Stop Teaching Handwriting

[KyraS]

I do think kids need to be taught handwriting but cursive is really a thing of the past. I sub in high school and maybe four or five students out of 75 write in cursive. The majority print. I can remember hating cursive as a child and as soon as I hit high school I started printing. My son was the same way.

 

[Shmily1]

DS18 always had a hard time with handwriting. He always got Ns and tried his best. A couple years later, we found out he has tremors. Then we got him a note saying he would not get better. It only gets worse so the handwriting he has is as good as it gets. Luckily, I didn't get onto him for having Ns in handwriting and just told him to do his best and that was all I could ask. I would have hated to have gotten onto him and then find out he couldn't help it.

 

[moon]

I went to Catholic school the nuns really taught us to write. I can't really print well until this day. We had to hold the pen a certain way. Now I see kids holding a pen in a claw like fashion & I remember when that nun came by I have to laugh. I'm not sorry. Today I have nice hand writing even if it is out of style.

Those nuns are something else, eh?

I still don't like to print. If I have to hand-write anyhting I always use cursive.

The thing I don't get is that learning cursive is stressful. Why, it was one of my favorite things to do in school! I remember it being one of the most stress-free and easiest things to in class!

 

[teacups]

Strive for perfection? Oh please let's not! I will never put that kind of expectation on my kids. Push hard to be the best you can be, and then push a little harder...but PERFECTION? Nobody is perfect why expect that from kids? I would rather they be creative, self driven, self directed free thinkers. Nothing new ever comes from putting that same peg in that same box... but things do come from a new shaped box.
Just my own way of thinking.
But... this is why I homeschool.
Not that I personally care very much, but I am sure someone will assume my kids are "slow" so I'll say it... my kids test at the top of the bar! (actually over the top of the grade level bar) Everyone has their own way... but my way works for us.

 

[TheZue]

If for no other reason we have hundreds of years of usage of cursive. How are they supposed to read historical documents, etc. without having been taught.
It would make them almost selectively illiterate. That can't be good.

That is a VERY good point. You never know what your kids are going to want to do (especially in grade three) and if they ever want to take a university level history course that involves primary research they will need it.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Cursive is not taught in our school. My mom is completely incensed that my boys haven't learned cursive. I asked my 4th grader's teacher about it at our conference last month. She said some teachers in the school teach it a little. Others don't teach it at all and it's not one of the state standards for any of the grades. Neither of my boys have very nice printing and I wonder if learning cursive would help them write better.

There is some truth to needing to learn to read cursive. My 10 year old has been reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. The type looks like a kid printed it. But there was one entry written in cursive and I had to read it to my son because he couldn't make heads or tails of it!

 

[Feralpeg]

The schools my DD attended certainly weren't picky about handwriting. To this day, her handwriting is bad. She rarely writes in cursive. Thank goodness for PCs and Word!

When I taught high school English, I had to require that my students turned in their longer papers typed. I couldn't read their writing it was horrible. It was a mixture of printing and cursive with a lot of texting thrown in.

IMHO, schools need to concentrate MORE on writing skills.

 

[joviroxx]

I think its sad if children are not learning cursive. Its not all about "what is needed ". My 5th grader does everything in cursive since the 4th grade.

Cursive helps develop fine motor skills. Some experts printing is actually tougher for our kids but since they learn it first today, it doesn't seem so. Its actually more natural to have fluid singular motions than sticks and other shapes needed for printing. In cursive there are only 6 basic movements needed to form letters.

There are studies that the lack of good penmanship has directly affected our children's communication skills and not in a good way. What would you rather receive, a typewritten thank you card or a nicely handwritten note (again, communication and personal skills)

Cursive flows like the thought process where printing and typing do not. There are also many studies out there that show the positive affect cursive has on learning to read.

Anyway, I hope it doesnt go away. I believe in progress and technology but I also believe in certain personal development, good handwriting being one of them. Just because it may not be needed, doesn't mean you should ignore it. Well, Im sure the nuns that taught me would be proud that I appreciate it now LMAO!

 

[themarquis]

If for no other reason we have hundreds of years of usage of cursive. How are they supposed to read historical documents, etc. without having been taught.
It would make them almost selectively illiterate. That can't be good.

hmm ... I don't know about others, but I've never in my life had to read a cursive historical document ... and I was in a Ph.D. program doing history-based work.

I'm sure if a person had to pick it up, it would be fairly easy. I had to learn old german script once, and it took maybe a couple of days to pick it up. The old German script (can't remember what it's called) is actually more different to standard script than cursive is to standard script (if that sentence made ANY sense, lol).

Seems like a better use of resources to have the 1 in 1000 kids who are going to do archival work spend a couple of days picking it up than to teach every third grader cursive for a year or longer.

 

[themarquis]

What would you rather receive, a typewritten thank you card or a nicely handwritten note

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd much rather receive an email

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

I learned how to write cursive in 2nd grade. Good times.
However, my handwriting would make my old teacher shriek in horror - I go from print to cursive to a mix between letterings. It's horrible, but still pretty neat and legible.

 

[Becky2005]

IAnd the inevitable "Mom, you don't do your Q's right".

Michele

I got that with printing! My kids learn D'Nelian in school for printing and my DD was *so* annoyed that my printing doesn't have "tails" attached to them. I would always get the "Mom, you don't make your i correctly" or whatever letter.

I don't think I've EVER seen a cursive Q used in real life. I'm not even 100% sure I remember it (isn't that the the on that looks like a 2?). That and Z. I never do those in cursive, I always start the word with the printed Q or Z and then go into cursive.

I know in our school district they start teaching it in 3rd and by 5th depending on the teacher you will be forced to write all homework & assignments in it -- then you hit middle school and you never use cursive again! My older DS teacher only made them sign their name in cursive in 5th grade since they may have to sign their paychecks (although with direct deposit, not so much anymore, just they wayward individual check now and then). He has some writing issues and they had hoped going to cursive would help. It didn't. Now my 8 year old is learning cursive and his cursive from what I've seen is better than his printing.

My theory is "Can people read it?" If they can then fine, that's the entire point. I was one of those kids that always got an "N" in handwriting until I got into 6th grade (the last year they graded it anyway). My teacher at that point said "you're handwriting is your handwriting" and gave me an "S". He could read my writing, so that's really all that mattered in the end.

 

[bicker]

Children no longer need to learn how to make their own soap, how to use an abacus or slide rule, nor how to hand write things.

Make handwriting an art, alongside calligraphy, perhaps.

 

[nephthys43]

i loved learning cursive. i couldn't wait for 3rd grade. i use it on a daily basis. it just looks nicer. i understand about not having enough time to teach it fully, but maybe they should at least go over it quickly.

i hope these kids can print fast enough to take notes once they reach college. if i couldn't write in cursive, i'd never be able to write fast enough to get everything. you'd be amazed at how many professor refuse to allow laptops and recorders in the classroom.

 

[Villain-lover]

I do believe handwriting should be taught. There is a great program that teaches handwriting very simply..it's called Handwriting Without Tears. The letters are formed very simply. straight lines. none of the tail stuff like the d'nealian (sp?). When I worked in child care, the pre-k class was actually starting the program. The kids seemed to have fun with it!

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

I am honestly on the fence about this. DS has some fine motor issues that make learning to write a difficulty. I tried to work with him at the beginning of this past summer, but it always ended in tears and I gave up in frustration. I honestly believe the problem there, though, is mine.

You see, I am a lefty. I write with my left hand and, if given the chance, do a majority of things (including mouse-use) with my left hand. DS is definately right handed. Because I'm left handed, I grew up using/holding pencils, etc a certain way because I had to teach myself to write. My teachers pretty much gave up when they figured out I was a lefty. In middle/HS, I had some classes where we were required to turn in a spiral notebook with our work every so often. My teachers had a special dislike for mine, though. They couldn't just flip it open and look at it, like everybody else's. They had to turn it over, because I disliked having my hand bump into the spiral so I would turn my notebooks over and write in them while they were turned upside down.

I think being taught to write is a basic skill every child should have. Right now, it's part of DS's IEP so he's getting special help with it. I don't think he should be able to write PERFECTLY..that will come later, if he chooses to do so. DH has beautiful handwriting, but only because he taught himself to write prettily. I've never taken that time and so my handwriting is a bit..eh. It also doesn't help that I tend to smear my writing, because I drag my hand through it as I'm doing it.

 

[golfgal]

I do believe handwriting should be taught. There is a great program that teaches handwriting very simply..it's called Handwriting Without Tears. The letters are formed very simply. straight lines. none of the tail stuff like the d'nealian (sp?). When I worked in child care, the pre-k class was actually starting the program. The kids seemed to have fun with it!

Most of the special ed programs around her use this method for kids that have handwriting issues.

D'nealian printing isn't any more complicated then the circle/stick method, just different. D'Nealian lends itself to cursive much easier as you basically just have to connect the letters to make it cursive, which is why most schools use D'Nealian.

 

[daisax]

As an old fogey of 45, I really hate getting notes from employees that look like an 8 year old wrote them. If your kids are going to print for the rest of their lives, they'd best make an effort to have attractive printing, because no matter which way you communicate with pen and paper, you're making an impression. If school are abandoning cursive but not encouraging a basic competence in legible printing, they're doing the kids a disservice.

 

[teacups]

Children no longer need to learn how to make their own soap, how to use an abacus or slide rule, nor how to hand write things.

Make handwriting an art, alongside calligraphy, perhaps.

good point.

 

[nephthys43]

As an old fogey of 45, I really hate getting notes from employees that look like an 8 year old wrote them. If your kids are going to print for the rest of their lives, they'd best make an effort to have attractive printing, because no matter which way you communicate with pen and paper, you're making an impression. If school are abandoning cursive but not encouraging a basic competence in legible printing, they're doing the kids a disservice.

i can't even tell you how many times my boss will come to me with a message one of my coworkers took and ask me what it says. it annoys him to no end. the messiest writer is 21 and my 9 year old nephew writes nicer than she does.