I've heard that they're going to, or they've already stopped teaching cursive in elementary schools. Since we do most of our "writing" on phones and keyboards nowadays, I suppose cursive is not a necessity. When I look back at how awesome peoples' penmanship was in the olden days, it kinda makes me sad that it's become a lost art!
What do you think about no more cursive? Time better spent learning other things? Or time well spent having good penmanship?
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Ugh. Terrible.. I'm teaching my LO how to write in cursive..
grapefruit / 4056 posts
I might try to teach my LO to write in cursive if they are interested, and they don't learn in school, but I can see the point in stopping, If it was a contest between teach say, typing and cursive, I can see where cursive would be deemed unnecessary.
apricot / 483 posts
i think my biggest concern with the obliteration of cursive is, how will people sign their names, or even know how to?
i don't have kids yet, but i will be teaching my future-LOs cursive - perhaps i'm old-fashioned, but i do still think it's a necessary skill
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Really?? I did hate it as a child but I can see how it can help kids write more legibly. I can also see how everything is all digital that teaching cursive is not as important anymore.
clementine / 994 posts
@pastaandpotato That was my first thought, too!
Aside from signing my name and writing checks, I never use cursive, so I can see why they're not teaching it in school. I probably will teach my LO at home, though. Or at least, DH will. He has gorgeous cursive that he never uses, and it would be a shame for it to go to waste. 
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
In California they still teach it, so I'm not sure if it's the same in other states. I actually don't think they'll stop, mostly because of what @PastaAndPotato said about signing their names. However, it has been deemphasized. It now seems like it's something they learn in 3rd or 4th grade, but aren't expected to use on every assignment after that. In high school, I never require my students to write in cursive. I know some middle school teachers who do, but it's becoming more and more rare.
coconut / 8299 posts
I'll try to teach my kids cursive but probably won't make a huge deal about it. It's like the abacus. Nobody uses it now because we have calculators. And i don't see it as a huge loss in society. OMG, can you tell I'm Asian? I just used an abacus as an example. LOL.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
@PastaAndPotato: seriously. how are they supposed to learn to sign their names
pomegranate / 3398 posts
My second grader is learning cursive right now and I am so happy!!! I'm not sure they will still be doing it in a couple years when our youngest would be taught but I hope so!
pomegranate / 3503 posts
That's sad but I suppose no one really uses it much anyway. When I write, I usually write in block. My penmanship was never all that great to begin with and now it's gotten even worse because everything is typed and printed.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
Yeah, I thought that they stopped that already. It is definitely sad but I guess there are so many more things to learn. Hopefully cursive is being replaced by something useful!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I love writing in cursive! I will definitely be teaching my kids if they don't learn how at school.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
Really?! I hate to write in cursive, yet I love it because I think it's so beautiful. Here in CA I know they are still teaching it in third grade, and I hope it doesn't stop.
pear / 1723 posts
I think teaching clear printing is probably more critical these days than specifically cursive. Seems like so many kids I know have really sloppy handwriting these days, and even though it's a digital era, there will always be a need to write legibly.
That said, I think cursive is lovely and I would definitely teach my kids if they didn't learn at school. My typical handwriting is kind of a mix of both cursive and printing.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
I'm pretty ok without them teaching cursive. I rarely use it, and I don't even remember how to write all the letters. I'll teach LO how to sign her name of course, but other than that I don't really feel like it's needed.
kiwi / 545 posts
@PastaAndPotato: I didn't think about that! haha.
I honestly really hated it, but I can see how it was useful. At the same time I guess people don't care as much about that any more.
cherry / 149 posts
Huh. That's interesting, but I'm not sure what I think. I barely ever use cursive these days, but I'm glad I can. Oh well, doesn't matter for me anyway since I plan on homeschooling our kids.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Okay, I have a question. People have mentioned how schools are focusing more on typing and less on cursive. Are the schools teaching typing in 2nd grade these days?
Does no one write letters anymore? I write cursive all the time because I send my friends and family members cards. I'm not THAT old - 34 - but I feel like sending cards snail mail are so important and can't imagine having to write one w/o using cursive. I do plan on teaching my child that you send letters to people every once in a while, not just email!! And don't forget those thank you cards!
grapefruit / 4056 posts
@mediagirl: I write thank you cards/letters etc in regular printing, I never use cursive, except for signing my name.
clementine / 994 posts
@mediagirl I learned typing in school starting in first grade...many years ago. It's my understanding that they still teach typing at a young age around here (granted, we're fairly close to Apple headquarters and have always had sponsored computer labs). Is that not common?
I grew up around computers and am more likely to send an email or a text than to write a friend by hand, but I still hand write thank you cards and holiday cards. I don't write in cursive, though.
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
@mediagirl: yes, they teach "computers" which includes typing.
I'm pretty sure schools will continue to teach cursive, though, there is just less of a focus on it and it's just taught and sort of forgotten about instead of reinforced year after year.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
DH is a high school teacher and when I look at papers written by 10th graders I get really sad. Some of them write like 5 year olds, it is horrific. I really think cursive is pretty important and I'm sad to see it go away.
pomegranate / 3388 posts
I'm ok with it. I hated writing in cursive, and I don't think I've written a thing in cursive since they stopped forcing us to in middle school. I do know how to write in cursive in Russian strangely enough, so now when I try to write English in cursive I get it all confused with the Russian letters.
cherry / 235 posts
My youngest sister is DYING to learn cursive and they aren't doing it in schools, so I've been teaching her when I can. I find it kind of stupid to take it out - but maybe because I write in cursive a lot? I mean, it's kind of a print-cursive blend, but that's my "normal" handwriting. How are people supposed to sign their names? Write pretty thank-yous? Oh that makes me kind of sad.
If my kids want to know (and even if they don't want to, honestly) I'll teach them.
cherry / 235 posts
@mediagirl: Just wanted to add that also, a lot of homework is done online even in elementary schools. My sister in FIRST grade got all of her assignments online, all of her math homework was on a website, and we got her spelling words off of the class site. It was/is bizarre to me.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
My handwriting is horrible, my husband comments about it all the time.
I don't have a problem with the death of cursive, for me, it can't come soon enough. I would rather have a child with legible printing than sloppy printing and sloppy cursive. Signing a name isn't necessarily cursive either, my signature doesn't look anything like what my name would look like in print or cursive.
pineapple / 12526 posts
What I have an issue with is that the article I read about this said that one of the reasons they are finding less and less time to teach skills like cursive is because they spend more time "teaching to the test"?
THAT is what is ridiculous. Thanks NCLB.
Anyway, I guess I'm one of the odd ones out because I write in cursive all the time. If our school doesn't teach it, I'll teach my kids myself.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@AmeliaBedelia: yes, it boggles my mind, too, that kids that age do everything online. this is what i am hearing from friends with school-aged kids. i guess there can be no more my dog ate my homework excuses. it'll have to be my dog ate my computer or something.
honeydew / 7968 posts
i think my hubby said something about how cursive helps kids learn faster to read or something. plus, that's how i learned to do my signature.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
I heard that last year... 
they've already stopped teaching it in several school districts around us. It's really sad.
I tutor my younger cousin (4th grade) and I was helping him put together a posterboard presentation, I'm reading his instructions... and there were explicit remarks as to how everything should be typed and pasted on to the poster, no handwriting!!
CUUURRRAJEEEE.
I know tech/laptops/iPads etc will take over the world (if not already), but I think handwriting is still a basic tool for kids to learn.
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
I used to proctor the SATs a few years ago and there is a section now where you have to write a paragraph in cursive ( I think because cursive is more uniquely tied to a person and harder to replicate, so they can investigate cheating?) and I always had to put certain letters on the board for the kids to copy since they had no idea... Especially capital letters!
I personally never use cursive anymore and will not be sad to see it go if it does 
kiwi / 575 posts
That's so sad. I would love my little one to learn cursive. They teach it in Montessori school, so I might have to just suck it up and send him/her to Montessori when the time is right.
GOLD / pomelo / 5167 posts
Oh no! I loved those classes in elementary. I would always get perfect grades 
bananas / 9118 posts
@zippylef: I teach at a local career college, so I have to send out students who can both pass the boards and function in an every day medical practice.
My boss approached me about teaching to the test when one of our other instructors had a high fail rate in a class- I told him if that is what he wanted then I quit on the spot. I would not have students associated with me that cannot function in real life- board certified or not! Sorry off soap box...
But yes, I use cursive all the time and plan to teach it to my kid too
@ALittleP: great idea! Hadn't thought about choosing a different school system...
pomegranate / 3329 posts
My son is still learning it at school, may have to do with him being in a private Christian school. I really wish they'd teach printing too though, his cursive is awful.
pea / 20 posts
Totally already have. I have 9th graders, and they can't read my cursive writting on the board. Its so sad.
apple seed / 1 posts
Handwriting matters ... But does cursive matter?
Research shows: the fastest and most legible handwriters avoid cursive. They join only some letters, not all of them: making the easiest joins, skipping the rest, and using print-like shapes for those letters whose cursive and printed shapes disagree. ((Citation: Steve Graham, Virginia Berninger, and Naomi Weintraub. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HANDWRITING STYLE AND SPEED AND LEGIBILITY. 2001: on-line at http://www.sbac.edu/~werned/DATA/Brain%20research%20class/handwriting%20speed%20style%20legibility%20berninger.pdf — and there are actually handwriting programs that teach this way.)
Reading cursive still matters -- this takes just 30 to 60 minutes to learn, and can be taught to a five- or six-year-old if the child knows how to read. The value of reading cursive is therefore no justification for writing it.
Remember, too: whatever your elementary school teacher may have been told by her elementary school teacher, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over signatures written in any other way. (Don't take my word for this: talk to any attorney.)
Yours for better letters,
Kate Gladstone — CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works
Director, the World Handwriting Contest
Co-Designer, BETTER LETTERS handwriting trainer app for iPhone/iPad
http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
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