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Cursive Handwriting Getting Erased as Schools Teach Typing Over Script
Filed under: In The News, Education: Big Kids
Writing things out by hand? Don't make us LOL. Credit: Getty
Yet, while many of us have learned to decipher our kids' text messages and really do understand what GR8, BTW and LOL mean, a new threat to the written word has been identified.
Cursive handwriting has been omitted from the Common Core State Standards, the new curriculum standard that more than 40 states adopted last summer, the Associated Press reports.
Educators in Georgia may start using the new standards in schools as early as the next school year. However, Matt Cordoza, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Education, tells the AP that teachers and administrators from across the state will meet in March to decide whether to amend the standards to retain cursive writing.
Typically taught in third and fourth grade, cursive is already disappearing in some classrooms. With students widely using computers or text messages instead of hand-writing their communications, teachers are choosing to spend less time teaching script, the news service says.
Even when handwritten assignments are required, many students reportedly prefer to use printed block letters instead of script, Ellen Jackson, a teacher at Clarke Middle School in Athens, Ga., tells the Athens Banner-Herald.
"A lot of my students over the years have stopped being able to read cursive writing, so when I write on the white board, I have to make sure to write in print because they can't read it," Jackson, who has taught English for 20 years, tells the newspaper.
Though cursive is still a requirement in Georgia, many teachers say they don't have as much time to spend on cursive handwriting lessons, and that standardized tests given to elementary school students don't measure how well they can write in script.
"You try to squeeze handwriting in anywhere you can," Lisa Lyles, a third grade teacher at Gaines Elementary School in Athens, Ga., tells the AP. "Unfortunately, the state has so many other standards that something like handwriting has gotten to the point where we don't have enough time in the day."
Those who favor keeping cursive in the curriculum say it helps kids learn how to read and communicate. However, the widespread use of computers has forced students to learn to type at the time they would be learning to write script.
Yet, more than 80 percent of written work in classrooms is still done by hand, Kathleen Wright, a national product manager for Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of education writing materials, tells the AP.
"Students need to become fluent in writing, and be able to write fast and automatic," Wright tells the news service. "What I'm hearing is these kids are missing the practice they need in handwriting instruction between second grade and middle school and their skills decline."
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ReaderComments (Page 3 of 10)
1-24-2011 @ 8:18AM
Viperpit said...This reminds me of the debate back in the 70's when Hewlett-Packard invented the scientific calculator and teachers were upset that kids would never learn how to use a slide ruler anymore! Well I think we managed just fine without the slide ruler, and we will manage just fine without cursive writing too. As technology advances, things that seemed critical tend to get thrown by the wayside. Frankly, I still type with 4 fingers. In the long run, it would have been much more productive for my school to have taught me how to type than how to write cursive. And by the way, on those rare occasions when I do write in cursive anymore, I can't read it anyway, so I always print anyway. Time marches on. Deal with it.
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1-24-2011 @ 8:28AM
Viperpit said...even the IRS lets you SIGN your name electronically on your tax returns now. You can SIGN your name when you purchase anything on line using your credit card. In 10 years, all documents will be online and you will SIGN everything online. Embrace the change man.... it's gunna happen whether you want it to or not.
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1-24-2011 @ 8:35AM
wlh1923 said...The handwriting thing died out a generation ago. Noticed when our kids were in middle school back in the early to mid 90's. All of the kids in the classes printed. No one wrote in cursive. They were taught cursive but not required to use it. Strange but all kids nowadays when they have to write can only print. They may be taught cursive but they are not required to use it.
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1-24-2011 @ 8:41AM
Nan DeLuca said...When no one learns cursive we will have raised a generation unable to read the basic documents that grant us our daily freedoms, unable to experience the written words of our American history. Who treasures an email from a departed relative, a missing friend? Yet we all have our own personal histories in handwritten letters. What will our children or grandchildren have to treasure...tweets?
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1-24-2011 @ 8:55AM
Tracie Smith said...AMEN!!!!! You NAILED it!!!!!
1-24-2011 @ 12:51PM
jc said...The point to eliminating cursive in classrooms if the free up a few minutes of teachers' time to teach more practical skills, like typing. I assure you every minute in a grade school classroom is precious. There are so many demands being made on teachers and students to get the job done. You learn things in Kindergarten that you once learned in 2nd grade. The bar is set higher and higher every year. The reason so many more kids are struggling is because they are being asked to do things that they are not developmentally ready to do. If something has to give, than let it be something as little used as cursive.
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1-24-2011 @ 8:54AM
Tracie Smith said...This is terrible!!! So NOW we'll have a generation of kids who can't write worth a flip...but they can text and type on a computer. SAD!! This is just one more way they are dumbing down our kids...GOD HELP US!!!!
This is why it is SO important to HOMESCHOOL your kids if you can afford it...this way YOU are in charge of what they learn...NOT THE GOVERNMENT!!!!!! SO thankful I did...ALL my kids can write in cursive, was taught to them at age 4...
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1-24-2011 @ 9:05AM
mjsgaelach said...Emmmm, what are we going to for signatures without cursive?
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3-04-2011 @ 2:18PM
Uly said...Print. Stamps. Autopens. Carefully memorizing cursive for your own name, nothing else. Italic script. There is no law (no, really, no law) that says you have to sign your name in any particular fashion.
1-24-2011 @ 9:06AM
twosa said...I dont really care when kids learn to write but I do care that they do. Who says you never use it. I use it every day as a college lecturer when I return poorly written typed term papers. But also as a business person when I serve as the Secretary of many a committee. All my minutes are handwritten cursive or not. Its a skill al should learn, know AND USE daily. I dont know who these people are that think they haven't used handwriting on a regular basis. I bet they do everyday!
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1-24-2011 @ 9:09AM
rehquick said...And why can we not teach them both?
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1-24-2011 @ 9:10AM
Ann said...kids already can' t do math without a machine they can't spell now they won't be able to write. What's next?
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3-04-2011 @ 2:18PM
Uly said...Maybe we can save some time and teach them (and you) how to use capital letters and this new thing called a comma.
1-24-2011 @ 9:11AM
tja said...when I was in the catholic schools Penmanship was an actual class we took each day. The type of writing we were taught was the "Palmer Method". We even had final exams on it at the end of the year where you had to copy a long passage from a book. We would spend an entire day writing the passage over and over again till the nun thought it was the best we could do. Then I think she had to submit all the papers to someone higher up.
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1-24-2011 @ 9:20AM
rod said...Yes, more dumbing of America. Just teach how to 'beat the test system" and nothing else.
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1-24-2011 @ 11:48AM
Er said...What??????!!!!!!! I had no idea kids couldn't read cursive! It's not "chinese" for God's sake! I ALWAYS write in cursive without a thought! When I do try to print, before I know it, the rest of the sentence is in cursive. I didn't even know NOT writing in cursive was an option! I'm 28 and learned that along with everything else; no problem! Old Fashioned my behind. LAZY kids and parents who do nothing about it. That's the problem. The kids rule the schools these days along with the all mighty dollar! What the hell happened! I'm not shocked by much anymore, but THIS is PATHETIC!!!!!!!!! God forbid kids are forced to do or try something more then they planned on that day! Until now I couldn't decide if public or private school was more appropriate for my daughter; now I'm thinking homeschool is her only shot at an educated future! Sad Sad Sad
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1-24-2011 @ 9:39AM
Kim said...Fire the teachers. Kids can only learn what they are taught in school--I'll bet most can't name all the state capitals either. We are TEACHING our kids to be STUPID and ILLITERATE. They can't do MATH, THEY can't READ. and they sure as hell can't spell, let alone speak in a manner that illustrates they aren't stupid.
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1-26-2011 @ 9:05PM
Ace Whisperwinds said...Yeah...you're probably the illiterate ignoramus. Children can learn outside of the classroom (how do you think they learn to drive, or read better, or even speak). Most ADULTS can't name all the state capitals, and we sure as hell can do math. Look at the kids doing Calc. Do YOU want to try that? No? Well, what about astrophysics, quantum physics, biochemistry or the like? Wait, that's for when you get to COLLEGE? Hmm...I guess I never got the memo...
1-24-2011 @ 1:02PM
jc said...Hey Kim if you think it's the teachers who decide what to teach the kids then you are sorely mistaken. We are being handed curriculum after curriculum and told to teach each one. we have to prioritize which ones are the most important and cram it all into a 7 hour day where children are constantly being pulled out of classrooms for special services. It is never ending! Clearly people who make comments like that haven't walked a day in a teacher's shoes. Come on a field trip with 25 6 year old...I guarantee you won't make it!
1-24-2011 @ 9:34AM
jenih91371 said...Last I checked our constitution was written in cursive. It would be a shame if a complete generation grew up without actually being able to read it for themselves. If they don't learn to at least read longhand they'll need to have someone read it for them. If the schools remove it from their curriculum I will teach it at home.
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