Is it just Tennessee, or have boards of education across the country decided that it is no longer important for kids to learn how to write (and read) cursive? I was in primary school in the late 1940s and knew how to read and write cursive very well by age nine. No one then thought that a hardship for kids. Back then, you learned how to type in high school—that was optional. Boys usually didn’t take that course, even when they planned to go to college. There, they were expected to hand in typed term papers, which wasn’t easy for them to do unless they had a girlfriend to type it for them.
I only noticed that things had changed a few months ago, knowing a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old (both very bright kids) who couldn’t read or write cursive. They can touch-type, but cursive is a skill that has come to be considered passé. Is this short-sighted or what? It seems to me that they should be able to learn cursive and touch-typing.
Wow… yeah, cursive was begun in second grade or so when I was in school (I’m 51). I’ll have to see if our local schools here in the mountains of NY teach it anymore. They were still teaching cursive here when I worked there a decade ago. Hmmmm.
I’m 36 and remember learning cursive in 3rd grade. How will they learn to write or sign their names if never taught the art of cursive writing. As for typing, I elected to teach myself typing (I knew I was more of a self-learner); whereas my mother took the high school typing course in school. I have finally reached a level of touch-typing without looking most times; but my Mother can type wonderfully without looking; even now – all due to her class! Why have we discovered that children can learn entire other languages at younger ages and have begun teaching them at far younger ages than that of when I was taught; and yet we remove the basics of cursive writing? How odd. Thank you for bringing this to light – I will check here in Florida as well. I wonder what might be next!
What’s the issue? Very few people in the work-force write in cursive. The few I’ve encountered are basically illegible. The important skill is now typing, as a large portion of communication is now done through e-mail or other forms of internet communication, weather it’s Facebook, instant messengers or blogs like this.
Times change, technology changes, curriculum changes. That’s the way of things.
Also, why would this be short-sighted? As long as they can write, I don’t see an issue. I can write cursive, but my pseudo-engineering block letters are faster and far more legible. In fact I had somebody ask what font I was using once. Non issue, in my opinion.
You just mentioned that you can read and write cursive (if illegibly). We’re currently raising the first generation who will lack the ability to even read it (unless a family member intervenes). At first glance, this might not seem to matter much, but for those who might later be interested in a career related to history, political science, many branches of science, literature, or the arts, it’s going to be a disadvantage, because they won’t be able to read original documents that date from the 19th century or earlier. Many people have letters written by ancestors before there were typewriters—letters that have been handed down for generations. Original documents have a power to excite the imagination that typed transcriptions don’t. If such historical documents look to the current generation as if they were written in a foreign language, that chain will be broken, and the generations that come after will be the poorer for it. We Americans often have so little sense of our history as it is, it seems to me that limiting education in this way will only detract from future generations’ interest and access to history. We already tear down most of our buildings that are more than a century old. That’s just one way that we continue to raise people with little interest and therefore, little understanding of history. That, in turns, seems to be a factor in our continuing to make the same old mistakes over and over again.
There are other jobs where the ability to make quick notes is important. I’ve watched people whose cursive is illegible trying to make notes of fast action in block capitals, and they quickly get frustrated, because they can’t keep up with the fast flow of thoughts. Translators, whose job is to quickly translate accurately and comprehensively need to take notes in a way that can’t easily be done electronically. The problem with deciding that a seemingly little issue like handwriting isn’t worth bothering with anymore in the early grades cheats the kids out of learning something that can create more possibilities for them later on. Learning neat handwriting doesn’t have to take the place of learning keyboard skills.
Watching a reporter talking about what it’s like being in Haiti and trying to function in an environment in which their Blackberries and electronic equipment is well nigh useless further illustrates my point. I’m always thinking about how to prepare young people to deal with situations when the batteries they depend upon aren’t available. Can they do basic math without a calculator? I think we’ve cheated them if they can’t.
The information presented is top notch. I’ve been doing some research on the topic and this post answered several questions.
Not yet. I might already be if I wasn’t working on another book that is due in spring.
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
I am thankful to have found a wonderful Montessori school for my son where they start out learning to write with cursive. We work on penmanship quite bit, I’ve always thought it was very important.
There is a great article here on the benefits of cursive:
http://www.swrtraining.com/id17.html
There is a book called Cursive First that has an exhaustive explanation of the needed return to cursive in education.
Interesting discussion. Where I teach high school English, in the state of California, cursive isn’t generally pushed much, although it is taught in the lower grades cursive is so little used that it’s not understood by most of my senior students. The funny thing is, most older folks like us seem to see cursive as a part of civilization we’re worried about disappearing, but the kids I teach who can produce the most lovely cursive are the family members of criminals. Gang members practice gorgeous elaborate cursive in prison, then pass this skill on to their sons & nephews when they get out.
My children are in elementary school in Utah and they begin teaching cursive here in the 3rd grade. That’s the same grade I learned cursive in the state of California in 1982′ish
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i was beginning to reckon i would possibly end up being the sole young man that cared about this, at least now i learn im not odd
i’ll make sure to go and visit a number of other blogposts soon after i get some caffeine in me, it is problematic to read with out my coffee, take care 
For me and I think many others, cursive is faster than plain print handwriting. I usually combine the two when I am taking notes etc. because this hybrid it the fastest. If children never learn cursive they can’t do this which is a concern to me; however, the greatest concern is that the beauty of our printed language will be lost if future generations do not learn cursive.
Cursive is much more attractive than print and it would such a shame and loss of potential pleasure if people were forced through ignorance to use exclusively the blocky, emotion lacking, print for the sake of convenience
I have to write a paper for school on the controversy over cursive writing. My niece is in second grade, and she is learning how to write in cursive. I do not think there is anything wrong with teaching it. The class that I am taking now has a book to reteach how to print and write properly. It is not a waste of time, no matter how mush computers are being used, you will always have to sign your name on something, checks, buying a house, your license, etc. These people want children to become well rounded, but they are taking away something simple to learn, and remembered for life. Cursive writing is like a personal stamp, every one has their own.
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