Bringing back cursive writing

Imogene

Imogene

Senior Member
Location
Middle Tennessee
FINALLY, someone has some sense in their head. IMHO. It was on the Today show this morning that a serious attempt is being made at bringing back cursive writing.

“Cursive writing is making a significant comeback in U.S. schools, with over 20 states now mandating its teaching, driven by benefits like improved cognitive skills (memory, reading, fine motor), a connection to historical documents, and the practical need for signing legal papers. Proponents argue it enhances brain development, while critics note already crowded curricula, but recent laws in states like New Jersey and California emphasize its role as a foundational skill for literacy and essential life tasks, even amidst the digital age. “
 

It didn't occur to me til recently that when I send cards to my grandkids I'm not entirely sure if they can read what I wrote!
My oldest grandkid was already doing email before his 6th birthday! 😮
 

Imogene said:
and the practical need for signing legal papers
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Most of the signing I did when I bought my condo 3 yrs ago was just clicking a 'sign' button on an online document.

I have mixed feelings about teaching cursive, I'm in favor of "benefits like improved cognitive skills (memory, reading, fine motor) ", but I wonder if they could be achieved with a topic that will be more useful in the students future lives. Probably learning Chinese characters would also have cognitive benefits, but I wouldn't want to have to do it unless I had a real future need.
 
HoneyNut said:
Most of the signing I did when I bought my condo 3 yrs ago was just clicking a 'sign' button on an online document.

I have mixed feelings about teaching cursive, I'm in favor of "benefits like improved cognitive skills (memory, reading, fine motor) ", but I wonder if they could be achieved with a topic that will be more useful in the students future lives. Probably learning Chinese characters would also have cognitive benefits, but I wouldn't want to have to do it unless I had a real future need.
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(I'M SORRY IF I'M RUNNING OFF TOPIC, Imogene, but) learning a new language is the number one, prime, best exercise (I understand) to create new brain pathways and fight dementia.
Autopsies have shown that brains much damaged by dementia but with new pathways running everywhere had shown no symptoms of dementia during life, but I can't imagine how 'they' could possibly prove that.
But I think cursive writing is essential to an organized life.
 
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Kudos to my state, Cali and other state legislators for insisting that cursive be returned to curricula. Our children are being dumbed down enough. Imagine, they can't even sign their own names should it become necessary (due to unavailability of digital access caused by CME's or mass outages).
 
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Who needs education/training, Google is your friend! 😉🤭😂

My handwriting has always been atrocious but I thank the public school system for trying.

Maybe cursive should be more of an art form than a necessary communication skill. 🤔

I think that the greatest need that kids have today is learning social and team building skills, how to get along, share, empathy, build healthy relationships, etc…
 
I always loved cursive writing. At school I can remember we had a page with sloped lines we put under the page we wanted to write on. It guided us to write carefully. My youngest son only prints these days. My granddaughter only prints as well. She can't
understand 'running writing' as she puts it. I still love freehand writing.
 
oscash said:
I always loved cursive writing. At school I can remember we had a page with sloped lines we put under the page we wanted to write on. It guided us to write carefully. My youngest son only prints these days. My granddaughter only prints as well. She can't
understand 'running writing' as she puts it. I still love freehand writing.
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She is clever. Calling it 'running writing' is exactly what cursive means.
 
Imogene said:
FINALLY, someone has some sense in their head. IMHO. It was on the Today show this morning that a serious attempt is being made at bringing back cursive writing.

“Cursive writing is making a significant comeback in U.S. schools, with over 20 states now mandating its teaching, driven by benefits like improved cognitive skills (memory, reading, fine motor), a connection to historical documents, and the practical need for signing legal papers. Proponents argue it enhances brain development, while critics note already crowded curricula, but recent laws in states like New Jersey and California emphasize its role as a foundational skill for literacy and essential life tasks, even amidst the digital age. “
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you need to see @horseless carriage 's writing... beautiful cursive.... I'm sure he'll be along soon to show you....
 
Aunt Bea said:
... the greatest need that kids have today is learning social and team building skills, how to get along, share, empathy, build healthy relationships, etc…
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That's what we kids learned in kindergarten --that's what kindergarten was for, and there were a lot of dunce caps facing the corner too for a while. Then in 1st grade we had to buckle down to serious learning, reading writing arithmetic and ...
 
"I think that the greatest need that kids have today is learning social and team building skills, how to get along, share, empathy, build healthy relationships, etc…" Aunt Bea

While that sounds very nice, imagine the results of an education that abandons the academic stuff and emphasizes only what you said above. We'd have a population of ignorant, unskilled, gullible, illiterate people. But at least they'd be nice. They'd be smiling all the way to their own doom.

The qualities that you listed are indeed very important. But isn't that what parents are for? And as they get older, kids get a lot more of their social skills from their friends than from anyone else.

About cursive writing, I don't have any strong opinions one way or another. I like it because it's faster than printing, and I dislike it because it's so often unreadable. (Have you ever tried to read a doctor's signature?) 😄 If kids learn from their friends that cursive writing is not "cool," they won't use it anyway, if they have any choice.

I grew up in the days when cursive was considered important. Spelling and penmanship were graded together on our report cards, as if they were one skill. Looking back on it now, it seems like a relatively unimportant skill.
 
Sunny said:
"I think that the greatest need that kids have today is learning social and team building skills, how to get along, share, empathy, build healthy relationships, etc…" Aunt Bea

While that sounds very nice, imagine the results of an education that abandons the academic stuff and emphasizes only what you said above. We'd have a population of ignorant, unskilled, gullible, illiterate people. But at least they'd be nice. They'd be smiling all the way to their own doom.

The qualities that you listed are indeed very important. But isn't that what parents are for? And as they get older, kids get a lot more of their social skills from their friends than from anyone else.

About cursive writing, I don't have any strong opinions one way or another. I like it because it's faster than printing, and I dislike it because it's so often unreadable. (Have you ever tried to read a doctor's signature?) 😄 If kids learn from their friends that cursive writing is not "cool," they won't use it anyway, if they have any choice.

I grew up in the days when cursive was considered important. Spelling and penmanship were graded together on our report cards, as if they were one skill. Looking back on it now, it seems like a relatively unimportant skill.
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I agree 100% with everything you said!
 
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