topic Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore in Community Chat

Cursive writing not taught anymore

mormel20 — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:16:30 GMT

I knew that schools no longer teach cursive. But l was amazed they can't sign their own names. I heard on the news that in the recent election the young voters could only print their names on the ballot because they we never taught to sign. Sad and a shame.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

songbird — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:23:41 GMT

I print mine. I'm left handed. Could never learn cursive properly. I would have failed it, but not for being left haned. Could never get the right tilt.

Not used as much now, because of technology changes, etc. Pretty to look at, but people have stopped writing with a pen in letters.

Why is cursive no longer taught?

Due to multiple factors including stylistic choices, and technological advancement, the use of cursive has quickly declined since the start of the 21st century. Cursive has traditionally been used as a way of signing one's name, a signature.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

proudlyfromNJ — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:29:36 GMT

Cursive is not taught here in NY. When I pick up a prescription at the pharmacy, I sign in cursive and then am always asked to print my name also. Sloppy handwriting I guess.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Trinity11 — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:31:02 GMT

It depends on the school. My soon to be 12 year old grandson writes in cursive. He learned in a private school. I also have friends with grandchildren that write in cursive. Some attend public schools. In fact, if my grandson had not been taught and cursive was important to me, I would have taught him myself.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

spumoni99 — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:32:20 GMT

My 13 year old twin granddaughters can sign their name in cursive. I think they both can write in cursive also.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

songbird — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:37:16 GMT

Private schools still teach it. I went to a private school. Had battles with the teacher trying to teach me cursive. I refused. To this day, I print my name, everything.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Bri369 — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:38:54 GMT

Not all schools have stopped teaching cursive. You are not required to sign your name in cursive either. You can print your name and that is a perfectly legal signature.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Goodie2shoes — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:40:19 GMT

So much has changed !! I still sign my name in cursive when signing for a package or anything requiring a signature. Being left handed has not been a problem. My 9 yo grandson is learning cursive and my daughter has him practice writing at home and he's doing a pretty good job. I think it's very important for children to learn cursive writing.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

sunshine45 — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:40:30 GMT

this is not new in our area.

interestingly, my own adult children dont even write in cursive anymore even though they were taught. i have also noticed that if they HAVE to write, they print.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

DrakesMomma — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:01:17 GMT

My son learned cursive in the second grade. He is now 23 and teaches in the same school system he went to as a child. It is still taught.

How much less will a child in grade school today write then I have in my 54 years? I don't know for sure but my guess is a lot less.

My son is an English teacher. Last year all of his classes were paperless. He did not grade a physical paper at all. This year the school is having trouble with the Chromebooks they use so there have been some paper assignments.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

kze — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:02:35 GMT

@mormel20 wrote:
I knew that schools no longer teach cursive. But l was amazed they can't sign their own names. I heard on the news that in the recent election the young voters could only print their names on the ballot because they we never taught to sign. Sad and a shame.

@mormel20

I saw that. The problem was the government signature on file like driver's license was in cursive but his mail-in ballot was printed. They had quite a few like that and were trying to contact them.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

LTT1 — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:05:04 GMT

@songbird @mormel20 @sunshine45 @Goodie2shoes @Bri369

I taught high school (2000-2014) and proctored for the PSAT.

When it came to the time for the students to sign the page that was the "honor code" one student did not know how to sign in cursive.

Think about when we are supposed to use cursive...legal documents, etc.

There was a flurry over this student's "deficit".

It was determined by the PTB that he could sign his form with an "X". 🤷‍♀️

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Q-Checker — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:45:54 GMT

While it is not critical that children learn to write in cursive, it IS critical that they be able to read it. They will likely need to read many documents written in cursive during their lifetime and should be taught to read cursive. The advent of technology has greatly increased the demand for the "academic space," or classroom time, required to teach current and advancing technology. Since students presumably already have one skill for functional hand-written communication (print), there is a diminished need to use limited instructional time to learn cursive writing. There is also realistically much less need for hand-written communication in today's world. As an addendum, for those left-handers (and others) who feel challenged by writing cursive with the correct slant, there is no requirement that cursive be written with a slant. Vertical cursive is legible and entirely acceptable. At one time, learning to use cursive writing was some sort of rite of "academic passage," which is no longer true. The point of writing is communication -- and legibility is all that matters in the end. A person who produces poorly formed letters in print will usually do the same when writing in cursive. There is a need to determine and remediate basic handwriting difficulties in some individuals, no matter what type of letter is being produced. And a signature that is printed is still .... a signature.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Big Joanie — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:08:24 GMT

A freind of mine showed me a card to her signed by her

gr. children .. 16 and 13 ... it was printed and even

showed my husband that even the printing looked

like 2nd grade writing .. I have heard of that due to

computer use .... I cound't believe it ....

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Sooner — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:12:59 GMT

To me not being able to read or write cursive is simply illiterate. We are just giving up on educating kids. We pour more and more money in and the kids learn less and less.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

beach-mom — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:19:00 GMT

This is so sad. I'm glad my children came through before all of these changes happened. Well, DS was finishing when they started.

My late brother was left handed. A few of his teachers forced him to write with his right hand. Until the day he died (in his 20's) his handwriting was almost illegible. I'm glad they stopped that practice, but this problem might be even worse.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

Shelbelle — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:19:04 GMT

It is pitiful that my gr kids wont know how to sign their name, very very sad.

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

geezerette — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:38:20 GMT

@beach-mom wrote:
This is so sad. I'm glad my children came through before all of these changes happened. Well, DS was finishing when they started.

My late brother was left handed. A few of his teachers forced him to write with his right hand. Until the day he died (in his 20's) his handwriting was almost illegible. I'm glad they stopped that practice, but this problem might be even worse.

@beach-mom

My grandmother did the same thing to my father. She also tried to get my mother to force my toddler sister to switch to her right hand. My mother would put a spoon in my sister's right hand and my sister would just put it back in her left hand and eat her food.🤣

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

ROMARY — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:39:22 GMT

Kind of sad that the youngsters 'down the line' (in their adult future) won't be able to read all of our / the handwritten notes and cards that were saved for the future family members to read and treasure.

Well, I guess by that time there will be some sort of interpretation gadgets available.

Just 'swipe' the card or letter, and "wah-lah"!

Re: Cursive writing not taught anymore

JYWilliams — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:44:42 GMT

It isn't in my area either. They stopped years ago. I know this young lady that is 21 years old that a family member of hers who is 79 years old sent her a letter written in cursive. She couldn't read it because she was never taught it in school. I had to read it to her.