<p>I have not fully researched this subject, but can say from the top of my head that without cursive, writing would be sloppy, and we would not be able to have a choice between printing and writing cursive. I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in the fact that I can choose and vary my writing style at any given time.</p>
<p>Is this really that big of an issue? It takes like 2 weeks to learn in grade 3. It’s not like there’s a better use of time anyway. </p>
<p>Also, cursive is faster than print, and you have to learn how to sign your name.</p>
<p>Should students learn cursive?</p>
<p>As long as teachers still write in cursive (and many do), students should learn it. Otherwise, they are going to fall behind. Most students who don’t know how to write in cursive can’t read it either. </p>
<p>It’s ridiculous when college students can’t read what professors write on their papers.</p>
<p>Some college professors ban laptops from their classes and demand students take handwritten notes as they think that computers are too much of a distraction. Apparently, there is research confirming this.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/back-to-school/laptops-in-class-lowers-students-grades-canadian-study/article13759430/[/url]”>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/back-to-school/laptops-in-class-lowers-students-grades-canadian-study/article13759430/</a></p>
<p>Good luck using printing to keep up with a fast-talking teacher.</p>
<p>My grandmother (who is English, for what it’s worth) has been insisting for years that 1) I hold my pen wrong, and 2) I should always write in cursive because it’s “faster” and “better.” Ironically, she has the WORST handwriting I’ve ever seen (her own children take ~5 minutes to decipher her letters!) while I’ve always prided myself on making my writing beautiful. Oh, and my “printing” is faster than her cursive, too. ;D </p>
<p>Not that cursive can’t be great, I think people should write in whatever way their hearts desire.</p>
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It’s truly ridiculous when the squiggled mash up of loops and lines that they leave on papers is what they call cursive. </p>
<p>Cursive is truly great when it’s done correctly. It’s truly horrifying when you can’t tell what they wrote due to their lack of attention.</p>
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Same could be said of reading archaic English in Hamlet. </p>
<p>Kids should at least learn how to READ cursive, even if they don’t write in it, just like they get something out of reading Shakespeare, even if no one talks like that anymore.</p>
<p>I will never, ever understand the fascination with Shakespeare. I actually don’t think the two are comparable. I think writing and reading cursive’s useful in everyday life.</p>
<p>This is 2013, if I was a teacher, I wouldn’t want to spend hours decoding cursive writing. Also, since we have keyboards now, there is no reason to teach kids how to write.</p>
<p>Then teach them to READ it</p>
<p>I’ll teach my kids to write cursive. It’s faster when writing sometimes. I don’t do math on the computer, it’s always with pencil and paper. Some of our teachers require us to typeset solutions, but the real work is done by paper and pencil.</p>
<p>I type at least as fast as I can talk.</p>
<p>I’m always referred to when someone in the family or my friends are looking for someone that has good handwriting.</p>
<p>It’s so untrue to say cursive is antiquated. A lot of my teachers write in cursive, as well as a surprising number of my classmates. Plus, cursive just looks so much nicer than print!!</p>
<p>I’m glad that my children learned cursive. First, they can write faster. Second, they can sign their names on checks, contracts, etc. Finally, it has contributed to their cultural development and enhanced their lives. In that way it is like taking art, creative writing, and/or music courses. None of those are “necessary” to living, but they make our lives as humans more expressive and beautiful.</p>
<p>Why in the world do most students need to take any higher level math? I, an excellent math student but not in a math-oriented career, have never used anything beyond Algebra I and Geometry since I graduated from college. </p>
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</p>
<p>Everyone’s computer/iPod/iPad has a calculator on it. Why should children learn to do arithmetic? </p>
<p>Why should anyone have to learn to use an oven when we have microwaves that can do practically anything an oven can do? Why should anyone learn French or German any more? We can just use our translation devices, and we ought to concentrate on Spanish and Chinese anyway. Why should a person learn to paint or hand draw anything? He/she can use a computer. (By the way, the drafting teacher at our school doesn’t go right to CAD. He says it’s important for students to get a basis in using pencil, paper, and drafting instruments before they go to the computer.)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t pass a law to mandate that schools teaching cursive writing because I don’t believe legislatures should micromanage school curriculum. However, we will have all lost something if no one learns to write cursive any more.</p>
<p>The idea that cursive is faster than writing for notes is silly. I am the secretary for our local home owners association. Not only do I have no trouble keeping up with the conversation, but when the meeting is over I don’t have to transcribe the whole thing. I go through fill out any abbreviations I may have used and correct typos. And while I can read my cursive just fine, it’s still easier to read a typed transcript.</p>
<p>If signatures are important, we could just teach kids to sign their name.</p>
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<p>Proclaiming that this idea is “silly” because this is not your personal experience is not raising the level of discourse. For people who do not use cursive much or at all, no doubt printing is faster. The people I know who write in cursive regularly say that they write much faster than cursive. Neither experience is “silly”; it just is.</p>
<p>For those of us who are fast typists, typing is faster than any kind of handwriting, cursive or print. I’m glad I know how to write as well, though.</p>
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But at some point, you don’t make everybody learn Middle English so they can read Chaucer.</p>
<p>I have to also say that I’m skeptical about how often anybody has to read cursive–and furthermore, it isn’t very difficult to read, even if you don’t write in cursive yourself. In my mind, the waste of time is making kids practice writing in cursive. Take one day and teach them to write a signature–done.</p>
<p>While it may be that writing in cursive is faster, how much faster is it, really? And could one reason it seems so much faster be that kids aren’t taught to practice printing rapidly?</p>
<p>Personally, I hate cursive, and I stopped using it as soon as my teachers would let me. So did my kids. But I recognize that some people find it an easier, faster way to write than printing. Why would people want to keep kids from learning what might be the best way for them to write? And, as I said before, it’s hardly a huge time commitment, most of the practice can be combined with other lessons, and even for the kids who prefer in the end to print, it’s still a good workout for the hand. I can no longer hand write nearly as fast or as long as I did as a student, because my hand is out of shape from too much typing. For those who say, everyone just takes notes on a computer, were you ever a STEM student? Try writing organic chemistry notes on the fly on a computer…</p>
<p>Well, my cursive is much faster than my printing but my dad (engineer) always printed (drafting and other engineer stuff) and he’s pretty fast at that too (I couldn’t keep up with him). He also learned cursive but just doesn’t use it unless a signature is needed . I will say that his printing is distinctive (at least to me) and almost as good signature-wise (meaning sometimes I can’t read it either but he can).
Glad I learned cursive in school but could have done without the angst of picky teachers that Mini brought up (I really laughed at that). I don’t think it should be graded (or maybe just get an “A” for effort-type thing). But I would still teach it–don’t really care that we have computers to do the work for us. Don’t care we have calculators either–multiplication tables are important (third grade is pretty important!). Same with microwaves–cooking something edible in an oven is worth learning. Guess I’m sort of old school–reading, writing, 'rithmatic.</p>
<p>An aside to Roman (per post 88)–LISTEN or WATCH some Shakespeare. You need the performance. Forget reading it–his best works were plays–it’s like reading a screenplay…now they fight, now there’s a wild car chase…time for a passionate kiss…all of which is not too exciting on paper. Get a movie and watch it–the stories are wonderful and as good today as they were back then. Truly classic. And the old english language becomes so normal part way through a movie or audio book that you end up talking like that…which isn’t as good…</p>
<p>One thing–what’s the big deal about signatures? I’ve been using a totally illegible scrawl for years, and it has never mattered one bit.</p>