“In 2010, the newly-formed Common Core State Standards for English initiative did not include cursive handwriting instruction** . In 2011, 41 states adopted the Common Core standards, thus removing the requirement for cursive instruction in the respective state curriculum.”
Children should be taught how to read cursive at the very least, since most of the most important documents in our nations history are written in cursive. Children should also be taught to write in cursive so they can properly sign their names and to increase the number of people with legible penmanship. It is a shame cursive handwriting was ever taken out of the curriculum.
I disagree, the state should not be dictating how I’m taught to write. Most written communication is now digital, and almost all historical documents have been digitized.
I would rather see the time spent on cursive handwriting be spent teaching students how to use written language to communicate effectively and clearly. How to organize and express their thoughts in written form, not the details of how that written form should look.
Handwriting is essential. There are proven connections between handwriting, cursive in particular, and memory. It was very short-sighted and ignorant to remove it from classrooms.
I agree. Having dyslexia in the 80’s was tough and it was a skill my teachers used to help with my spelling words. Dyslexia was new, and not a lot of study’s as to how to help kids learn to cope with how our brains received information. Writing in cursive made my brain work out the word instead of trying to form the word. All I know is that it worked for me and to this day grateful to teachers who cared. I am also lucky that were I live it is still taught!! Let’s stop going backwards.
Cursive is ESSENTIAL. If we can’t read cursive, we cannot read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. We must not leave it for others to interpret to us. THAT would leave us potentially enslaved.
It’s not so much that we would mandate students to USE it in their personal lives. But if they cannot read it, they cannot read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. That, to me, is dangerous.
Cursive should be taught, as well as basic print. A lot of this world is digital, but when the internet and/or the power goes out/down, what are we left with? Everyone of every age should be taught how to sign their name, cross the t’s and dot their i’s. Just because we live in a digital age, does not mean we should solely rely on that.