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[quote=Anonymous]This whole thread is up in arms about cursive, but what I'm noticing at my daughter's school is that even hand printing is a skill left by the wayside. Most writing is done on computers, tests are online, and in talking to her teacher, I learned that the plan is to ease on hand writing of *any* sort, while ramping up the computer skills, in preparation for the SOLs -- which are multiple full-days of computer testing.

Back to school night, one of the 3rd grade teachers responded to a parent's question on the topic by rolling her eyes and stating that with everything else they have to cover, they'll get to it if they have time, but don;t hold your breath.

So PP 4th grade teacher posting on 3/7, they may well be in the POS, but they are NOT taught in school.

My 3rd grader -- who is, in fact, interested in cursive writing -- cannot read even the stuff printed in a book.She will never be able to read a doctor's scribble, or a letter, or read the Declaration of Independence in a facsimile. Unless we compensate at home. Writing takes practice -- the same practice they ought to be getting in the 7 hours they already are at school. Too many fundamental skills are left to the diligent parent and tired-out child to cover in the few hours after school. Foreign languages? Word studies? Proper math?

To those who claim keyboarding skills are more important -- they are only a temporary input solution, while technology moves forward. Tablet in hand, would you rather have your input be a keyboard -- physical or virtual, or have access to a proper pen that you could use to take rich notes that include connections, side drawings, links and annotations?

The keyboard ties you down, and chances are, 10 years from now, they will start to become obsolete. But the kids will have spent precious school years learning this ephemeral skill to the detriment of the art of *real* note-taking, which will support them regardless of the medium used. And yes, cursive writing supports long periods of cramp-free rapid note taking, an essential skill in any advanced discipline. t's not about the curlicues -- it's about a practical skill and the safety of your child's carpal tunnel.

I do see keyboarding as a necessary skill, so that kids learn how to create proper documents in the workplace. But why spend precious hours in the writing class teaching a 7 year old how to create a report, when that same kid could *hand* write a much thicker, creative and interesting report at that age, then learn about formatting in Word a few years later, when it would only take then a few minutes to do so? Or simply do so in Computer Class,not in the time dedicated to research (on a computer) and writing.

As 3rd grade is more than halfway over, at my child's Blue-Ribbon, advanced academic school, I see her education being nothing more than strictly necessary for filling up the blue-collar jobs of the future. The keyboard-driven writing is ok for linear thinkers, for routine writing, for consuming pre-packaged information. The school touts those as the skills of the future. I claim that the future CANNOT be led by the outcome of this cost-reduced education.

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