<p>Interesting question, pg. We had a person who does calligraphy come in and do a workshop in one of my ug classes. He got paid very, very good money to do calligraphy… including our names on our diplomas. It started as a hobby and became his livelihood.</p>
<p>I think the fine motor skills development is important. It’s not just about handwriting. Fine motor skills are needed by surgeons, artists, scientists, craftspeople and musicians. Of course if some kid has a specific issue with it which is interfering with their academic studies, the school should find a way to accommodate that.</p>
<p>Niquii77, I regret that my post was unclear.</p>
<p>I’m saying learning cursive IS a big deal. I learned through this experience with my son (the anecdote) that, compared to printing, cursive requires many more thoughts per word to connect all the letters. </p>
<p>The psychologist said (since I asked) that it wasn’t a fine motor skill deficit. Rather, it was a brain/fine motor processing issue. The brain told him to write it one way, but it came out looking another way. He’d look at it and know it didn’t look the way it should. He’d try again and couldn’t get his hand to do what his brain was commanding. </p>
<p>I would say it was the only real impediment to his education. Once he was permitted to write in speed printing, he could write stories, and later take notes fast enough in MS and HS, to excel academically.</p>
<p>I’m in my 60s and I’m still mad that I never got on the Honor Roll in elementary school because I always got a C in handwriting. No amount of practice or effort on my part made my writing acceptable. I was amazed and gratified that my kids were never graded on handwriting. And in fact S is dysgraphic. He can’t print at all (has to use keyboard.) We had enough trouble getting teachers to believe that. I’m grateful we didn’t have to fight the cursive battle.</p>
<p>Are printed names easier to forge than signatures? This is from a New York Times article:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html</a></p>
<p>it’s not necessary, but i think students should learn it.
If they don’t, nobody will use it, and it’ll go extinct ???</p>
<p>Haven’t read through all 9 pages, but I’m in favor of learning cursive. I still see handwriting constantly in my world (a senior corporate lawyer with a mega-company), whether for notes on documents, records that are reviewed in litigation, etc. Likewise, I have to write on a daily basis. Reports of cursive’s death are premature. Like anything else, not having a skill may mean that a student doesn’t have skills that are needed for particular career opportunities in the future. </p>
<p>Sure, a student might not need cursive in a chosen career 20 years later. Or it may also prove to be another class-distinction with the well-educated having the ability and others having to print their way through life. The majority of students might not use poetry, algebra or other subjects taught in school either but we don’t eliminate items from the curriculum on that basis. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it might be moved to art class and replace pottery, paper mache, coloring with crayons and other art forms that are less practical, and be graded on a pass-fail basis.</p>
<p>I am shocked to see this thread. I had to learn cursive in 3rd grade! I had no idea they weren’t teaching it anymore. I think it should still be taught.</p>
<p>I think that they should! Penmanship and precision. The more you know, the more you’ll understand the world around you. How else would children be able to decipher the Declaration of Independence or other such important documents in history?</p>
<p>What else could everybody commiserate about 50 years later? It’s a rite of passage.</p>
<p>I think to know how to write your name or make notes is something that the computer/digital age will never totally replace. Buying a house or a car??? …then you will have to write you name and perhaps also fill in other required information. On the other hand, ‘penmanship’ where it is more about who has the best looking writing isn’t of much value.</p>
<p>I can’t believe high school students are freaking about having to sign their names. This is beyond ridiculous.</p>
<p>I’d be interested in knowing if any other country in the world is debating over whether cursive writing is a necessary skill, or if this is unique to the United States. Agree with you actingmt - this is foolishness, and distracts from more important discussions about substantive curriculum issues.</p>
<p>I don’t think students need to be taught cursive writing- there is plenty of cursing already on TV and social media.</p>
<p>So, I was curious and asked my 19-year old reasonably successful and intelligent college student son about this last night and gave him a short lesson in cursive. Turns out he learned it in 3rd grade, never used it again and promptly forgot about it along with 99-percent of everything else he learned that year. ( That’s according to him. I’m guessing he retained something. LOL.) He takes notes at school by hand but basically prints and says very few students take notes on a laptop. The few that bring them to class are usually on Facebook. Some professors don’t allow them. He scribbles something that passes for a signature. The funny thing is he can read cursive and apart from a couple of letters and loops he does know it but doesn’t think he knows it. Very strange.</p>
<p>Writing in cursive is a basic life skill. While it may be “outdated” for generations that are increasingly tech-savvy, the it hasn’t gone extinct from our culture. It doesn’t take long to learn, and it prevents students from appearing ignorant, in my opinion - “I don’t read cursive.”</p>
<p>I learned it once in either elementary or middle school (forget which), and never used it for the rest of my schooling. I wouldn’t have even been able to read it if asked. When I studied Office Administration at Job Corps one of the first things I learned was cursive. Within two weeks I’d completely forgotten it. I can’t remember ever being in a situation where I needed to be able to read cursive. I’ve toyed with learning it and using it for all my writing because it’s pretty, but it’s too hard to read. It feels to me that it’s very subpar compared to printing, so I don’t see why it should be used outside of art and history fields.</p>
<p>For those of you who were taught cursive, I find it hard to believe that you never played around with writing it in your spare time. I know I had always written in cursive at times in notes, diaries, when I would draw a picture and wanted “fancy handwriting”. Perhaps, how I was taught cursive was a more tender way, less forced that encouraged me retain the skill. Perhaps, the year of school which kids are taught cursive (seems to be a prevailing 3rd grade) is too late? Perhaps, teach the kids earlier? </p>
<p>I know of my bias. Handwriting comes easy to me. I would always write and draw with both hands when I wa younger. When I grew older, I would frequently switch my handwriting, sitting in all caps ones week to bubbly handwriting the next, sharp e’s one days to changing the tails ok my u’s. It’s somewhat what hard for me to see kids, who were young at the time, just “forget” it. </p>
<p>If I were to ask one of you guys who say you don’t “remember”, what does a cursive “f” look like or what does a cursive “v” look like. You wouldn’t be able to tell me? You wouldn’t be able to “tell” your hand the movements it needs to make?</p>
<p>[ERIC</a> - A Comparison of Speed and Legibility of Manuscript and Cursive Handwriting of Intermediate Grade Pupils., 1970](<a href=“ERIC - Education Resources Information Center”>ERIC - ED056015 - A Comparison of Speed and Legibility of Manuscript and Cursive Handwriting of Intermediate Grade Pupils., 1970)</p>
<p>Faster? Maybe not.</p>
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<p>It’s really not hard to read if you’re exposed to it at a young age and practice with it on and off.</p>