Does your child's school teach cursive? - Page 2

[ancoda]

Thank you everyone for your responses. It really sounds like most schools do still have it and that seems like a good thing to me.

[Thalia the Muse]

I agree -- if nothing else, it's so much FASTER than printing. Plus of course we still need to have signatures.

[MusicianDad]

Cursive is taught starting in grade three, it's required for all work being handed in starting in grade five. The second part there, I really don't agree with. Yeah, it's nice to know cursive, but I see no reason to require it. Really, the only time in someones life it will be required is from grade 5 until grade 7, once you hit high school they care more about being able to read what you write and not so much about how you write it.

I do think they focus too much on good penmanship. Sure we'd all love to be able to write neatly, but for most people to be able to write neatly means putting so much focus on letter formation that you loose your place in where you're writing. I'd rather they just focus on legibility.

Thalia, cursive is not always faster than printing when you make a complete comparison. For DH, it's only faster if it doesn't matter if anyone is able to even dream about being able to read it. If he wants himself and others to read what he writes, his printing is faster and neater.

[bluebunny]

My children go to Montessori where cursive is taught in preschool, before K. Cursive is taught first, then print.

[One_Girl]

Good penmanship is taught in the primary grades but they look for doing your best, not perfection. Some kids best is at a readable or barely readable level rather than a beautiful level. The last thing they cover is cursive in third grade and, according to the OT I spoke to about my dd's writing, typically kids who struggle with penmanship improve enough to not need suppor with writing when they do cursive.

[RomanGoddess]

We live overseas and my daughter is in the French school system. She started learning cursive writing last year in senior kindergarten and will perfect it this year in first grade.

Cursive writing is (still) super important in the French system, as all tests are written in cursive, and the final exams in the senior year (the "baccalaureate") are to be completed in cursive writing. The baccalaureate exams are long and cursive writing is faster than printing.

[Lisa1970]

The schools are dropping it out of laziness and using computers as an excuse. It is the same excuse they are using for using calculators in math instead of learning math. Many schools have dropped spelling and grammar too. There is so little left that they teach.

The SAT, ACT, and the AP tests all have essay components. If the graders cannot read the answers, your child will not get a good grade. Plus, even if your child writes an excellent paper, poor handwriting does tend to affect the final score. Since my children are in those high school years and looking at taking these tests, I have been reading up big time on it. Lots of parents are pulling out handwriting books now, in high school, trying to get their children ready for the SATs. I think it is pitiful. My son was in public school and my daughter homeschooled. His handwriting is horrible. He can write a beautiful paper if he types it. He wants to be in engineering (actually, computer science or computer engineering) so he will need handwriting and drawing and other fine motor skills. So he has been working hard to recover what he was never taught.

I hope that helps!

[velochic]

Originally Posted by RomanGoddess

Cursive writing is (still) super important in the French system, as all tests are written in cursive, and the final exams in the senior year (the "baccalaureate") are to be completed in cursive writing. The baccalaureate exams are long and cursive writing is faster than printing.

How interesting!! Dd's curriculum is IB and I had no clue that they had to write the exams in cursive. I'm going to have to find out about this.

[la mamita]

I think cursive is a pretty useless skill (besides for signatures...) especially in the technological age, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it being pushed to the side to emphasize typing skills or frankly anything else. I do think good handwriting is important, but I think printing is sufficient.

That said, my son's school taught cursive in kindergarten and they were pretty hard core about it. Lots of homework and practice writing in class. They did printing as well, but they really emphasized cursive.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by la mamita

I think cursive is a pretty useless skill (besides for signatures...) especially in the technological age.

Why is it useless? That's like saying violins are useless because we have synthesizers that produce the same sound. Sometimes something is useful for the artistry and beauty of it. Handwriting is still personal and more effective than just a typewritten page.

I think that orthography is VERY important - even if it doesn't mean beautifully handwritten messages will be written in the future, it helps dexterity and fine motor skills. I'd like to think, though, that people will still put pen to paper for years to come. I guess I'm a romantic, though.

[AndrewsMother]

Originally Posted by velochic

Why is it useless? That's like saying violins are useless because we have synthesizers that produce the same sound. Sometimes something is useful for the artistry and beauty of it. Handwriting is still personal and more effective than just a typewritten page.

I think that orthography is VERY important - even if it doesn't mean beautifully handwritten messages will be written in the future, it helps dexterity and fine motor skills. I'd like to think, though, that people will still put pen to paper for years to come. I guess I'm a romantic, though.

No you are not a romantic. Well maybe you are, but saying that cursive is useless is paramount to saying that basic mathematical skills are not required since calculators produce better results.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by velochic

Why is it useless? That's like saying violins are useless because we have synthesizers that produce the same sound. Sometimes something is useful for the artistry and beauty of it. Handwriting is still personal and more effective than just a typewritten page.

I think that orthography is VERY important - even if it doesn't mean beautifully handwritten messages will be written in the future, it helps dexterity and fine motor skills. I'd like to think, though, that people will still put pen to paper for years to come. I guess I'm a romantic, though.

I guess shooting someone a text is not really quite as romantic as a hand-written note, huh.

Very interesting... we're considering homeschooling but I hadn't gotten as far as whether or not to teach cursive

[la mamita]

oh, handwriting (and by that i mean printing) is definitely important and i don't think the written word is going to die off just because of computers! i love a good to-do list written on the back of an envelope..... i just don't see cursive as being one of the major life skills that i think public schools should mandate all children master. i have never used cursive in my adult life besides for my signature. in my elementary school, cursive wasn't explicitly taught. there were optional worksheets that kids could do on their own. i learned via worksheets, did some cursive writing throughout elementary, but never had to use it for testing, for college, for a job (i'm in social work and we do a lot of handwritten reports/forms). i like the idea of it being optional/additional/supplementary to the main subjects, especially as i'm sure some very creative or meticulate children really enjoy writing in cursive.

i dunno, i went to an open school where there were a few things that were mandated (the 3 R's, science and social studies...and even those depended on the kid's individual ability) but pretty much everything else was driven by the child's interest. i perhaps am a little burned by the cursive issue after seeing it forced on kindergarteners at my son's former school.

[A&A]

yes, ds is learning cursive in 3rd grade, and they're spending way too much time on it, imho.

Btw, I teach 11th grade, and 90% of my students print. Cursive is just not a skill that sticks with most of them. That's why I find it pretty useless.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by A&A

yes, ds is learning cursive in 3rd grade, and they're spending way too much time on it, imho.

Btw, I teach 11th grade, and 90% of my students print. Cursive is just not a skill that sticks with most of them. That's why I find it pretty useless.

That's because a good portion of people find that despite claims of it being faster, for them it's slower, and it's far more difficult to read.

Well done cursive is great, but someone who is otherwise not that good a writing is likely going to have cursive that is illegible. By the time you get out into the real world, no one cares if you do cursive, they just care that they can read what you write.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by velochic

How interesting!! Dd's curriculum is IB and I had no clue that they had to write the exams in cursive. I'm going to have to find out about this.

They are long hand in pen but the IB exams are different from the French baccalaureate. A student in France, for instance, could choose to do both


However, people who can write in cursive can write faster and more legibly than people who mostly print.

My mom could copy this entire post in about a minute and anyone could read it. If I managed to do the same thing, and I have my doubts about whether I could, I'd have trouble reading it after any length of time.

So my plan is to teach dd only cursive and let her figure out printing on her own when we start doing symbolized math and things like the elements in science.

For me, the problem with cursive was that it was introduced AFTER fluency was built with a sort of weird half printing half joined "italics". It's like how continental knitting is faster for everyone except people who've gotten used to English.

[RomanGoddess]

Originally Posted by velochic

How interesting!! Dd's curriculum is IB and I had no clue that they had to write the exams in cursive. I'm going to have to find out about this.

The international baccalaureate and the French baccalaureate are not exactly the same program, you so you might want to check whether the IB has the same stress on cursive writing. The French bac program tends to be a bit more rigid.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by RomanGoddess

The international baccalaureate and the French baccalaureate are not exactly the same program, you so you might want to check whether the IB has the same stress on cursive writing. The French bac program tends to be a bit more rigid.

Interesting. I'll have to look into it. Dd's school is accredited by the French and Spanish ministries of education, so I just assumed they are following those guidelines. Dd *did* learn cursive starting in Kindy, and her homework does have to be in cursive (1st - 3rd so far), so they seem to be putting quite a bit of emphasis on it. I like that - as I've already said, I think it's important.

As an aside, my grandfather had the most beautiful handwriting and when I read his journals and notes, seeing that handwriting brings me a lot of joy. There is so much of him in, not just the words, but the script.

[*Katherine*]

My 4th grader must write everything in cursive. He has the option of using the computer for some assignments, but everything else is required to be in cursive.

[mattemma04]

my kids did public for k,1,and 2 and there was no cursive.They are in Montessori now and starting in Primary(K) they learn cursive.That is the only way they write at school for their work.