Cursive Writing - Is it a skill worth learning?

Purpose & Approach  

  The article I chose to read this week was from Sept/Oct 2011 from Iste.org. It was about learning cursive writing in school and if it was really worth teaching. Each author took a side either yes or no. Lee Ann Potter took the position of Yes cursive writing should still be taught in the classroom.  Lee Ann argued that “learning cursive contributes to our capacity to imagine”. She stated that learning cursive was an artistic skill and by writing on paper connects the reader to that moment in a tangible way.  She also expressed her concern that if we don’t teach cursive writing in school, then many works of literature from the past will be inaccessible to future readers. This is because they would not be able to read them and she feels that soon un-typed words will cease to have any meaning.   

  The other author, Sharon Eilts, stated that teaching cursive writing in school was not worth the time. She argued that why should students take the time to learn how to write all over again, when they could use that time to learn other skills that are more formatted for the 21st century. Sharon also brought up the fact that why should those students who are unable to write be “penalized on some arbitrary standard” that they can’t write in cursive, but they are able to use speech-to-text software to access the curriculum.

  Also at the end of the article there were results from a reader’s poll and 71% of people said yes to learning cursive and 29% said no. The ‘Yes’ group made comments such as: it’s important to learn for global communication since most cultures use predominately some type of cursive handwriting or that it is a great way for students to learn fine motor skills. The ‘No’ group left  comments such as: that class time should be spent on more practical pursuits, that most communication will be device dependant and cursive won’t really be recognizable, and that cursive is becoming more obsolete in the “grown up ‘digital world’”.  

Personal Connection

 This was a very interesting article and I thought both authors made a good argument. But I would have say ‘No’ to teaching cursive writing in our schools. The future of communication is not going to be pen on paper and people today don’t even write handwritten letters anymore.  As far as the argument that students need to learn fine motor skills and learning cursive is one way they do that. These days’ kids have access to some form of technology where they learn this skill first hand. Teachers already have to cover more curriculum then they did 20 years ago and to me cursive writing is an old skill where I don’t see the necessity and this time can be used for more up to date skills. Other old skills we once learned in school were calligraphy and short hand. There are now kits in stores or software on the computer that you can purchase now to learn these skills. If parents feel that learning cursive writing is important then their children can learn cursive at home with computer software using a touchpad type device. One of the poll readers made a valid point that cursive writing was developed to make writing pen on paper faster. Well now we have computers, smart phones, etc… Good penmanship is important to learn, but this skill is going to a more digital complex.  My current handwriting is a mixture of cursive and print, but on any document I need to turn in, either being for personal or school, they either require typed or print.

  As far as using cursive handwriting in future classroom instruction, I don’t really see the need. I did read that California mandates to only teach cursive in 4^th and 5^th grade and some states have even abolished this method altogether.  By the time I teach in a classroom setting I believe that this skill will no longer be an option to teach.  Time is so valuable these days especially in a classroom and the last thing we need to focus on is learning an old skill that won’t be applied in the real world.

Conclusion
  So overall I would have to agree with Sharon Eilts and say learning cursive writing is no longer a necessity and we should not take the time in the classroom to teach such a skill. Sharon believes that we need to look forward, not backward when it comes to education. Lee Ann did make some good points as to why cursive is important, because it has impacted our history and on a global point of view other countries do use some type of cursive handwriting.  She pointed out the fact that students would not be able to read old documents and that cursive is not only a communication skill, but also an artistic one. Even though her point of view is valid, learning the skill of cursive writing is just not worth it.

Implication

 This article aligns with the second NET standard ‘Communication and Collaboration’ for student learning.  This article talks about a form of communication that is soon to disappear from our curriculum. These days we want to focus on using digital media and communicating our ideas to solve problems and connect with a variety of digital environments.  As the article stated learning cursive writing is an artistic skill, but it is no longer a tool used to communicate.

APA Reference:

Potter, L. A., & Eilts, S. (2011, October). Is cursive writing worth teaching? Learning and Leading, 39, 6-8. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from www.iste.org