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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

It makes no sense, you cannot be adept at science unless you are highly literate, [b]learning cursive helps improve literacy; verbal, reading, and writing) proficiency. That is scientific fact.[/b] How can one be so proSTEM and anti-science at the same time??[/quote]

Could you post some links to some of this research that learning cursive, specifically, helps improve literacy and verbal proficiency? Not handwriting in general - specifically cursive. For children without particular special needs.[/quote]

Yes, please because all I have is anecdata that shows the opposite: two highly literate kids who can't write English cursive.[/quote]

How well will they do on an AP exam which requires responding to complex, timed questions?  Being able to read is one thing. Quickly responding in writing  to Qs about complex texts is another.

How well will they do?????[/quote]

They are doing great on their AP exams, thanks.[/quote]

Nobody is saying that kids without cursive are doomed to failure.

Cursive is a useful tool.  Like most tools it presents easier ways of doing things that could  be done in other ways.

Today, most professional writers probably use computers to write their novels/plays, etc.  A generation ago, writers used typewriters.  For much of history, writers used a quill pen.  Clearly, great literature was created with less effective tools.

I'm not suggesting that cursive is the ideal tool for all jobs, but for cases like taking essay tests when computer usage isn't an option, or in note-taking, I think it is the best tool for the task.

While I think it's wonderful that your kid well on the AP test, a mastery of cursive might have made it easier for them to do well.  It would have meant less time during the test devoted to the mechanics of writing.  It also would have made it easier for them to take lecture notes to study the material which the test covers.

[/quote]

I think you overstated the case, and probably freaked out some parents in a sensationalist way that was potentially harmful. I'm not against cursive; I tried to teach it my kids, and they did learn it, but they don't use it. I felt it important to provide my counterpoint. You think it might have been easier for my kids to do well if they used the cursive they learned, but my point is that the achievement wasn't hard in the first place, so how they took notes and wrote essays was up to them and style was irrelevant as long as the grader could read the final product. Everyone develops their own most comfortable grip, even if experts say it isn't the "optimal" grip for most humans. Similarly, every writer settles into their own fastest and easiest-for-them penmanship style, and no two people's style of writing is identical. No one would borrow my law school notes, because no one could decipher my style of note taking. What mattered is that my style worked for me. You wouldn't like my kids' penmanship, my oldest's printed letters aren't even formed in the typical way, but it doesn't slow them down or hold them back.

For the record, I do think schools should still teach it; but I don't think kids who didn't learn it are at the disadvantage you suggest.[/quote]

Cursive is not going to "improve" your kid's AP exam scores.  I printed on my AP exams, and got all 5s and have two Ivy League degrees.  This was decades ago, and I learned cursive in school and still opted to print because my printing is neater and I wanted the reader/grader to be able to understand my writing. Cursive doesn't get you a high score on an AP exam.  And all the people talking about the "scientific evidence" that cursive improves learning, are pointing to articles about the link between handwriting and learning.  Handwriting=printing+cursive.  [/quote]

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