So Much For Penmanship, School Replaces Cursive With Keyboarding

The school districts guidelines say that Script will be learned and perfected by the end of the 3rd year. That all grades higher will be expected to use script. I think the superintendent should readvise her guidelines.

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A few comments about cursive writing.
Who said this is the proper way to write? Just because a group of educators decided that this is the proper technique, does that mean there is no other method?

Some of you have said that you can tell much about someone by their handwriting. However, you may be reaching the wrong conclusions. A study some years ago showed that, in general, the more intelligent a person is, the more illegible their hand writing. Some of you have said that sloppy writing indicates sloppy thinking. I have found that the super neat handwriting that some of you admire so much shows a person who is overly concerned with what other people think about them and, in fact, may be hiding a personality of someone who is teetering on the edge.

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Uhhh, every time you sign your name you're using cursive...so it is not "useless."

I learned cursive in third grade, in fifth we had a keyboarding class. It is possible to do both.

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I think learning cursive IS important, for each person's handwriting is totally individual and tells alot about the person. It's a skill that needs to be practiced. I do think it's pathetic when I hear of kids who can't READ cursive. It's all part of the dumbing of America, and the desensitzing of children. Handwriting also evolves as the person matures, and changes as the person goes through different phases of life. Learning cursive also develops finger dexterity and is a creative and artistic outlet, and will strengthen keyboard skills later on. Those posters who think it's outdated and tedious probably don't know how to do it. I'm glad I learned cursive, and my love of handwriting has grown into doing calligraphy. I think it's ludicrous that this particular school district is doing away with it, but as a concession, they will teach children how to sign their names. What??? are they only going to learn the letters of their names??? Why not give them the whole thing.

I know how to do both, and I took personal type for one semester when I was a senior in high school, and I can type upwards of 100 wpm without looking at the keyboard. I suppose, eventually, there will be classes ad nauseam in "keyboarding" I can see it all now...high schools will have core curriculum classes such as Introduction to Keyboarding, Intermediate Keyboarding, Advanced Keyboarding, and finally, Advanced Concepts in Keyboarding. I hope with these keyboarding classes, the teachers will also teach kids how to spell. Give me a break!

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I am the one who reads job applications and I can hardly make out anything on most of them. These might be first time job applicants but they need to know how to write well enough to fill out the application. Many of these kids cannot even write out their own addresses. They run a house number and street number all togehter. And spelling? Who would need to be able to spell?

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Many decisions today are being made on the assumption that current technology will always be available. However, technology, the kind that we possess, will only remain as long as our economy remains. The United States alone is in trillions of dollars in debt and the world is not much any better. We, as a nation, are becoming more like the former Soviet Union, and I fear we are headed for a similar collapse. Another dark ages looms over the horizon and no one sees it. Why then even teach reading. Can’t we get the computers to do that for us as well?

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