I keep seeing this, or variations of this on (surprise) the book o' face.
No one ever posts a good reason for the idea, though.
It seems to mostly be, "I had to do it so everyone else should have to, too."
Add, "We've lost too much of the way we used to do things" and you pretty much have all the reasons why.
I'm not sure cursive is important.
Some of my kids want to be able to write in cursive, although our school doesn't teach it. Anytime one of them comes to me and asks how to write their name (usually that's what they want) in cursive, I show them how to do it.
Occasionally they want me to write Happy Birthday or I Love You on the front of a card they're making. I'm happy to do it.
We've been working on 'bubble letters', so I sometimes lightly sketch the guide lines and the kids finish the work with markers and colored pencils.
Over the years, a few of my children have been very interested in learning how to write everything in cursive, and I think that wish should be honored.
I do what I can, helping them form letters and telling them things like the fact that no one's handwriting looks like anyone else's and that my own handwriting has changed over the years, I add more swirly stuff and it's mixed a little with printing. Unique, just like everyone's.
When I was a second grader, I remember being obsessed with learning how to write in cursive. I drove my teacher crazy asking when we'd start it.
A line on my report card from that year said, "Susan is the only student who learned cursive handwriting in less than a week."
I wonder what she'd think of my handwriting now.
It doesn't look anything like it did then, but it's much more legible than it was in second grade.
So forcing people to learn it?
I don't understand that.
I feel that way about many of the things kids are forced to learn in school. A great deal of the stuff they must acquire can be picked up from the world around us.
Having a piece of paper for every little fact they memorize and the constant specter of being 'behind' strikes fear into their little hearts. And the hearts of their parents.
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| Boooooo! You're gonna get behind! |
So many useless bits of knowledge are made mandatory and there isn't room or time for things like creative expression. Or music or art classes or just time to dream. To sit with a book and shut out the world.
Nope, instead they're forced to memorize all the state capitals.
They're threatened with the idea they will not be promoted to the next grade if they 'fail' multiplication.
I've met kids who actually puke with the worry over those 'important' state tests.
I think making children write a certain way just adds an extra layer of bullshit to the already-heavy load kids are forced to carry for their whole 13 year sentences.
And 'because I had to do it' isn't a valid reason to burden them with that.
I've heard genealogist lament that the knowledge of cursive will be lost. How will anyone be able to read historical documents if they aren't taught cursive. I have difficulty reading cursive from the 1700s. It is very different from the cursive that I learned. But not many people, even genealogist actually read historical documents. It really isn't a must have skill. There are many other things that they could remove from the curriculum and improve it, starting with the excessive study of dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteFeeding kids a boxed/canned curriculum is doing a grave disservice to them all. One of the things I'm so glad I didn't do to my own kids.
DeleteExcessive study of all kinds of things that aren't relevant to many of them. Every year or so, the news laments that we have a high dropout rate and people demand we throw more money at the problem.
The problem would be solved if kids weren't serving forced sentences and spending a huge amount of time jumping through educratic hoops. Offering them a relevant-to-them education and experiences would fix most of the issues.
http://www.cursivelogic.com/why-cursive
ReplyDeleteIn a nutshell, it is better for their developing brains, and retention/mastery of material being written down (compared to typed).
I just picked this one article (of many) since it encapsulated all the major research. But I can't see cursive really coming back, at least not in public school, since it is not a subject that can be tested for and measured to prove a school is meeting state standards. Sigh. My dd (recently student teaching - now has her license is searching for her first real job!) commented more than once that the fifth graders she had were very behind - several grades in many cases - in reading and writing - it was hard and so no one forced them, when younger, to do it. Had they had some daily practice in getting words on paper, in cursive, would they be better off now? I wonder.
I don't think force is the answer.
DeleteWhen I read something like that, I ponder my own two kids who were NOT forced to learn to read or to write. Both of them used a computer, Lyssa more than Matt, to get their ideas down. Lyssa was able to type about 80 wpm at the age of 8. No kidding. Had I forced her to write those words instead of typing them, the sensory issues and other stuff she had going on would have resulted in the stories never being written.
I don't have the answers. But when an educrat thinks something should HAVE to be forced, I tend to go alllll the way in the opposite direction. I don't like being... interfered with. Kids hate that, too.
I know they don't teach it now, but oddly all 3 of mine can write their name well in cursive. And Youngest is only 17. I have to get signatures all the time on packages/letters at work and the irony is the only ones who are ever legible are the very old (like 70+) and the very young (under 20). I agree that we may not need to teach it, but why not have it be a lesson in art class? After all, isn't a signature nothing more than a way to express who we are?
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about legible. I see a lot of signatures, my parents have to sign their kids out at pickup time and I've met a LOT of parents over the last 15 years. I'd say that one out of every 25 signatures is legible. But of course their scrawled signatures are unique to them, and would be difficult to forge, I think. As for 'art'? Make it a contest with prizes for the most creative, the most legible, the most 'fun'... there'd be some enthusiasm. MAKE them do it? MAKE them take an art class or whatever... well, you get some who will do it, some who will deliberately do it wrong and those who won't bother.
DeleteYears ago I hired a paroled convict knowing about his past. The job didn't involve handling money so I wasn't too concerned. He asked for a small loan and I gave him a personal check for $20. In a few minutes he returned the check. It was now for $2,000! He told me he appreciated my taking a chance with him and proceeded to show me how to write checks so that they couldn't be easily altered. He also encouraged me to write my signature in an elaborate cursive. I've done both every since and on two occasions that has saved me some grief.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere awhile back that many people who went to prison in the 60s-80s were ale to greatly improve their forgery and other scam skills during their time of incarceration. All those skills in one location, kinda like a smorgasbord.
DeleteMy signature is pretty elaborate. I don't know if that's ever helped me out or not, but I get some compliments.
I don't know if they should make it mandatory but how are kids going to read some of the old papers that are written in cursive. I just think it's a shame that one more thing might be lost for the generation in school right now.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we'll develop a subset of experts in antiquities who can read those papers. Or, someone might type them all up so they're in a more modern format. Everyone can read them, then. Well, if they learn to read.
DeleteI don't feel bad about the loss of cursive, or at least not bad enough to feel alarmed and force kids to learn it.
I am less worried about kids writing in cursive. What I am really surprised at is the number of kids that can't read a clock unless it's digital. My spousal unit gets them in the school office all the time - and these are high school aged kids!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they spend a lot of time teaching it here, either. Judging by the kids I have in my group, not much. I help them read the clock any time they ask me what time it is, though. I suppose it doesn't REALLY matter, everything is digital these days. Definitely another 'lost skill' though.
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