I have mixed feelings about this one: No More Cursive Handwriting

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

The claim that modern children do not need to write because they can type on keyboards is as utterly idiotic as claiming that modern children do not need to learn math because they can use calculators.

I was amazed (and appalled) at how early my kids were allowed and encouraged to use calculators.....for me,it was high school. My 5th grader uses a calculator in school now.

And sign me up for the "I never use cursive, I just print" club. Cursive ought to be given a brief unit in elementary school so those kids that take to it can continue to explore it. It shouldn't be overly emphasized, in my opinion.

[Billjr13]

I haven't written in cursive since I took a drafting class my freshman year of high school. I just never went back to cursive. As far as its demise... I don't know. It is kind of like the paperless office we were all going enjoy when computers "took over" and the death of books when ereaders forever took the "smell" of paper from our reading pleasure. I think there are a lot of things that lose popularity and fade from our collective consiousness but I don't think this is one that will disapear for a long time; even with computers and cell phones and ipads and digital tablets we still write things down on paper and people still have to read it.

[kindlekitten]

I am expected to write numerous hand written notes at my job, weekly! I use (mostly) cursive to write them. I also throw in a fair amount of calligraphy. I love writing with a fountain pen and use that for all of my cards

[wodin]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I am expected to write numerous hand written notes at my job, weekly! I use (mostly) cursive to write them. I also throw in a fair amount of calligraphy. I love writing with a fountain pen and use that for all of my cards

Yes, calligraphy is an entirely different story. It is the art of beautiful writing. There is no way that my writing, whether all strung together or broken into pieces could be considered beautiful.

[John Carroll]

I've tried painting and it's pretty bad. My cursive is like that too. I'm okay with it going away.

[jkeene]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

The claim that modern children do not need to write because they can type on keyboards is as utterly idiotic as claiming that modern children do not need to learn math because they can use calculators.

Not sure who you're arguing with here. I disputed the need for mandatory education in cursive handwriting, and somehow you change it into something about modern children not needing to write.

There's a place for cursive in today's schools, certainly. But as an art elective, not something required for all.

[Exer]

My Aunt recently sent me a sympathy card. I have to be honest, I almost couldn't read her writing at all. It was so hard to decipher that I had to set it down to pick back up later because I was getting a headache.

My own cursive writing is a painfully time consuming process, and I rarely do it at all, but at least the writing is legible. If the choice is struggling to read terrible cursive writing -- just for the sake of it being written in cursive -- or easily reading basic print, well I'll take the print every time.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by jkeene

Not sure who you're arguing with here. I disputed the need for mandatory education in cursive handwriting, and somehow you change it into something about modern children not needing to write.

I'm old school-- for me, cursive is writing. Text written in block letters looks like the writing of kindergartners. The loss of cursive is, IMHO, dumbing down education and dumbing down students so that they are no longer able to write like adults.

[kennyc]

So....after much thought...I think it is time for cursive to die.

I mean after all look at how we are communicating here. At how books are printed. Cursive was a style that allowed for faster communication before the tools and methods we have today existed. Even if all the technology disappeared we'd still be able to communicate with non-cursive, it is not like it is needed for something so I say good riddance.

[Mortis]

I Have to disagree with all of you that think there is no reason for beautiful cursive.

Think about a sympathy card printed by a machine instead of hand written by someone who cares? When I get cards from people that have printed them out on their computer I feel they don't care enough to hand write it, rather than just pushing a button.

I think cursive teaches eye hand coordination, that will in time help those kids to type better. every engineer I know has great hand writing, their grammar sucks

My wife sends me notes sometimes, if they were printed they wouldn't have the same effect.

Ever notice that people that have a lot of education tend to have terrible handwriting, just an aside I just thought of

I love seeing nice handwriting, I think it shows a special type of sophistication, by the way mine sucks

I fear that if we allow them to remove things like teaching cursive in schools it will lead to other things like writing anything by hand, because every kid has a computer and can print out anything they want. Spelling, why learn that, there's spellcheck. Maths, they can use a calculator. Physical education what's the point, they have all become fat little monsters that don't walk anywhere because their parents have that over priced SUV (with the baby seal skin seat covers and extinct whale hub caps).

There are many things that were taught in my day that they don't teach now, some are because the tech isn't needed now (Slide rule) but the problem solving is lost, some because they don't believe kids need to know, but kids today never learn to solve things, the answers are all given to them and they learn to memorize everything.

I don't really know if cursive is that important, I rarely use it, but what will they teach instead?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by wodin

Yes, calligraphy is an entirely different story. It is the art of beautiful writing. There is no way that my writing, whether all strung together or broken into pieces could be considered beautiful.

My handwriting, both cursive and block, was horrible. Until, when I was in 3d or 4th grade (of elementary school), we had a calligraphy course. I learned to pay attention to my writing. And it improved my every-day writing tremendously.

[Dylrob]

Add me to the "only uses cursive for signature, print for everything else" list.

[GeoffC]

nowt wrong with handwriting ....

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I write about half print and half cursive.

I've been thinking about this and in the last day I have written:
* telephone message for self -- all numbers.
* check for daycare tuition -- cursive
* name on list of kids not attending daycare next week -- cursive (I didn't pay attention to how the other parents wrote. )
* shopping list with three items in cursive (pen) and one printed (pencil)

Which made me realize is an interesting thing that I hadn't thought of yesterday -- 95% of the time that I use I pen, I write cursive, and 99% of the time I use a pencil, I print. The notebook that I jot notes down for work verifies this.

I love to write in cursive -- I'll be very sad if I have to redo all of my scrapbooks to substitute the cursive for something else because my kids won't be learning it.

[desertblues]

I write Copperplate.