<p>I looooove cursive. It’s all I ever write in! (I blame the nuns.)</p>
<p>I’ll carry the torch…</p>
<p>The elementary school where I teach still teaches cursive in the 3rd grade, but all do not.</p>
<p>Handwriting as a whole has slid as a subject because of other academic demands. I was appalled when I taught second grade at a different school how the students printed. They didn’t seem to have a rhyme or reason to how they went about forming their letters. I later learned it was because the particular school didn’t do handwriting instruction at any level. It was pretty ugly by the time they got to me. It was like translating a foreign language sometimes.</p>
<p>Teach2005: “all do not” is not logically the same as “not all do.”</p>
<p>I have had a fit with handwriting with my D - she never correctly learned how to form letters so for her - printing is SLOW. This causes her to have a hard time finishing any work. Luckily she has had a teacher who has acknowledged the problem and has been working on it - what she has done with my D was introduced cursive with the printing - basically - by using the cursive as an incentive to print correctly. My D’s cursive is the very old fashioned writing that I learned in Catholic schools - Her printing has improved and the cursive allows her to write faster and neater than printing. When she prints I can see her thinking about how to form the letter. I had no idea that SAT etc wanted printed essays - something I think schools should keep in mind when they eliminate any time for these kindergarten through third grade skills.</p>
<p>This is a great resource. Used it years ago with much success.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hwtears.com/[/url]”>http://www.hwtears.com/</a></p>
<p>We homeschooled totally for the elementary years. My first son used D’nealian, which ended up just making his printing ugly, since he never got good at cursive, even though we did work on it. My second son learned “regular” printing. I tried to teach him cursive, but he never really caught on or had much interest in it. He did have a bit of a struggle when he took the SAT in 7th grade and had to write that statement, but the only other disadvantage it has caused him is that he has some trouble reading cards from older relatives who still write in cursive. </p>
<p>I can write in cursive, but usually write in my own combination of cursive and printing. (And I do print on my checks for legibility.) I remember reading about someone who did a study to see if cursive actually IS faster than printing, and they decided that there was little difference. </p>
<p>I do enjoy seeing beautifully done cursive, but I guess it was just never a priority with me or my kids.</p>
<p>Cursive is based on a technology that has virtually vanished - the feather and the fountain pen. In the case of the feather, the idea was to travel the longest distance with the least amount of ink, and with both feather and fountain, to prevent inkblots. In the 19th century, there were no fewer than 6 different kinds of cursive to learn - formal, “lady’s hand”, business cursive, etc., etc.</p>
<p>But the technology doesn’t exist anymore, and we are using a technology (ballpoints) for which cursive wasn’t designed (and which has been found, repeatedly, to be slower than printing.) They don’t teach the use of the sliderule anymore either.</p>
<p>Italics are a nice art form - nothing less, nothing more.</p>
<p>My second son (a lefty) seems to only know how to print! (And it’s none too good!) Don’t worry about the SATs. He printed the essay (poorly I might add) and got a 12/12.</p>
<p>Printing is too slow for me, although I’ve forgotten all the cursive caps.</p>
<p>I almost always print (and I’m a lefty). I would love to write in cursive, but I imagine my hand starting at the right hand side of the page and sweeping leftwards. My d. (also a lefty) has beautiful handwriting (cursive or print) for which I thank her kindergarten teacher. I never thought it really mattered (although I’ve admired it) but she’s had to hand write applications for a couple things (she’s in high school) and when writing essays on state exams, I think it has to subtley affect her grade (she usu. does very well). I feel badly for the kids with sloppy handwriting who now have to write an essay on the SAT. </p>
<p>Mini - thanks for the history lesson. Is there any connection between the 6 cursives and spoken language (levels of formality, like ‘thee’ and ‘thou’?) </p>
<p>One last lefty thing - anyone else see the NYT article about left handed mollusks?</p>
<p>My (parochial) school taught us cursive in 2nd grade and then pretty much compelled us to use it through 8th grade. In those six years, I was constantly frustrated by the fact that the way I held my pencil caused my to smudge everything (I’m a lefty). Cursive took me too much effort to write neatly, whereas I can print more legibly with the same amount of concentration. However, some elements of cursive leak into my print (how I write y’s, linking e’s, etc.). Some guys at my school still use cursive. For some it’s very neat (and even pleasing to look at), and some others…indecipherable. It’s really a case of what we all figured we were more comfortable with.</p>
<p>Add me to the list of adults who always print checks, and just about everything else (like shopping lists, etc.). Though I don’t write many any more – its pretty much all debit cards and online banking.</p>
<p>I was taught using those notebooks that had the solid and broken lines and we had to first few years, print, then we had to write each letter over and over and over and over. Cursive is much faster and easier for me than printing, since I was taught to be very precise with each printed letter, and I am always the one with the nice handwriting who has to do all the writing at conferences, etc. D, on the other hand, doesn’t have a clue about those notebooks, and she only prints. She did manage to come up with a signature, but it isn’t what I would call nice. Today, with having to teach to all those tests that kids have to take, there is simply no time to drill writing over and over. It is definitely a lost art.</p>
<p>^That’s how they taught us. We even had whole handwriting workbooks.</p>
<p>Three of my 4 kids prefer printing–guess they get it from my husband, who was the first person of our generation I ever knew to do it as a matter of course. It’s faster for him (and them) and far more legible.</p>
<p>This can’t be true. No cursive? Next, you’ll be telling me that diagramming sentences isn’t being taught either!</p>
<p>diagramming…wha?</p>
<p>KIDDING!</p>
<p>Just had a thought… I spend a lot of time on CC on computer-related issues. I’m a big fan of Tablet PCs because you can actually use a stylus and write on the screen (like using a PDA). There’s a group of students that seem resistant to the idea of taking notes on a Tablet PC because they claim that typing their notes on a regular laptop is faster. I’m guessing that typing is much faster than trying to block print your lecture notes… If you can’t use cursive, “writing” on a Tablet PC isn’t a compelling proposition.</p>
<p>I studied calligraphy in college actually. Yes, it was a college course. And I ended up using afterward.</p>
<p>michuncle: I used nothing but cursive for 7 years of Catholic grade school, but my typing is still far, far, faster than my cursive handwriting. It obviously depends on the person, but it is certainly possible to know cursive and still be more efficient at typing.</p>
<p>A fun book on the history of handwriting in America:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300074417/sr=8-1/qid=1147927568/ref=sr_1_1/103-9982392-9186263?_encoding=UTF8[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300074417/sr=8-1/qid=1147927568/ref=sr_1_1/103-9982392-9186263?_encoding=UTF8</a></p>
<p>John Holt actually conducted experiments on the speed question in the 70s. He found four out of five children print faster. </p>
<p>Teaching cursive for purposes of writing (as opposed to art) makes about as much sense as teaching kids to use the crank on the front end of your car. ;)</p>