For the past few years, many educators around the United States have debated the decision of whether or not it is necessary to continue teaching cursive handwriting in elementary schools seeing as most classes are now being taught with computers. The decision left independently to each school, one may worry about the education of future generations and what effects may take place if classic standards are removed from the school system, replaced with a modern and technological way of teaching. Many parents have brought forth their own thoughts of concern by blogging online, speaking to educators and even protesting in order to preserve the traditional guidelines for the English language.
Until the 1920’s, cursive was the standard style of writing in America’s educational system. It was then that what is now known as print handwriting was first taught in schools, educators theorizing that children learn to read by looking at manuscript in printed books. By World War II, both forms of cursive and print handwriting were required in all American schools. Until recently, children usually learned print in kindergarten and cursive by the second or third-grade. From this time and into high school, students continually received what were once regarded as necessary skills for their future lives. There were also once stricter standards for legible handwriting skills, which is not the case any longer (Time.com, 2009).
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Illegible handwriting, once harshly discredited by teachers, enabling students to improve their skills is no longer a necessary teaching requirement. Many educators fear that the decline of handwriting has been caused by standardized testing brought forth since the No Child Left Behind Act started in 2002. Linda Garc...
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... children, instilling the necessary skills to be effective and fully productive in their adult lives. Unfortunately, it may be that only time will tell.
Works Cited
"Schools Debate Cursive Handwriting Instruction Nationwide." The Huffington Post. 30 Mar. 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2011. .
Suddath, Claire. "Mourning the Death of Handwriting - TIME." TIME. 3 Aug. 2009. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .
Common Core State Standards Initiative | Home. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .
"School Preserves Cursive Writing-WYFF Greenville." Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina News, Weather and Sports - WYFF Greenville's Channel 4. 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .
The first strategy of found with the chapter is “Say it, Write it”,” this strategy is used in a grade Kindergarten and 1st grade in addition to 3rd cursive handwriting. The teacher will provide each student with a dry erase board and marker for the activity. The teacher will say the letter she wants the students to write and then demonstrate by writing the letter on their own dry erase board. The teacher will then hide the demonstration and tell the students to “write it” in 10 seconds. When the time is up, the teacher will make note of the students who was unable to write the letter. The teacher will advise the student to erase the letter and rewrite it with only 7 seconds, they will complete this practice within 5 seconds until they get to 2 seconds to which they are to show legible handwriting. As mention before, the student I am working with struggles with legible handwriting, therefore this strategy will be used a as practice for the student to build her writing
Kysilko, David. “The Handwriting Debate." NASBE. National Association of State Boards of Education, Sept. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
In conclusion, Cursive writing is very well out dated. We use technology now more than ever. Maybe a new common core standard should be computer skills. As cursive writing holds no benefits to students. The truth comes out, cursive writing has essentially disapeared. So why ever bring it
...he Constitution or Declaration of Independence- the very documents that contain the values and morals of our country. Cursive handwriting is no longer taught in many schools, thus impairing student’s ability to create neural passageways, improve fluency, and gain dexterity. Sure, there is no particular daily need for the delicate script, but letting the writing go extinct is unethical. Many countries describe the USA as lazy and culture poor- we need to prove these other nations wrong. Not only for the benefit of getting a better reputation, but also because we respect our language and want to preserve it for future generations. The death of cursive can cease. There is a vaccine, a cure, an antidote. This cure? Teaching the language in schools once again, typing less and scribing more, and most importantly informing individuals about the value of this set of ABC’s.
The affect of technology on children is greater than people may think. Ten years ago, there were different ways children were taught that contrast with the way children are taught in schools today. One of the biggest lessons taught in the third grade was how to write in cursive. Nowadays, teaching children these vital lessons is becoming a thing of the past. The rise of technology has largely contributed to the decline of cursive writing being taught to elementary school students. The need to push children to pass state exams has pushed more of that focus away from teaching this style of handwriting. Denise Smith Amos states in her article “Is Cursive’s Day in Classroom Done?” that, “Common Core is silent on cursive, but it prioritizes
Cursive should not be taught in schools! Schools don’t need cursive. There are other things that kids could be doing in class. Read my next paragraph to find out what and why.
Cursive writing is very important, even though its not required by law because kids have there phones and computers and all other technology and internet so kids don’t really write much unless they are in school then kids have to write. But before all the technology experts said, handwriting is being sacrificed for the sake of technology's convenience. And what that means is technology ruined cursive and regular handwriting because all kids and some adults have to do is press "send" and then its that simple they don’t need to write in any kind of handwriting if all they have to do is press send. Some kids even have auto correct on there phones, so they don’t have to worry about spelling things correct.
Why shouldn’t cursive be in school? Most young children grow up hoping to learn to write the beautiful loops called cursive, but these days it’s getting used less and less; we need to get to the bottom of it. Cursive use to be used worldwide, but is being used less and less each year. Many of the children in modern day don’t know how to read or write cursive well, or rarely at all, but why?
Handwriting is a means of expressing language, just like speech. However, handwriting is not taught in school as much as in previous years. In the past, handwriting was taught as a precursor to reading and spelling. Today, students of all ages are rigorously tested on their writing skills, yet they are not allowed the time it takes to develop this skill. I remember writing in a Big Chief notebook, holding a chubby pencil, trying my best to make the curves and lines of the letters just right. When I attended elementary school, the teacher devoted at least forty-five minutes to handwriting each day. Handwriting should still be taught in school because it is an essential first step to reading and expressing one’s thoughts and feelings and because of its impact on higher education.
Thesis: Cursive writing should be taught in school because children today only know how to hashtag and text. Very few actually know how to write in cursive. Learning cursive will enhance students’ spelling ability and reading skills. It will also help students with learning disabilities.
25. Handwriting in the south African curriculum. South African education. south Africa : s.n., Developmental stages of learning , p. 8.
By not teaching children how to read and write in cursive at a young age is neglecting parts of their brains that are important to learning and to thinking. If we stop teaching this way of writing, they will be losing their ability to use that part of their brain to its full potential. If we completely give up on writing on paper and we begin to rely on only typing and computers, we may not be actually learning the things that are of basic knowledge. I wouldn’t want our next generation to end up that
Do you think cursive writing should still be taught in schools? In my opinion, cursive writing should be taught in all schools. To begin with, it gives us skill we need later in life. Secondly, students will be faster note takers if they learn cursive. Most importantly, cursive forms functional specializations.
Writing and Reading in the early 2000's seemed like a thing you had to do or you would be looked down by your family by not having neat/perfect handwriting,I was taught to cross my T's and to dot my I's and do it to a point that if I did not do that my teacher would tell me to stay after class and do the whole writing portion over again and again, that taught me that I had to do everything to a perfect standard and it made me think that whatever I wrote did not matter only if it looked good and did not have any spelling mistakes.
According to Cabell et al (2013), the first stage of writing development begins with drawing and scribbling which Cabell et al (2013) believe that children do not distinguish between drawing and their writing. Based on Cabell et al (2013) research, drawing and scribbling eventually leads to making separate markings “that indicate children have begun to grasp the functionality