Do you think we should stop teaching cursive writing?

My daughter was never taught it.

Yes. We could teach typing instead.

And a foreign language.

I remember how exciting it was when I got to learn cursive! But I never use it any more.

@Dutchess_III Yes. Great idea.

So silly that some people cry that the kids won’t be able to read things like The Declaration of Independence. Duh, well, we can’t read Egyptian Hieroglyphics either. We have OTHER people read them and tell us what they meant. Certainly hasn’t messed up my world.

No, everyone around age 45 and older learned cursive and can both read and write it. Most of us use it occasionally when we make notes, or write Christmas cards.

The fact that so many things from our immediate, and distant past, are written in cursive, makes me want young people to be able to read this stuff, and not turn it into unintelligable hieroglyphics. It’s better to be able to read, and write English in many ways, not in less ways.

Also, the part of the brain that writes in cursive, is different than the part of the brain that learns typing. More brain parts working, is better than less parts working.

Knowing cursive, makes our language as a whole, richer.

I don’t remember spending much time learning cursive. We learned it in the 3rd grade. Maybe a hour a day for a month. It isn’t actually hard.

And if you are concerned about not learning other things maybe kids should be in school longer. Summers obliterate math. It killed me in school that the first month of math was catching the normies up on the stuff they knew three months ago.

Three one month breaks is what we did in San Diego and it was great.

And cursive makes it harder to forge signatures.

My grade school self would be all for not having to be forced to learn to write cursive writing. I think people who think you can’t learn to read it without learning to write it are being silly.

I learned it ok by about 4th-5th grade, just in time to have Middle School no longer require or care about it.

I don’t think I ever got faster with cursive than with printing, which I hear was supposedly the point of cursive.

I reverted to printing, which is much clearer, and which I prefer.

I think they should still teach it, but should be far nicer and less insistent and judgemental about it. I’d recommend the teaching approach: “Hey, here’s a fancy way you can write, which can look really nice and be faster, and is good for signing your name.” I wouldn’t spend much emphasis on it but would make it available for those interested.

And is there truly anyone out there who can read, but can’t read cursive?
Depends on the cursive. There are people who have trouble reading some cursive, and some people who write some particularly challenging cursive.

My sister taught me how to read and write when I was 4. She taught me some cursive. I damaged my hands too many times and have to focus in order to print normal or use cursive. I can’t wait for cursive to go the way of the dodo. My lowest marks in elementary school was handwriting.

There is plenty of time to teach cursive. It isn’t rocket appliances.
(I really hope someone gets that reference.)

How does one a write a signature when it is required once you become an adult? There are many times when we are asked to sign, then print.

If you want to talk educational waste let’s talk empirical measurements. Get with metric or GTFO.

My son has always used block print for his signature. He’s never encountered any problem with it. He’s owned several vehicles and owns a house.

Do you really think people couldn’t read cursive if they’ve never learned to write it? I can’t imagine that. But….I know how to read and write cursive, so I don’t know if it’s that, or if it’s just obvious to anyone.

I am 57 and was not taught cursive writing at school (NZ). I can normally read cursive writing but there is the odd occasion when someone has an almost unreadable hand. My brother’s first wife is a case in point, she sends me a beautiful Christmas card each year and I always have a great struggle reading it, even my mother struggles and she grew up with cursive writing. Some people do have a gorgeous writing style, I’d hate to see that disappear.

It was elegant. My mom had elegant hand writing like that. Everyone in her generation did. I think my generation started switching it up more that the previous generation. I hardly ever write any long passages any more, but when I used to it was a mix of block and cursive.

I think that cursive will become an art form such as calligraphy. Grammar itself is more important than if someone writes it, prints it or types it.