Is Cursive Writing Becoming Obsolete?
I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion in technology and education circles about cursive writing and whether it’s becoming obsolete. It’s not being taught in some elementary schools, where there is a belief that time is better spent learning other skills. According to CNN, "forty out of 50 states in the United States have adopted the Common Core curriculum, which phases out cursive writing in the classroom, for their public schools. According to its mission statement, Common Core seeks to teach skills that are 'robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.' In Common Core, the time formerly devoted to teaching cursive is spent on learning to type and other digital skills." What do you think?
posted by Gayle Stein at
3:38 PM
2 Comments:
Handwriting matters ... But does cursive matter?
Research shows: the fastest and most legible handwriters avoid cursive. They join only some letters, not all of them: making the easiest joins, skipping the rest, and using print-like shapes for those letters whose cursive and printed shapes disagree. (Citation on request.)
Reading cursive still matters -- this takes just 30 to 60 minutes to learn, and can be taught to a five- or six-year-old if the child knows how to read. The value of reading cursive is therefore no justification for writing it.
Remember, too: whatever your elementary school teacher may have been told by her elementary school teacher, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over signatures written in any other way. (Don't take my word for this: talk to any attorney.)
Yours for better letters,
Kate Gladstone — CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works
Director, the World Handwriting Contest
Co-Designer, BETTER LETTERS handwriting trainer app for iPhone/iPad
http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
I think that clear handwriting is far more important than whether or not to write in cursive - and, on average, people that use exclusively cursive have handwriting that is harder to read.
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