Do you think it is important to know how to read/write cursive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My son's OT told me about the brain/hand connection. Studies support the notion that information is processed and retained better via handwriting than via keyboarding.

Handwriting =/= cursive.

[Anonymous]

While, for example listening to a conversation, one can capture far more detail and information using cursive than when doing block printing, and far less energy and effort is diverted into prioritization.

Cursive is much faster than printing and can capture information almost as fast as the stream of consciousness - and that helps the brain to encode information far more effectively than choppy bits and pieces via block printing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While, for example listening to a conversation, one can capture far more detail and information using cursive than when doing block printing, and far less energy and effort is diverted into prioritization.

You can (I assume).

But I can capture far more detail and information using connected print.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While, for example listening to a conversation, one can capture far more detail and information using cursive than when doing block printing, and far less energy and effort is diverted into prioritization.

You can (I assume).

But I can capture far more detail and information using connected print.

In other words, you never mastered cursive.

[Anonymous]

No and no. Who write in cursive these days? The only thing you need to know is how to sign your name. And I sure hope the schools spend their time teaching my kids basic grammar and not cursive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No and no. Who write in cursive these days? The only thing you need to know is how to sign your name. And I sure hope the schools spend their time teaching my kids basic grammar and not cursive.

That's not a very convincing argument. Lots of us dinosaurs learned handwriting AND grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While, for example listening to a conversation, one can capture far more detail and information using cursive than when doing block printing, and far less energy and effort is diverted into prioritization.

You can (I assume).

But I can capture far more detail and information using connected print.

In other words, you never mastered cursive.

I did master cursive, actually. I just didn't like it.

And, really, there are a lot of inefficiencies in Zaner-Bloser cursive (which is probably what you learned). The capital letters are needlessly decorative, for example. You need to adjust letters if you're joining a letter that ends at the midline to letter that starts at the baseline (such as be or own). I'm not a lefty, but I imagine that cursive is an even bigger nuisance for lefties.

So if cursive is better for you, then great. But it would be a mistake to conclude that it's better for everybody.

[Anonymous]

I am much slower in cursive - always was. I take notes in block print and cannot recall the last time I used cursive aside from signature. And honestly, even doing my "real" signature means I have to go slot - vs. the "scribble" version I normally use. I fail to see how it's a time saver and I fail to see how this is a critical skill my kids need.

My gramma writes me letters in cursive. Otherwise I do not encourter it in real life at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No and no. Who write in cursive these days? The only thing you need to know is how to sign your name. And I sure hope the schools spend their time teaching my kids basic grammar and not cursive.

Actually you don't need to know this. If your legal signature is printed, then it's your legal signature.

[Anonymous]

It would be a mistake to conclude that block printing is best for everybody, for example block printing is more difficult for people who have trouble with fine motor control.

[Anonymous]

Writing in cursive is important especially for boys who incidentally seemed to be the most reluctant to do so. Many children do not write their letters - they draw them. There's a difference. Writing is a flow of letters to create words, sentences and thoughts. Writing is just a process and a mechanism to express one's thoughts.

Many children who refuse to write in cursive do so because they view the creation of their letters as disconnected art and not as a continuous stream of communication. When they print they lift their pen or pencil off the page and then they must find the next place to begin again. This process of writing each letter as its own discreet form delays the thought process of completing the word, sentence, paragraph, and overall message the person is attempting to convey via their text.

It is more important to write perhaps less neatly in cursive and to complete one's thoughts and the assignment than to print neatly, but to only complete half of the assignment.

By writing in cursive the pen remains on the paper and the child does not have to continuously relocate the place to begin writing again.

For some the senecio I've described may not apply, but for those where it is applicable it can make an enormous difference.

[Anonymous]

Writing in cursive is important especially for boys who incidentally seemed to be the most reluctant to do so. Many children do not write their letters - they draw them. There's a difference. Writing is a flow of letters to create words, sentences and thoughts. Writing is just a process and a mechanism to express one's thoughts.

I agree. My 24 yr old never learned cursive and he still "draws" his letters. However, his keyboarding skills are phenomenal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And, really, there are a lot of inefficiencies in Zaner-Bloser cursive (which is probably what you learned). The capital letters are needlessly decorative, for example. You need to adjust letters if you're joining a letter that ends at the midline to letter that starts at the baseline (such as be or own). I'm not a lefty, but I imagine that cursive is an even bigger nuisance for lefties.

So if cursive is better for you, then great. But it would be a mistake to conclude that it's better for everybody.

Lefty here and I love cursive! It is much more efficient that print. It is a disgrace that cursive is being dropped by many schools along with many other fundamentals. No wonder when Jay Leno walks the street he meets a lot of uneducated Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am much slower in cursive - always was. I take notes in block print and cannot recall the last time I used cursive aside from signature. And honestly, even doing my "real" signature means I have to go slot - vs. the "scribble" version I normally use. I fail to see how it's a time saver and I fail to see how this is a critical skill my kids need.

My gramma writes me letters in cursive. Otherwise I do not encourter it in real life at all.

Chances are you are slower in cursive since you were not required to use it for many years. Cursive should be taught first in kindergarten instead of print and students should be required to do all handwritten work in cursive for multiple years. It really is not that difficult. Keyboarding can also be taught, but young children should do most of their work in cursive.

[Anonymous]

It's not another language. Kids need to learn it. If they decide not to use it, that's fine but you have to read it.

How sad it is not to be able to read letters written by your grandparents or documents written in cursive.

Stop with the crazy 2.0 stuff and teach kids how to write.