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Should cursive writing be required in schools?
Only three state have made cursive a part of the core curriculum requirements while 45 states require proficiency in computer keyboarding at the elementry level. Some states have made cursive optional.
Has our society advanced to the point of where handwriting has become unnecessary.
What impacts can you see on not being able to write in cursive. Could printing be just as acceptable?
Karl Meyer
"But it's faster!" I have seen people print just as fast as a cursive hand can be written. Also, if it is speed you're after, shorthand outpaces everything, including a professional typist with a keyboard. Schools might do well to teach this.
"When I write this way, my thoughts are more cohesive because it enables me to analyse as I write." If this is true for you, that's fine. However, it's not true for me, or for the 1 billion Chinese people who write with pictographs, many of whom I'm sure have cohesive thoughts and ample analytical ability.
"It's part of our history and culture." I agree that learning how to read cursive may be important culturally--for example, this skill would find use in examining primary source documents. Learning how to write cursive may also be important culturally and could have a place in art classes.
"We need to use cursive to sign things." Perhaps, but people's signatures will always be unique, printed or not. Interestingly, in Asia signatures are not used. Instead, they use a stamp (in Japan, it's called a HANKO).
"Why is handwriting on the wane?" I believe it is a symptom of a big shift in our culture that began with the immediacy that electronics brought to our communication. Handwriting is linear and progressive, but communication has become more oral and immediate. In other words, our literate culture is taking on features of an oral culture. What it will become, I don't know. However, I think that it is important to give respect to our new cultural norm, and if this means ditching an outmoded method of writing, there is nothing wrong with that. Or with experiencing a few growing pains:)
Marshall McLuhan has lots to say about this cultural shift in "Understanding Media."
Breeanna Geary
Blake Harting
Tify Ndanoboi 30+
I'll also add, that i think age, as some have commented has nothing to do with this, eg Tiffany, nor am i disagreeing with Danger, but rather hopefully giving him the very reason he asks for.
I quote myself...
Tech or no, its about the flow of thought from ones mind through to the page, the act of actually feeling the pen transfer, the control, the refinement, the thought and the eloquence of language as you join the nuances together. The eloquence of sustaining thought in a flowing manner, just as speech.
In fact cursive already reminds me of speech, of a conversation with you the reader, who is unseen, where non-cursive, is the antithesis of this, it's the barking of commands.
And in reference to both of those paragraphs, you can see cursive in my first example, and capitalization in the second.
Those being;
1) The declaration of independence. ( click on the image to enlarge it )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
2) The Ten commandments.
http://christianrep.com/blog/the-good-stuff/the-ten-commandments/
Alexa Corbett
Tify Ndanoboi 30+
In fact I was so shocked i searched to see if the origin post was true, that's how much I didn't believe this and how stunned I am.
I am honestly NOT joking with you here, not at all.
Tech or no, its about the flow of thought from ones mind through to the page, the act of actually feeling the pen transfer, the control, the refinement, the thought and the eloquence of language as you join the nuances together. The eloquence of sustaining thought in a flowing manner, just as speech.
In fact cursive already reminds me of speech, of a conversation with you the reader, who is unseen, where non-cursive, is the antithesis of this, it's the barking of commands.
Its now no surprise to me, that most email's I get now are "twitterized". I'd always read them as if somehow feeling the person didn't learn nor has the power to fully express their full meaning, and I think this must have an influence on it.
Same too, it's clearly a sad state of affairs how people cant read more than one or two lines without being distracted or bored, as the blatantly obvious mean is not given, but rather the subtleties of the situations.
Which is why I've taken to put lines breaks unlike Alexa, as if to somehow help people get through the difficulty of horror of looking at long paragraph.
Lastly cursive, has taught me to think BEFORE I write, even if it's typed, as it makes me think about the flow the structure the steam of consciousness, the thoughts, the ideas, the possibilities. And only when that's been formulated to put with pen to paper, or hands on the keyboard.
So in some ways we're making things harder for children now and when they get to university as this is where, and in later life, they'll need those very skills.
Or would we rather condemn those children to a life where the only skill required is to ask..."Do you want fries with that?"
Don Anderson 20+
sy st em
th-ey can t re~ad. ;)
Mitchell Parent
From the time society began to have form, language has been integral to our understanding of the world around us. Initially our forms of communication might have been through action, that is to say, through hand gestures, the physical interaction with the things around us, body language. As we developed the linguistic qualities that have determined the world's languages today, we began to form words that have meaning within context. Grammar began to form and structure became inherent in how we spoke and articulated to others our identities and relationships. Soon we invented a system that we could use to document our history, and it is through that system that we have progressed in understanding the world.
Cursive is a thing that notably left us with a legacy of hard copy accounts of world history. Even more important, the hard copy manufacturing of language itself (any language) has allowed us to gain an understanding of other societies and cultures, both ancient and current. While it is fine that communication is moving to an ever more present e-format, just the fact that our documents might become and forever be electronic is dangerous, as it is possible to lose electronic data. If even to preserve the legacy of civilization, the hard-copy, hand-written form of documentation is important, or at the very least having printed versions of our collective global knowledge.
Leanna Walters
Tiffany Spaulding
Alexa Corbett
Steven Artedi
I support cursive education and I have enjoyed reading appeals in this forum that argue for cursive's historical and cultural value. I myself enjoy calligraphy. What bothered me about the post above was the presumption that cursive writing is closely tied to analytical thinking.
In the spirit of quoting dystopian authors I would like to end this post with a quote that I think is relevant to this discussion. From Juan Ramón Jiménez and in the epigraph of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" : "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way."
Don Anderson 20+
Too much of history is in cursive to let it be a forgotten art.
Plus with the future advancements in voice to text and text to voice, do you think all typing, keyboarding and printing should optional some day?
Tiffany Spaulding
Yes, I think that typing, writing, keyboarding, all of them will drop out of the daily routine in less years than I prefer to admit.
Next year my older son will be a Senior. His school is switching to an all IPAD Curriculum. They will have all of their text books on the IPAD, They do their homework, write papers and take tests on line. For him, the only thing left to "write" are math problems. They take notes on their laptops. He uses verbal text.
Tify Ndanoboi 30+
george lockwood 30+
OR to spell.
NLP discusses strategies to learn to spell more quickly and easily.
Kate Gladstone
> A few years ago all texts were changed from the generality of "he" or "him" to include both sexes and the term >s/he came into effect and was substuted [sic] for all "he" or "him" in texts.
ALL texts, everywhere? The ones in my library haven't changed — neither has all of Google, which includes recent prose containing "him/her" along with whatever usages you suppose to have "all" been abolished.
By whom, sir, were they abolished — and how?.
Kate Gladstone
Kate Gladstone
"Kate: s/he is the shortened she and/or he"
I would have thought so, too, but of course I'd immediately realized that it wouldn't have made any sense because what you'd written was "let s/he" ... and expanding that to "let she and/or he" wouldn't have made any more sense than the original. If "let him or her" is the intent, wouldn't the abbreviated version be "let him/her"? I'm trying to figure out why, and where, a (presumably) native speaker of English would use "let s/he" instead of "let him/her." Have I been wrong, all these years, to have "him" and "her" in my vocabulary? I'd thought that I spoke this language pretty well ...
Re:
" .... whalla in general means there it is"
I don't understand the phrase "means there it is." Of course I'm familiar, like most literate user of English, with the word "voilà" — pronounced "vwa-LA," borrowed from French, and meaning _precisely_ "there it is." Magicians, of course, often use that word. Could you have had "voilà" in mind, and not bothered much about how to spell it or pronounce it?
Robert Winner 50+
Walla or voila ... a rose is a rose by any other name. Please contact the magicians union to issue a change.
Does either of the corrections you suggest impact the question of cursive writing?
Thanks for your reply. Bob.
William Humphrey
walter crockett
Kate Gladstone
Kate Gladstone
Charles Peeto
Kate Gladstone
I don't understand "let s/he"/"whalla"/"a k class" — are those abbreviations from texting? What do they stand for?
Robert Winner 50+
Thank you for your participation in this conversation. Bob.
Kate Gladstone
" But I think this way of 'efficiency' is highly individual and nothing which could actually be taught."
That's false, though — because I teach it, and so do colleagues of mine, and our students learn it with pleasure and success. In fact ... The first published handwriting textbooks taught this way of writing. (Let me know if you want a link to the very earliest one, with an English translation on the site.)
To see this type of writing taught today, visit:
Http://www.italic-handwriting.org
http://www.BFHhandwriting.com
http://www.handwritingsuccess.com
http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
Kate Gladstone
"So if we put everyone into one single writing style because the drawing of letters for documentation purposes is no longer necessary, how can we be sure we are giving enough options for all handwriting types?"
Excellent question — which is why Italic handwriting instruction specifically outlines a wide range of options (for joining, shapes, and so on). Some Italic writers join less than others, for instance, all depending on what testable works FOR THEM ... (e.g., some will join into a letter "s" and some won't: I am of the leather schools,s. o I routinely help my students to find out which side of that particular fence THEY themselves need to be on).
In conventional handwriting, your only permitted choices are extreme (e.g., either join envy thing, or join nothing). In Italic handwriting, you have a wide spectrum of options: some joins that almost every Italic user makes, other joins that are made by rather fewer Italic users, and so on ... Like getting to draw with the whole box of crayons (and being shown how to see/feel for yourself which one makes sense for you to use right then,right there) instead of being told you must use only the very blackest black or the very whitest white and none of the shades or gradations in between them, ever.
Kate Gladstone
" ... but you are advocating an already hybridized way of handwriting?"
Yes — the specific type of hybrid I advocate teaching (from the get-go: "already hybridized," as you says hen it's taught) ) is a type that actually pre-dates any of the other systems (cursive or print-writing) taught today. It's their common ancestor: the style of the first published handwriting textbooks in our alphBet (back in Renaissance Italy) which mskes it the oldest handwriting-style (for our alphabet) that's still in continuous use.
Specifically, we had that particular category of hybrid-looking writing-style (often called "Italic") for quite a while before it eventually (d)evolved step-by-step into the cursive that people wrongly assume "must" have been around forever. If you want to know more of the facts about this, feel free to get in touch with me privately: handwritingrepair@gmail.com or 518-482-6763 (Albany, NY)
Linda Gourley
Tiffany Spaulding
Drew Kulyeshie
Now I write all capitals whenever I print anything, if I write in lowercase it is barely legible, write in cursive and if you can decipher what I wrote you are step ahead of the one who wrote it.
I had learned that they stopped teaching it in our area and I was dumbstruck, but not because it wouldn't be used, but that the opportunity for the kids to expand their knowledge and skills was lost as well. It is an art form same as calligraphy, which I also learned in a graphics class, which was a lot of fun and ultrachallenging for me. Cursive can take benign statements and make them have an altogether different meaning and that is now a lost art.
Tiffany Spaulding
Young people communicate faster and more efficiently than we ever did, shortened words, snap chat, instagram....We talked on the phone for hours, they text, email, facebook, surf the net and watch netflix all at the same time. There were many who thought the Radio, telephone, TV, and even the Typewriter were ridiculous inventions. All of those things changed the way we communicate and the "old" folks of that time were probably annoyed about it.
The nice thing about being a parent is that you can choose to educate your child the way you want them educated.
I think the physically written word will become a thing of the past in the not so distant future. I'll always keep a hand written journal, but my kids will do theirs with Dragon.
Lejan . 30+
I was born in 1969 and at the right age when the digital revolution started to roll. I learned cursive writing AND to write my first program in BASIC. I played the video game Pong as enthusiastic as I played Diablo III just 37 years later. I operate notebooks in paper and digital, and I talk to my Dragon with the same patience as I do with my cat. Yet it takes hours of work to open a single file which I stored only 15 years ago, because I can not get the software to run on modern computers. Downward compatibility is a myth and digital storage devices are not lossless, they age over time as well. :o)
I have a period in my life on which I have no paper record. In which I did not print out this beautiful e-mail of a friend, in which I did not write my thoughts onto paper and didn't print the pictures at a photo store. A single hard-drive failure wiped it all out. No backup, no data recovery possible at that time due to budget, drive dumped.
Who prints out a tweet today? Sms? Facebook comments or pictures? What will young generations hold in their hands while walking down memory lane in their late 80s? Will Twitter still be there, or Facebook? How do they keep their digital memories alive? In 'The Cloud'? Run by companies who may burst in the next 'bubble' together with all their storage hardware? Will they be able to read their Dragon memos or listen to voice recordings at a time where pdf and mp3 have become as exotic as wax cylinder recordings are today?
Personally I don't know anyone who keeps digital data up to date in formatting and compatibility. And the tricky part of 'good old times' is, that they appear later in life than we may think they will.
Kids run in their personal 'memento vacuum' and not knowing it. The old term 'Horror vacui' may get a new meaning in the future. On this I truly hope to be just old and wrong.
Kate Gladstone
When 19th-century fashions in clothing fell out of favor, this did not means the abolition of good clothing.
Mary M. 100+
Every now and again I hear the expression: "Mom, I'm so glad you taught me how to write in cursive". This always brings a warm smile to my face.
And another expression, "Mom, beside me, do you know any other young person who can write in cursive?" I always have to shake my head no.....
I personally, find writing in cursive is very handy. I have therefore chosen to teach it to my children, as well as any other interested children.
The nice thing about cursive, is that you can learn it yourself if you want to. You don't need the school to teach it to you.
Tiffany Spaulding
Mary M. 100+
I suppose that I really appreciate having in my possession an instrument that will not break upon dropping to the floor, that needs no charging, and can be easily replaced if lost or stolen, and, one which I can give away freely to anyone who needs it more than me......the pencil/pen.
Arkady Grudzinsky 50+
Also, a handwritten invitation or a thank you note indicate that the person took the time to think about each addressee individually instead of printing multiple copies of the same message without personal attention.
Since handwriting is related to personality, it is clear that cursive may not suit everyone. Some people naturally choose to write with cursive, some naturally tend to write with block letters. This brings to mind another question: should all children be taught the same curriculum at school? Some are better at languages, some at math, some like to express ideas graphically or through music. It's a tough question. If one loves cursive, it does not mean that cursive would work for everyone or that everyone needs to be taught cursive.