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In Ogdensburg, NY, the school system is trying an experiment. Starting in kindergarten, children were taught script instead of block handwriting. Here are the results of that experiment.
1) Under block handwriting, children coming out of kindergarten were expected to know how to write the entire alphabet, upper and lower case. With script writing, the children were only able to master the alphabet up to “G†and had to finish learning the alphabet in first grade.
2) Children were held back in reading because they could not make the visual connection between script type letters and the block type letters, published in books. Children that were taught block handwriting, who transferred into the school district, were well ahead in reading as opposed to the children who learned script.
On a personal note, I was a hearing officer with the New York State Department of Corrections. In that position I had to read numerous reports from staff, mostly handwritten. I can tell you, I much preferred block printing instead of script. It was far easier to read. With script, each individual had their own stylized handwriting that I had to interpret. Block printing is much more standardized. Why do you thing most governmental forms state “print or type?â€
I see no advantage to learning script vs block printing. Children are better served by spending more time in math and science rather than practicing the “art†of script.
Thanks for listening,
Bill Cornelison
NCPR (North Country Public Radio)
I remember back in elementary, when mastership of script writing somehow made you an "elite" member of the class. It was required that students learn script writing, and those who continued to write in block letters were looked down on as the "dummies" of the class.
I remember copying words out of books just to practice my script writing because teachers graded you on your ability to perfectly loop each curve and sharpen each angle.
Today, I write in block letters. No, I take that back - I only write in block letters when I need to fill out a form right then and there; everything else is usually typed. The only time that I use script writing now is when I'm in a lecture and need to note down each and every important point that the professor makes; my writing then develops into a weird hybrid of script + block and is legible to only my eyes.
Bill, that's very interesting. Thanks for this information. Is that report on the school program online someplace?
I remember being told by teachers that learning to write cursive well would leave my hand and arm less tired. I think writing in cursive does have that effect, but then I usually have trouble deciphering what I've written. I usually end up writing in the weird hybrid that inanoyster describes. Is there a word for that? Idiograph, maybe?
I always wondered why it was called printing. Is it because it imitates the printed word?
At least we can be thankful that we don't have to learn Sutterlin, like German kids had to do as recently as the 1950s. (In case you don't know what Sutterlin was, it was a type of cursive writing that used to be common in Germany, named after its inventor, which although it used the standard 30-letter Romano-German alphabet, it bore no resemblance whatsoever to anything you've ever seen.)
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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