Cursive Writing a Thing of the Past?

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts) Jan 28th 2009 10:00AM

Categories: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Education

Ever since she learned to hold a pencil, Ellie has been fascinated by cursive writing. She loves the loops and curves of script writing and works hard at perfecting the art. In the past, all of this writing practice has been done at home because it was not on the curriculum at school. But now that she is in the last half of second grade, cursive writing is finally being taught in the classroom.

While most schools in the United States do teach cursive writing, when and how much varies by district. And some teachers say that they are spending less time on it and that the emphasis of the instruction has changed from making it pretty to making it efficient.

"Historically, we teach less cursive now," says third-grade teacher Michelle Webb. "It seems we have more and more standards we need to cover. The emphasis is on science and reading."

Not only is the school curriculum jam-packed with other subjects, the advent of technology has made writing things by hand less necessary. Other than a grocery list or the occasional envelope, I rarely pick up a pen. As a result, my once-beautiful handwriting has devolved into something akin to chicken scratches.

I was always taught that good penmanship was important and that messy handwriting said something about a person. I guess these days all it says is that kids have more important things to do with their time.

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Comments (16)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Paul Cyopick 1-28-2009 @ 10:23AM

Even though it's not part of the curriculum, my son's teacher insists on teaching cursive writing. I think it's a good thing, as proper penmanship never hurts.

LS 1-28-2009 @ 10:47AM

My son is in kindergarten, and he's learning "D'Nealian" as opposed to the old fashioned "printing" that we learned as kids. D'Nealian (I hope that's spelled correctly) incorporates tails and loops, much like italics, and is said to help prepare children for the transition into cursive writing. So I'm guessing that cursive IS on the curriculum for him in the future. But then, he goes to a very small school (130 kids total, spanning grades K-8), and they are able to be sticklers for details.

I personally maintain that your handwriting says something about you - check out the analysis of Timothy McVeigh's handwriting (http://www.handwriting.org/archives/97jul_02.html) - so he will be getting a LOT of monitoring by me for legible penmanship.

Finally.... I know that we are using computers more and more, but what happens if, God forbid, you have a power failure like we did in IA a couple years ago? It lasted over a week for some people. Homework, however, was still due. Pen and paper time, folks!

Carol 1-28-2009 @ 11:39AM

My daughter goes to a private school and they strictly inforce cursive writing. I like that. The publick school does not teach cursive writing because they say it isn't used anymore. Everything is typed... computers, cell phones, etc. but yet they expect them to know how to write their name in cursive writing. I believe that cursive writing needs to be taught. Cursive writing if faster than print, which brings me to my next point... taking notes in class. Will teachers/instructors allow laptops or voice recorders in classrooms for note taking? Technology is wonderful but it comes with some costs like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Eye Fatigue and other problems.

Kini 1-28-2009 @ 11:27AM

Personally, I think it is still necessary. Until EVERY CHILD EVERYWHERE is *given* a computer tablet for note taking at school!

I think it would be helpful to integrate it more into the curriculum and not actually have it as a stand-alone subject.

Pen and paper doesn't lose power, it doesn't present the "blue screen of death" and it is available nearly everywhere.

Karen 1-28-2009 @ 12:22PM

Both of my children learned cursive FIRST. At first I was opposed to it, but after some research, there appears to be some validity to the claim that their motor skills are more adept the the loopy letters of cursive than the straight stop and start of cursive.

The only problem is that they never learned to print and taught themselves. And their print is ugly.

But yes, kids take notes on laptops even in middle schools. And I can't imagine a college class that doesn't allow it.

Still, almost everyone I know has a handwriting that is part cursive and part print. They combine the elements of each that they like. I do that as well.

I don't care about "proper" formation of letters so much as long as it is legible, but the only way to have neat handwriting is through early practice. That said, for some kids, mindless copying of letters is near torture.

Kirstie 1-28-2009 @ 3:20PM

Actually, I have had several classes at my university (ironically, a school which pioneered the computer initiative back in the 80s, and was the first to include personal computers for students in tuition costs - each student at my school is REQUIRED to purchase the school laptop) which banned laptops from the classroom.

Though my school's big on technology and we've all got computers, a lot of professors lately are getting too aggravated with them - students are too busy tooling around online to pay as much attention as they would if they were taking paper and pencil notes.

Rob O. 1-28-2009 @ 3:22PM

Karen, you said, "...the only way to have neat handwriting is through early practice. That said, for some kids, mindless copying of letters is near torture."

Perhaps learning to write is tedious, but are we prepared to shortcut and shortchange our children at every step of their development when something they need to do is difficult, repetitive, and/or boring? I shudder to think of the dearth we'd have of pilots, doctors, engineers, and countless other professionals if they all avoided learning vital new skills because doing so was torturous.

Rob O. 1-28-2009 @ 3:25PM

Karen 1-28-2009 @ 5:09PM

I still think that is the exception. I recently went back to school, and I can't think of a single class that students weren't allowed to bring laptops to class.

Strange that a professor at the University level would care if the students were messing around on computers or not. I don't remember a single professor being concerned with my notes. That was for my benefit and my responsibility to do a good job. If not, it reflected in my grade.

Personally, as much as I love computers, I took my notes by hand. I found that you don't retain as much by typing as you do by writing.

Karen 1-28-2009 @ 5:10PM

Actually, it depends on the kid. I think the WAY we teach writing is often flawed. It depends on the learning style and the abilities of the student.

I'm not advocating doing away with handwriting. I personally think it is important, but I think that legible is what we are going for more than acting as if there is only one way to write.

For a kid that struggles with mindless, boring, repetitive, work, it might be better to evaluate whether or not the writing is legible rather than pick on tiny aspects of a particular style of writing that is essentially going to be ingorned by every teacher after elementary school. My son learned cursive in preschool and kindergarten. He now attends a school that teaches cursive in 3rd grade. They want him to write using their version of cursive. I say it makes no difference.

Rob O. 1-28-2009 @ 3:12PM

Good penmanship IS important and DOES say something about a person. A few thoughts:

Notetaking via pen & paper offers a cognitive opportunity that typing notes on a computer does not. The neurological process that directs thought, through the fingers, into written symbols is a highly sophisticated one. Studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express thoughts better and, I believe, it's simply more effective for learning.

It may also be worth considering that if we neglect to teach kids to write cursively, we’re also hindering their ability to read cursive writing, which could definitely be a setback later in life.

Typing may have become a vital skill but the fine motor skills developed by learning cursive cannot be replaced by tapping at a keyboard.

And while keyboards may have largely relegated paper & pen to the dustbin, the newest waves of computer technologies (like tablet PCs & touch interfaces) may actually bring about a renewed demand for handwriting. It may be that 20 years from now, we’ll show someone a keyboard and they’ll wonder what it does...

Jennifer 1-28-2009 @ 6:18PM

In my family cursive writing is cursed. Due to learning disabilities writing in cursive is extremely difficult. I spent HOURS in second grade-fourth grade practising and it didn't help. I now write in a loopy print. I can write in cursive but it isn't pretty. My sister who has severe learning disabilities cannot write in cursive at all. Yes, it should be taught but a child should not be made to feel stupid if they can't write legibly in cursive.

Messed Up Mama 1-28-2009 @ 7:29PM

I don't think that Good penmanship says all that much about a person, except that they have good penmanship. My oldest son has Dysgraphia, which is related to dyslexia but is related to a disconnection between the brain and the hand in terms of writing. He is the only one who can read his writing. However, he is extremely intelligent, and has a mild talent in creative writing. What does his messy penmanship say about him? I have very nice penmanship, I get complements on it all the time, but I can't spell many words, and have an average intelligence. What does my good penmanship say about me?

Pavlina 1-29-2009 @ 12:58PM

hmmm, my cursive writing always looked horrible. I prefer (much) printing. I wrote an entire novel in longhand. I write faster and I can actually go back later and read what I wrote! Of course, there are times when I still have to do the cursive thing.

Terri 1-29-2009 @ 9:15PM

Cursive writing IS important; Ok, print is fine too but I think kids should be taught cursive. It's faster than print and it's quick to use when notetaking.

AndrewC 2-15-2009 @ 5:59AM

Perhaps the most powerful yet most overlooked advantage of a computer in developing writing skills is as a glorified typewriter. It allows an approach to teaching writing that is impossible with a pencil and paper, and may have its greatest impact in the earlier years of school.This is the first of a series of articles to explore the introduction of laptop computers in a kindergarten class.
http://lllol.wordpress.com/