Should educators continue to teach cursive writing in school? For the sake of learning to read old documents and honing their hand-eye skills, many say “yes.” Most current teaching standards, however, require only keyboard training, not longhand. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Should Schools Teach Cursive Writing?”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, how are you doing?
Doing well. Who’s this?
This is Scott. I’m calling from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Well, we’re delighted to have you. What can we help you with?
I was wondering, I began attending NWTC, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, and in my classes I had some younger students. I’m in my 40s, and some of these students are fresh from high school. And in some of these peer reviews and little group discussions we’ve had, frequently in taking notes, we had to read each other’s notes, and some of them simply couldn’t read my notes because they never were taught cursive writing. I was wondering what exactly is going on in our schools in America. Is cursive writing being phased out because of the Internet? And I find it interesting because for me, when I want to write fast, cursive writing is a key.
How good is your cursive writing?
When I’m writing fast, chicken scratching, but when I take my time, it’s beautiful.
So what the kids were reading was beautiful.
Excuse me?
What the young kids were reading was beautiful.
In between.
In between, okay.
Okay, but they weren’t reading it.
They couldn’t, they literally could not read it?
They were taught how to autograph their names. That was it.
How do they write?
Do they just use block letters?
Most of them were printing. Most of them said they do typing on a computer.
Right.
And they learned how to cursive write only to sign their names on documents and so forth. Some of them struggled, could read it with difficulty, but a lot of them were like, I never learned it.
That’s really interesting.
There are a lot of questions here that you’ve just posed, Scott. Let’s see if we can untangle some of these. So the first one is, Martha, do you know about, do you know how difficult it is to read cursive writing if you’ve never been taught it?
I’ve never been able to imagine that.
You and I both learned it in school, right?
Right.
It’s hard for me to remember a time when I didn’t know how to do that.
Well, we definitely need to ask our listeners, if you’re under, say, 22, were you taught cursive writing in school? Let us know. Send us an email or call us on the phone. And can you read it? And can you read it?
Now, what I know from my reading, though, that not being, even if you don’t know how to write cursive, you should still be able to read it. It’s not that hard to figure out. It just takes a little bit of patience and an hour or two, and you’re set. You’re good, right?
Yeah, are you sure they weren’t joshing you? Or did they just not try?
I’m sure they weren’t joshing, because like I said, some of them with the struggle could read it. Some of them just simply didn’t get it.
Well, we’re going to poll our listeners about this. I’m curious now.
It’s not being taught.
It’s not being taught. That’s the other thing that I wanted. This is what I really wanted to talk about. There’s something known as the Common Core, which has been adopted by almost all of the states. And it’s not mandatory, and the states can make their own additions to it. But it does not include cursive writing. It’s something that this body of experts believes is necessary for being successful in modern life.
Right. It includes keyboarding. You have to learn to type, right? And it’s hard to argue with their logic. Yet you can also have this sense of sadness that something that would be so wonderful can disappear. And one of the most common things that’s brought up is this sunders us from the past. If you can’t read the letters that your grandparents sent back and forth during the war, then you are separated from that family history.
That was one of my biggest concerns right there.
Yeah, we have some Civil War era letters in our family that my father’s ancestors wrote. And it is hard to read it, I have to tell you.
Even though you know cursive.
Yes, yes.
But maybe it’s a different style of cursive.
It was a different style of cursive, and it’s kind of frustrating because I can’t read it unless I see it typed out. We have typed out copies of it as well. But on the other hand, my mother had gorgeous cursive writing. One thing my grandmother knew how to do was actual shorthand on a professional level. And she was willing to teach me when I was younger, but being I was young, I thought it was useless. It’s something I regret saying no to now. I would love to have known shorthand.
Yeah, that’s amazing.
Especially for taking notes in class.
So let’s do a mini-survey here. Scott, do you think that cursive should still be taught in schools?
Yes.
Martha?
Yeah, I would say so.
Not as a real art form, but just a useful thing to know.
Same here. That’s exactly my take. I think that cursive should be taught, not because I think you absolutely have to have it, but because it can be a wonderful kind of way to train the mind and the hand and there’s coordination involved. You made an even better point earlier on in regards to reading letters from your grandparents that may have been in cursive.
Right.
That the hand-eye coordination that comes with writing well, writing cursive well, is a skill that will serve you in other places in life.
Yeah, I think it is connected to comprehension. I think there has been some study on that. So I think we should throw it out to our listeners.
Yeah, we want your opinions on cursive writing. Should it be taught? Do you know how to do it? Is it something that you think is necessary? Do you always write in cursive? Do you never write in cursive? 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org.
Scott, thank you so much for opening this can of worms.
Oh, no problem.
Bye-bye. Take care.
You have a good day.
Or send your opinion in beautiful cursive writing to us here at Wayword, P.O. Box 632-721, San Diego, California, 92163.
No, schools should not be required to teach cursive. Keyboarding is far more important of a skill for students to learn. The hosts made a point to teach cursive so kids could read their grandparents letters. THis is an esoteric reason, there is so much that is important for kids to know, so teaching cursive should be an elective, not a requirement. I didn’t learn how to read calligraphy, and therefore cannot read an original version of the US constitution. Cursive is following that same path and while that may be ‘sad’ (and yes, a part of me mourns the loss of cursive) it does not mean we should continue teaching it.
We still teach Chaucer and Shakespeare and we should still teach cursive. As we evolve we will continue to lower the priority of many things that actually have added benefits that will be missed. Review the increasing need for math skills, calculators do much of the jobs now, we still have to know our multiplication tables, just not the slide rule. Penmanship, as it was called long ago, is just an art that will be budgeted away as the need for speed and efficiency force their way into our children’s lives. Sad, really.
Learning to read cursive is an easy skill. As a second-grade teacher, I slowly start transitioning from manuscript to cursive as the year goes on. An argument for learning cursive is speed. My students are amazed and comment on how fast I can write something on the board. I cannot imagine notetaking in classes if I had to write in manuscript.
I think the argument that connects movement and brain is a valid one. Watching students struggle with handwriting or even tying shoes reminds me that having the time to practice is important. Time is what’s lacking in the school day.
30 years ago, I had to pass a handwriting class in college before I was allowed to work at a school.
We teach Chaucer and Shakespeare for the ideas , artistry and their (ahem) way with words. We don’t present them in their original handwriting, and in Chaucer’s case, not even the original language. Comparing math skills to cursive is like comparing language skills to typography. If we do know our multiplication tables , we can use any symbols for the actual values, even Roman Numerals.
Cursive,, like calligraphy, is an art form, There is no longer a really practical use for either. If needed for aesthetic reasons, an artist can produce either, Reasonable facsimiles an be produced by anyone who can type and has access to a modest computer.
Concerning speed, as a graphic artist, I can hand print letters almost as fast as using cursive, its certainly more readable by the typesetter. Most people who use printing exclusivly can match the cursive users speed. Except perhaps at extreme speed, but then the cursive is usually “hen scratch” almost a personal shorthand.
Learning to effectively touch type is much more practical than learning cursive. If I had really learned typing, I could by pass the type setter using almost any desk top, as it is, it is faster for me, with my two finger pecking, to have someone else do the actual typing. That brings up another analogy, Sending computer generated copy directly to a printer vs, clamping hand set type into a press. To me, as a graphic artist, lazer or ink jet, or even photo off set will never compare aesthetically to letter press.
Miss Manners and cohorts may rue the passing of the formal hand written note as E-mail , E-Vites etc. proliferate, but the times they are a changing. Already we can compare the formality of E-Mail to that of a tweet. Future generations may disparage whatever replaces the artistic and formal E-Mail. Cursive writing will join such ruefully nostalgic memories of a by gone, perhaps more polite, era as the calling card and the visiting card, along with knowledge of when to use either.