I was at parent teacher conferences yesterday for my 4th grade son. I pointed out that Ethan could neither read or write in cursive, and wondered when that would be taught. She informed me that if I wanted him to learn it, it would need to be taught at home. I was stunned. I remember that he was introduced to cursive in the second semester of 2nd grade, but only a few letters were taught and even those were barely taught. His teacher said that she used to write everything on the board in cursive, but kids can't read it anymore so she has to print everything in block letters.
Ethan told me that he was given a worksheet in third grade with cursive letter practice as an "optional" activity after work was finished, and one time they were offered extra credit if they could write a paragraph in cursive but that no one did it.
I have talked with my sister and other parents with kids my sons age, and all of their kids are being taught cursive. Most are only allowed to write in cursive at school. My initial thought was that my son is getting an inferior education and I was frustrated. He is a good student and could learn it if it was taught.
After the honors assembly today, I cornered the principal and shared with him my concerns. Of course he told me about all of the new demands on the teaching community and how they just don't have the 15 minutes a day that would be required to dedicate to that education. He said they they have a focus group dedicated to curriculum that has been debating this "hot topic" for about a year, and that they are continuing to investigate the possibilities of what they will do. They have debated if it was even worth teaching it if they DID have the time. He thanked me for my concern.
They have been debating this for a year and they are continuing that debate? Someone, somewhere made a decision for my son and the other 175 kids in his grade that they will not learn cursive. Period.
I decided that I needed to do some research before going to the national media about this injustice. :) My own husband says that it is no big deal and that he never writes or reads cursive in his professional or school life. I realize that most official documents can not be written in cursive, and all of his "important" papers will be typed on the computer, but isn't cursive still valuable?
Surprisingly I found that this is in fact a "hot topic" and that it is being strongly debated across the country.
Some of the strongest arguments against continuing to teach cursive are these:
1. It was developed back in the time of ink bottles and quill pens to reduce blotting caused by lifting the pen from the paper and was later seen as a way to write faster. Something that was initially developed to make writing faster and more efficient is actually more difficult for today's kids to learn especially if they are left-handed or have a learning disability.
2. Cursive can not be used on official documents. Even "good" cursive handwriting is hard to read.
3. Teachers in middle, high school and college require everything to be typed because it is easier to read and easier to catch plagiarism.
4. Cursive handwriting after school is abandoned by over 85% of all students.
According to an article I read, I guess there was a study done in the 1960's because it was noticed that children were having a difficult time grasping the concept of cursive writing.
In that study, administrators and teachers admitted the reasons cursive was still included in the curriculum: “Public expectancy and teacher preparation probably are our main reasons. We doubt that there is significant advantage in cursive writing.”
It does seem a little strange that we would still be teaching something that in the 1960's they considered unnecessary, I guess.
I found another article from The New York Times Nov 1995 that said only 10% of all sent mail was handwritten. That was 13 years ago. I wonder what that number would be now with the advances in Internet, e-mail, and text messaging.
As it said in yet another article
"That leaves personal checks, thank-you notes, journals (those that haven't gone blog, of course), and credit-card receipts as cursive handwriting's main customers."
Proponents of cursive handwriting say that:
1. It triggers the thought processes connected to storing and retrieving information in memory, and it helps early and intermediate readers link letters to sounds and spelling.
2.You need to be able to read cursive-it is still widely used in everything from advertising to invitations.
3. It is "pretty" and historical.
They both make arguments that cancel each other out. Like some say it is faster to write in cursive than print, but then they say it is faster to type on a keyboard than it is write in cursive. There was one argument that was made about SAT scores being higher in the kids who wrote in cursive on their essay but it was later strongly disputed. A lot of arguments I came across were made for handwriting in general vs. keyboarding. All are really interesting arguments.
Some actually propose that cursive handwriting be an elective class that can be taken after elementary school if they wanted to, kind of like calligraphy.
Honestly after I have done some research I am torn. In some ways I DO wonder with all of the school budget and curriculum cuts, why cursive instruction is still there when physical education and fine arts seem to be going instead. On the other side, I wonder what would happen to my children being in a world where "everyone else" can do something that they can't all because they went to a "forward thinking" school that dropped it before many others have (if there are others that will at all even..)
All in all, amazingly it seems like there are stronger arguments against teaching cursive handwriting. However for instance, My mom always writes in cursive, and my grandparents too. Will my kids never be able to read what they write? How I can just hear my grandma's voice (that passed away) when I read those words written in lovely billowy penmanship. Is it the way it is penned that I can recall her voice, or it in the words she uses to describe her thoughts?
I still feel frustrated that a change in my child's curriculum was made without FIRST debating what the effects would be long term, and also without informing us as parents of the change. I know they gave up on penmanship a long time ago (by the way- how do can you give my son a B in handwriting in 3rd grade when you never even worked on it?) and that actually should be where I put my focus with him because he struggles with fine motor skills, but that is another subject. Or maybe it isn't?
I am really VERY interested in what you think about this topic. I will obviously be teaching Ethan cursive at home if he is to learn, but do you think I should encourage them to focus more on it when Saroya goes to 2nd grade next year? Should I push the issue with the school board and principal?
Here are a few other articles I found interesting on this topic if you are interested..
8 comments:
It sounds like to me they are almost saying that the written word is passe, with the advent of computers and the like. I think there's value in the written word. It's personal. Cursive or not. Computer print is so uniform. There is value in that it is universally recognizable and easier to read so do we just teach children to write so that they can recognize the letters on a keyboard? Obviously that's not their intent and I do understand their points. It's just that everything is getting so impersonal these days. Kids don't talk as much anymore they text, we don't mail we email (I'm guilty of it too) I guess it just makes me sad more than anything. The family historian in me screams "NO". If our children can't read cursive anymore what will that do to family history? Ok so modern "important" documents will be typed but old ones were written...in cursive. I don't know. Like you, I hear grandma's voice when I read her writing, it also helped Derek connect with the grandfather he never met when we found a document written in his handwriting and we noticed that it looked like Derek's. I guess at the end of the day it makes me sad that they are considering not teaching it and I guess I'd be inclined to teach it to my children if they don't.
~WOW~ Hot topic!
At first I was shocked that your school system had dropped it. RP is teaching it to Mr. B in 3rd grade right now. He has to spell each word in cursive on his spelling tests. I totally agree with Sunny that our family history can be affected if our children never learn to write or read cursive. And yes, it's soooo impersonal to read 'type' instead of handwritten notes etc. I think that maybe Nathan doesn't use cursive so much because he is a man. I'm not putting the other gender down, but most women hand write notes such as thank-you's and men don't do it as often. If we phase out cursive all together, it WILL end up as a fancy way to write such as calligraphy as you said Holly. I just can't picture that! I'm a bit torn like you are, but as of right now, there really aren't many schools that are NOT teaching it. Yours might be one of the exceptions, but children in your district will have to pay the price since most schools ARE teaching it. Sure it might get phased out later, but for now, ALL kids should be able to read and write in cursive. It's still the norm. I guess you will have to teach him on his own and I'm sure there are plenty of work books that he could practice on. Just head over to Hages and pick some up.
Hmmm...I wonder how I will feel when Emma gets to that point. I really can see how it's not really used in the work force, but it did seem important when I learned it. My bigger concern is if teachers don't have time to teach children 15 minutes worth of cursive in a day, what other things are they willing to get rid of in the schools in order for our children to pass the required tests? What's next to go? What's so much more important? Makes me wonder.
I looked at the curriculum for the state of Michigan and it says 3rd grade- "Write the English alphabet legibly in cursive using upper and lower case". It is assessed at the classroom level, not the state level. Maybe they think if the state's not looking they can get away with this?? Then I looked into New York State curriculum. It states: "students will use legible manuscript (print) and/or cursive writing. The instructional approach to teaching handwriting is a local decision". I don't think many schools are throwing out cursive yet, but it makes me wonder what's coming. Hmmm... I personally think there is value in cursive handwriting. What's the big deal- teach & assess it in 3rd grade, maybe even require it on assignments in 4th grade. That's it. It shouldn't be too hard to get it in. Make the practice worksheets part of morning work that they do when they arrive at school but before the day actually begins. How about center/block time? How about some of those wasted 1/2 days to do a marathon of cursive? :)
Give them the basic knowledge I say. Give them the option.
Can you imagine the day people have to take college courses on reading cursive to transcribe historical documents?! Ridiculous. (And you can tell your principal I said so!) :)
My kids are learning it here in Colorado and I agree with everyone's point of view. If my kids don't learn cursive they will not be able to read my dad's journal or the talks that he wrote. I write in cursive - albeit sloppily!- all the time and my kids try to read it and so they are learning some at home as well. I would push for it to be part of the curriculm again and just continue to teach your kids at home as well!
I haven't talked to any "educator friends" yet, Holly, but here's my two cents: I know for sure that N.M. and Mona Shores both teach cursive at this point (in 3rd grade in both cases), which, along with what others have posted, tells me that most schools still DO teach cursive. From talking with Christina, I know she is feeling increasing frustration over the always-growing requirements the state and federal gov'ts mandate. Additionally, she spends more time than she wants to helping kids with things that should be taught and encouraged by their families, but aren't, like manners, hygiene, morals, etc.
I agree that it shouldn't take too much time to teach cursive. I learned it in 3rd grade; it was required on writing assignments by most teachers into high school (I think newer teachers require typed or printed assignments for legibility reasons). It isn't like it took years and years to get the hang of it.
I believe it's important to learn cursive to improve fine motor skills, to be able to read cursive as written by others, and to write in an attractive and, to me, faster manner. I think now most college students just take notes on their laptops; I took copious handwritten notes. Generally, the importance of penmanship altogether is decreasing.
It's worth it, I think, to discuss this further with your school's administration. As Caity said, what is more important that the school can't sacrifice 15 minutes for cursive? What other things (you mentioned phys ed and fine arts) are going out the window b/c of time restraints? Why is Ethan's school unable to find the time, but Bryson's school (and others) can? And what about the curriculum requirements of the state that Nikki found? AND, why are you paying taxes the school uses, but then ending up teaching your kid at home anyway? :)
Good luck. REALLY looking forward to dealing with issues like this as my kids get older!
Holly - I just emailed you about this but thought I'd leave the following for the general public to think over:
1. I think almost every other school in the MAISD is still teaching cursive.
2. The school should have included the parents in their decision to eliminate cursive instruction. Whether it's desirable or not to learn cursive should be a parent/teacher/administration decision. Is this a pattern at Ethan's school, or a one-time thing?
3. Sorry I'm such an activist. I am going to be the PTA member that the teachers, um, dislike. :) (I'm so OLD SCHOOL!)
I emailed my friend Sara about this topic & she had some good points. (the following is from her...)
I think cursive is very important. My kids switched to a private school this year because of the pathetic state of public school in Utah. I feel like I'm paying to give them the same education I rec'd in public school in Ohio. (Ok, it's more than that...) Paul started 1st grade at the new school and was behind because he didn't know cursive already!! Emma started in 4th and was ok, she had started learning cursive in 3rd at public school, and caught up quickly. This school is very traditional, emphasizes manners, respect, traditional reading methods, music, history, and the usual subjects too...
Anyway, I think cursive helps teach fine motor schools, helps them to learn to pay attention to detailed instruction, and is a good skill to learn. I totally understand that people grow up and use computers and don't write cursive, however, if we used the "when am I going to use this" idea, I wouldn't have had to take PHysical Science so many times in college! Sometimes the learning process and achieving a new skill is what is important. Plus, it seems like it has to do with the left/right brain thing, and helps you learn better?? Maybe I'm wrong, someone look that up!!
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