Here’s what I can tell you: The honor code was the hardest part of the whole test (PSAT) . That’s because it had to be written in cursive. The minute the teacher instructed the test-takers to write the one-sentence honor statement in cursive, audible gasps broke out in the room. Cursive? Most students my age have only encountered this foreign language in letters from grandma. Even then, kids take one look and hand the postcard to their parents for translation help.
Those are the words of Miss Emily Freeman. She wrote them in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Emily is a junior at Calvary Baptist Day School in Winston-Salem, NC. Her words tell the story of what we are doing to our students as fewer schools teach cursive writing. Yes, I know the legislature approved a bill requiring “that public schools provide instruction in cursive writing.” They did the same for the teaching of multiplication tables. However we all know passing a law doesn’t make the problem go away. On the contrary, 41 states currently do not require that students learn to read and write in cursive. Common Core’s emphasis on keyboarding and the fact that cursive will not be included on any testing may mean the problem may very well get worse.
But do students really need cursive writing? What’s the big deal if students can write? Paula Bolyard explores that question in great article about just what is lost if we stop teaching cursive. The debate about cursive is far from over. Neurologists and psychologists have long touted the benefits to learning (see here and here).
The truth is when we lose our ability to write and read in cursive we lose much of our ability to communicate; with others, and our past. When is that ever a good thing?
“The truth is when we lose our ability to write and read in cursive we lose much of our ability to communicate; with others, and our past…” I firmly agree. I take pride in my ability to understand other people’s handwriting; that shows effort in understanding and communicating with folks.
As far as writing is concerned, I will stress this point: I will lose me…PRESENTLY! Just by daily observation (no test or experiment of any kind), I notice this phenomena: when I’m on the keyboard for more than an hour, I have chicken scratch for handwriting (as far as I’m concerned). My cursive has loop formation and my hand is often relaxed to perform this natural process. I kinda hate my handwriting now….and I love me some me.
Soo….”When is that ever a good thing?” When I lose my ability to write in my journals with gel pens and fountain pens, when I can no longer verify my checks or documents by means of MY signature, I better be dead or suffering from a debilitating illness. NOT because I’ve unintentionally geared myself to be attached to a mindless keyboard. Soo….NEVER.
absol-freaking-lutely! cursive, for me, began in 2nd grade. hated it then, love it now! the nuns were insistent one hour a day, dedicated to cursive! make your circles, and ‘wheat stacks’ till they’re perfect! if not, do more for homework! love cursive!
The ability to read cursive writing allows us to look into our history, to learn not only “what” was written, but “why” it was written, under what circumstances it was written. When we understand our history, we can learn from it, and reduce the number of mistakes we repeat.
I learned cursive and was praised for my penmanship thru primary education. At age 41 I gave it up for clarity and better communication, printing everything.
I learned morse code as a teenager to get my amateur radio license. I printed each letter as I copied the code. When I was preparing for the extra class license I had to copy 20 words per minute. That is only 100 characters in a minute. I found I could not print at that speed and had to teach myself to use cursive to be able to write what was being sent. Also college lectures move fast enough that printing notes can’t keep up with what needs to be written. Cursive writing is much faster than printing and typing on a keyboard on a phone is slower than cursive for most people.