Cursive Banned?

[Anonymous]

Our third grade student just started class this week. She was told today that she was not allowed to write in cursive. Has anyone else encountered this and do you know the rationale? Her cursive is much neater than her print and cursive tends to be more efficient/useful as an adult. I guess it is not a huge deal, but it seems pretty silly.

[Anonymous]

If it's true, it's a teacher quirk. If you wish, you can contact the teacher and verify, and if she confirms, you have the right to push back, contact the Principal and insist. The dumbing down of America continues.

A 3rd grade teacher told my DD the same thing and thank goodness they created a new classroom and DD was switched to a new teacher before I want ballistic. Every other teacher has always complimented my elementary-aged kids on their cursive and they always encouraged it. (That same weird teacher made pretty racially discriminatory comments to other parents and is generally perceived to be very narrow-minded, if not downright racist.)

[Anonymous]

Some teachers are not very bright or competent (education degrees scrape the bottom of the barrel in the USA), and this teacher probably doesn't feel up to reading anything that's not in block handwriting.

[Anonymous]

There is no need to be nasty to teachers. I taught for many years and was always at the top of my classes in schools. Generalizations like that are made by uneducated people.

You can just ask the teacher, you know. Perhaps it was for just this assignment. Perhaps she is actually not forming the letters correctly. Perhaps it was a cooperative activity and the other kids have not learned to read cursive yet.

Just ask the teacher, before starting crap here.

[Anonymous]

Outside DMV. My son started public in 2nd, teacher asked him not to write in cursive because the other kids couldn't read it. Meant they couldn't work on projects together and such.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Outside DMV. My son started public in 2nd, teacher asked him not to write in cursive because the other kids couldn't read it. Meant they couldn't work on projects together and such.

Me again. Sorry, no he started in 3rd. Public school doesn't teach cursive.

[Anonymous]

You need to find a different school, or grow a pair and tell this one that your kid will write however they like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our third grade student just started class this week. She was told today that she was not allowed to write in cursive. Has anyone else encountered this and do you know the rationale? Her cursive is much neater than her print and cursive tends to be more efficient/useful as an adult. I guess it is not a huge deal, but it seems pretty silly.

What was the context?

The purpose of writing is to convey meaning, and given that most third graders can't read cursive, using cursive on anything that would be read by other third graders defeats the point. I wouldn't ban cursive from my class, but I'd absolutely direct kids to print on things that are going to be read by other kids.

Print is far more useful for adults than cursive, given that most forms etc . . . require printing, and most things that aren't forms are more efficiently typed. So, she should be practicing her printing as much as her cursive.

[Anonymous]

Ha, I wish my kid had learned how to write cursive. We barely had printing down at our local ES before 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha, I wish my kid had learned how to write cursive. We barely had printing down at our local ES before 3rd grade.

Why? It's a useless antiquated skill

[Anonymous]

At that age, other children may not be able to read cursive, which prevents peer reviews and collaborative work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, I wish my kid had learned how to write cursive. We barely had printing down at our local ES before 3rd grade.

Why? It's a useless antiquated skill

It's excellent for eye-hand coordination. it trains the brain to learn functional specialization. It allows for faster note-taking, which when done by hand, increases knowledge retention. It's easier for dyslexic people to read/process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, I wish my kid had learned how to write cursive. We barely had printing down at our local ES before 3rd grade.

Why? It's a useless antiquated skill

Says the person who can’t write in cursive… You can write more quickly using cursive, so it’s better for taking notes.

Cursive is also a more elegant type of handwriting people will use in letters and notes. If you don’t mind looking like an ill-bred bumpkin to the upper crust (because you are an American damnit and not a snob), by all means, continue to write your thank you notes in print.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our third grade student just started class this week. She was told today that she was not allowed to write in cursive. Has anyone else encountered this and do you know the rationale? Her cursive is much neater than her print and cursive tends to be more efficient/useful as an adult. I guess it is not a huge deal, but it seems pretty silly.

What was the context?

The purpose of writing is to convey meaning, and given that most third graders can't read cursive, using cursive on anything that would be read by other third graders defeats the point. I wouldn't ban cursive from my class, but I'd absolutely direct kids to print on things that are going to be read by other kids.

Print is far more useful for adults than cursive, given that most forms etc . . . require printing, and most things that aren't forms are more efficiently typed. So, she should be practicing her printing as much as her cursive.

Especially if print is the area where she needs to improve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age, other children may not be able to read cursive, which prevents peer reviews and collaborative work.

Too bad. Why should one kid be dumber down for somebody else. As for peer review, the better name is sharing errors to completely confuse each other.