things? Everything has consequences and one day the educational system will see the error of their way. Too bad by then it will be too late for some.

 

[sjs314]

I would have to agree with this, your signature is what you sign, it doesn't HAVE to be in cursive. Most people do just because that is what they are used to. Heck, you can sign with just an X if that is what you do every time.

I have to disagree with your statement, most legal documents have a line to place your signature on and then a line to print your name after it
sign here means your cursive signature

print means print

 

[claudia]

I was reading this last week online somewhere, and it said many schools have given up teaching kids how to write in cursive. The reasoning, according to the story is that it will not be a necessary skill in the future as everything will be done on keyboards.

I can't begin to tell you how sad this makes me. We have already lost the art of communication in "real" letters because it is easier just to email or text someone... but what a real shame it will be when our kids CAN'T write a letter because THEY DON'T KNOW HOW.

Have any of you had this happen to your kids, yet?

if you really want a good laugh.....my DS, when he was taking his SAT a couple of years ago told me that most of the kids said that the most time consuming and problematic issue was that they had to do a certain section in cursive.....

 

[bicker]

Its great that we have the technology to do the work for us but it is causing a whole generation of people who cannot simply use their brains.

I disagree with what you are saying. Rather, people are "using their brains" differently, to do different things, things more relevant to life today. Indeed, this generation, due to how progress has driven society, are forced to "use their brains" more than our generation had, even more so than our generation "used our brains" more than our parent's generation did.

Using the technology should come AFTER learning to do it yourself.

How many of us learned how to till the fields, to sow seeds, to care for crops, to harvest, and how to gather seeds for next season, before home economics taught us how to make food from what we could buy in the grocery? Every generation goes through the same phenomenon, where things that everyone learned growing up become less relevant, and eventually become things that only a few people need know.

 

[sbell111]

It seems that if a person really wanted his/her child to learn cursive writing, he/she could simply teach it to his/her child. Problem solved.

Personally, with the exception of my completely illegible signature, I haven't written in cursive in many years. When I take handwritten notes, they are printed.

DD11 was at a private Montessori school through 5th grade. She can definitely write in cursive and her handwriting in it is beautiful. Her printing is atrocious. I'm OK with that, but her teachers now in public school are complaining that she writes her assignments in cursive and they have trouble reading them.

It appears that her cursive isn't all that legible, either. Of course, that's the problem with cursive writing.

 

[Jennasis]

I have to disagree with your statement, most legal documents have a line to place your signature on and then a line to print your name after it
sign here means your cursive signature

print means print

The print line is for deciphering signatures that are written in cursive or just a plain ol' "X" (yes some folk still sign forms with an "X"...perfectly legal").

Printing your signature is legal too..

 

[luvsJack]

I disagree with what you are saying. Rather, people are "using their brains" differently, to do different things, things more relevant to life today. Indeed, this generation, due to how progress has driven society, are forced to "use their brains" more than our generation had, even more so than our generation "used our brains" more than our parent's generation did.

How many of us learned how to till the fields, to sow seeds, to care for crops, to harvest, and how to gather seeds for next season, before home economics taught us how to make food from what we could buy in the grocery? Every generation goes through the same phenomenon, where things that everyone learned growing up become less relevant, and eventually become things that only a few people need know.

Using our brains differently is great. I attended high school with only the use of paper and pencil (except for typing which was taught on a typewriter) and now I take online classes which are 100% online--no witing required except for thing I want to write down. So I am in the midst of using my brain differently. I agree that there must be great emphasis on teaching with technology but people still need to know certain skills without technology.

I really don't see learning to grow the food we cook as the same thing as learning to count money instead of relying on a cash register to do it for you. As I said, that machine is only going to give you the number by the information you put into it, hit the wrong number or other button and guess what? It tells you the wrong amount of change. When the customer has to tell the cashier how much change to give--there is a fundamental problem.
Someone that is working and taking money should have a clue how to figure up the total cost, tax and change without a machine to tell them. If the machine tells them GREAT! But if the machine makes a error, the human running it should have some clue that it did.

 

[golfgal]

I have to disagree with your statement, most legal documents have a line to place your signature on and then a line to print your name after it
sign here means your cursive signature

print means print

No, your signature is whatever you LEGALLY use to sign your name, it could be a smiley face if you want but that is what you recognize as YOUR SIGNATURE-the print line is to clarify whatever you wrote on your signature line.

 

[clori]

I guess my kids school cares about cursive to an extent. Last year at the beginning of 4th grade my dd had a broken arm and ended up having two surgeries. Even though she is right handed and broke her left arm her handwriting wasn't great. The OT whose office was right across the hall saw dd and helped her by giving her a slanted clipboard to temporarily help with writing.

At the end of the school year I guess the OT needed to see if dd's writing was okay. Evidently (not related to the broken arm whatsoever) dd's cursive writing is too slow. All I know is it took her over 7 minutes to write something in cursive and only 2 minutes to print the same things. She was given a bunch of summer cursive sheets to work on. I have no idea if cursive is required at all this year.

 

[Dictator]

A Blue Ribbon school is on that has earned recognition nationally as being a school of excellence. Our schools here, elementary, middle and high school are all blue Ribbon schools and they can put that on their stationary and have signs around the school stating such.

I don't see how that's possible considering the distances between these schools.

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2010/national.pdf

 

[NotUrsula]

Just an add'l note to say that for a lot of Autistic-Spectrum kids with dysgraphia, cursive is almost always the more legible fashion in which to write once they get the hang of it. Dysgraphia tends to impair one's ability to properly space letters and differentiate by size between upper- and lower-case letters; when they print it often looks like just random strings of characters because they don't space or size them correctly. Cursive for them tends to eliminate that confusion, at least: when the letters in a given word are connected you can easily tell which is the first and last letter of a given word. (Though DS still always gets docked for not using capitals correctly. Most of the time he is using them correctly, but the teacher just can't tell because the sizing of his letters is very inconsistent.)

For those of us who are more affluent, typing is going to the be the quickest and most legible way to get our thoughts across in most cases. The thing is, though, the digital divide is getting larger all the time -- there are a lot of people for whom typing is not an everyday means of communication because there are not a lot of keyboard-driven devices in their everyday life, and most of the time that has to do with poverty.

 

[sjs314]

No, your signature is whatever you LEGALLY use to sign your name, it could be a smiley face if you want but that is what you recognize as YOUR SIGNATURE-the print line is to clarify whatever you wrote on your signature line.

As I stated before I use to work personnel and if I were to get an application signed with a smiley face it would go right into the circular file , I do have to wonder considering your definition of a signature which may be the secondary definition as per the dictionary the reason being because if uneducated or illiterate individuals who can not "write" their name are allowed to make "their mark" , on the line that says print name would they print their name John Smith or would they print Smiley Face ?

I still hold to my idea that the elimination of teaching cursive in the school system is just crazy

 

[sjs314]

Just an add'l note to say that for a lot of Autistic-Spectrum kids with dysgraphia, cursive is almost always the more legible fashion in which to write once they get the hang of it. Dysgraphia tends to impair one's ability to properly space letters and differentiate by size between upper- and lower-case letters; when they print it often looks like just random strings of characters because they don't space or size them correctly. Cursive for them tends to eliminate that confusion, at least: when the letters in a given word are connected you can easily tell which is the first and last letter of a given word. (Though DS still always gets docked for not using capitals correctly. Most of the time he is using them correctly, but the teacher just can't tell because the sizing of his letters is very inconsistent.)

For those of us who are more affluent, typing is going to the be the quickest and most legible way to get our thoughts across in most cases. The thing is, though, the digital divide is getting larger all the time -- there are a lot of people for whom typing is not an everyday means of communication because there are not a lot of keyboard-driven devices in their everyday life, and most of the time that has to do with poverty.[/QUOTE]

I agree even schools that have computer labs that the students learn and use daily does not mean when those same students go home have access to a computer to type out and print their assignments.
Many have lost sight and forget that there is real poverty in this country

 

[belle&beast]

I didn't read all responses, but my DD is in third grade and is learning cursive writing this year. She absolutely loves it, but I am dreading it in 2 years with my left handed fine motor hating son!!!!

My cousin lives in a great school district and her children do not learn cursive writing. She never thought anything of it until her 13 year old needed help reading a birthday card. The card itself was written in cursive and then her grandmother signed a note along with it and she couldn't read it....

 

[Colleen27]

It doesn't bother me at all. I tend to agree that cursive is becoming an obsolete skill. I like writing longhand and have a bit of an stationary/fancy pens addiction, but even I do most everything on some sort of gizmo these days - itineraries on the computer, shopping lists on my phone, e-mail instead of letters, etc.

Unfortunately for my son, our schools haven't heard about this trend (or maybe they have and are consciously rejecting it!). We had two very bad years where cursive was such a focus that they were not allowed to print at all, in any subject. My son was getting partial credit on math story problems because he'd printed the word parts of the answers. Now that he's out of elementary and past such micro-management, he never writes anything more than his signature in cursive.