Should Cursive Be Taught In Schools?

[Anonymous]

I also don't have a citation but some of the SN parents I know mentioned that cursive writing is very helpful for some learning disabilities. I think it's taught at our school in third grade, but if it's not we would teach it ourselves. My first-grader can already read cursive if it's neatly done.

[Anonymous]

There are some schools that start out teaching cursive, because nanuscript is actually harder. Cursive has same starting position rather than seven. There are fewer reversals. Spacing between letters is controlled. Beginning and ending of words are emphasized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! Teach it and require it! It's FCPS 3rd grade curriculum. One of mine got it and the other didn't. It's not about AAP vs gen ed. Please write a thank you note and use cursive, young mothers. Teach your kids as well.

You value a thank you note more if it's in cursive?

PP values a thank-you note more if it's in cursive and written by the mother. Thank-you notes written by the father are lesser, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Article on the benefits of learning cursive:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201308/biological-and-psychology-benefits-learning-cursive

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1977-28241-001

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Article on the benefits of learning cursive:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201308/biological-and-psychology-benefits-learning-cursive

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1977-28241-001

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=0

Not surprisingly, the piece from Psychology Today piece is the typical opinionating anecdotal stuff without any reference to actual research, full of sentences like "The thinking level is magnified in cursive because the specific hand-eye coordination requirements are different for every letter in the alphabet." (huh?) and "because cursive letters are more distinct than printed letters, children may learn to read more easily, especially dyslexics" (again, huh?) and "I am assuming here that cursive is still taught the way I learned it over 50 years ago" (did you consider actually finding out before writing your piece?). I honestly don't know why I even bother to click on anything from Psychology Today. Maybe I think, "But surely this one will be better?" It never is, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Article on the benefits of learning cursive:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201308/biological-and-psychology-benefits-learning-cursive

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1977-28241-001

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=0

Not surprisingly, the piece from Psychology Today piece is the typical opinionating anecdotal stuff without any reference to actual research, full of sentences like "The thinking level is magnified in cursive because the specific hand-eye coordination requirements are different for every letter in the alphabet." (huh?) and "because cursive letters are more distinct than printed letters, children may learn to read more easily, especially dyslexics" (again, huh?) and "I am assuming here that cursive is still taught the way I learned it over 50 years ago" (did you consider actually finding out before writing your piece?). I honestly don't know why I even bother to click on anything from Psychology Today. Maybe I think, "But surely this one will be better?" It never is, though.

And the second piece is from 1976-77. I can't believe there's not more recent evidence on the topic.

[Anonymous]

The third piece (the one from the New York Times) refers to some research that supposedly says that cursive, in particular, may be good for people with developmental dysgraphia. But otherwise it's all about handwriting in general, not specifically cursive.

[Anonymous]

I work in an office with 20 and 30 year-olds from around the world (India, China, etc.) all with very different backgrounds. They all learned to write English in cursive. I was very embarrassed for one of our 28 year old managers who couldn't read notes from one of them and had to make a joke about it in a meeting. She was pegged as an American public school graduate who couldn't read something the rest of the room could. I think not knowing cursive limits you and is just ONE more thing being taken out of our schools while the rest of the world marches on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in an office with 20 and 30 year-olds from around the world (India, China, etc.) all with very different backgrounds. They all learned to write English in cursive. I was very embarrassed for one of our 28 year old managers who couldn't read notes from one of them and had to make a joke about it in a meeting. She was pegged as an American public school graduate who couldn't read something the rest of the room could. I think not knowing cursive limits you and is just ONE more thing being taken out of our schools while the rest of the world marches on.

I'm a bit baffled by people who can't read any cursive (except for the goofy capital letters, which are just dumb in standard American classroom cursive. I don't know what cursive people learn in Indian or Chinese schools). But ok, schools can take a week or so, maybe in third or fourth grade, to go over reading American cursive. How about that?

[Anonymous]

I sort of think of cursive as an art form- so perhaps it could be included in an art curriculum. I think most people don't mind it being taught and think it is valuable for children to learn, but they are concerned it takes away time from other endeaveurs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it should. Brain to hand connections are important in our development as thinkers.

This!

[Anonymous]

Dh and I are in STEM fields and lean toward STEM. My ds learned cursive in school and works on cursive and printing with an OT. She also has him practice reading cursive. In our case, my ds has a fine motor problem and it wasn't caught until 3rd grade. He learned cursive with great handwriting but his printing is still a bit messy sometimes. There are teachers in our middle schools and high schools that still write in cursive on the board. Some kids don't speak up when they can't read what is written on the board! So odd but I have heard of kids who say that for two years they had teacher XYZ and they couldn't read anything the teacher wrote on the board.

I don't think doing away with cursive in school is a good thing or is progressive. FWIW, my ds is 10 and is a touch typer too. It is possible to learn it all.

[Anonymous]

Most people who can do both well can write legibly faster in cursive. (Maybe because they don't have to lift their pens?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it should. Brain to hand connections are important in our development as thinkers.

+1000

Also those who write notes by hand tend to remember and synthesize them better than those who use a keyboard. And writing in cursive is easier and fast than printing.

[Anonymous]

What's nicer than a cursive signature?

The alternative is writing in print letters, which just doesn't seem very elegant or professional on paper.

Here's a question: why have (mostly public school) educators become so intimidated by teaching cursive?