Many of you, like me, eventually stopped using it when it was no longer required.
And it's safe to say man of you, like me, can't stand cursive.
I see it as a necessary evil, but I am glad I don't have to do it anymore. My handwriting isn't perfect by any stretch, but it's worse in cursive.
Well, one Idaho lawmaker is saddened by the slow death of cursive, so he is trying to make it mandatory in all schools.
Yep, not only do you have to learn it, but you'll have to use it until you're blue in the face.
While I see the merits in his actions (keeping writing alive, and slowing down the trend on using digital devices) I also see this:
Idaho ranks 47th in the nation for overall education. Idaho also ranks 49th in students who move from High School to college or any form of secondary education.
But don't worry! Mandating cursive will save us all!!
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| I have to write it HOW MANY times?!? |
My punishment? Writing sentences in cursive instead of going to recess.
"If I choose to break the rules, I will suffer the consequences."
I easily penned that phrase at least 10,000 times during the school year.
(...and before you think I was a deviant, I had straight A's and was reading at a 12th grade level. I acted out because I was bored out of my gourd and wasn't being pushed)
What do you think of this issue? Is cursive really that important? Is this Idaho lawmaker just pissing in the wind, and making meaningless laws instead of trying to actually fix our fucked up education? Please leave your input with a comment below, as I would love to hear others' opinions on this.
8 witty retorts:
I never use cursive and print everything except my signature. I'm more concerned about the current state of spelling and grammar than I am the declining use of cursive.
I'm with Chubby: screw cursive but have creative writing and spelling emphasized instead. Make kids hand write stories so there is no spellcheck.
I was the straight A troublemaker too. Lots and lots of lunch detentions here.
I got a D in handwriting in fifth grade. Cursive, to be specific. And I was in the classroom writing sentences during recess just like you. Now I write in a strange amalgam of print & cursive.
My son hasn't learned cursive yet and it's curious to me that he can't read my handwriting, or anyone's signatures.
What will signatures become when no one knows cursive? I wonder.
Wait. 47th in the Nation? Holy shit, I'm never moving to Idaho... I mean, I wasn't going to anyway for a whole host of other reasons but... seriously?
I can write cursive - not well but I can do it. Did it make me any more prepared for college? No - typing would have made me more prepared for college. Or shorthand.
I'm not sure how "important" it is but I don't hate it. There is a "print" and "sign" that required cursive. My writing is a hybrid...1/2 and 1/2 but I write in cursive more than print. I think it's a chick thing.
I learnt cursive script at school (in Australia) in the fifties. I like to use it, it looks good, and I can write pretty fast (faster than using keyboard!). However, as a teacher I had to learn, and then teach a new form of cursive that looks similar to the one you've pictured above. The cursive I originally learnt had joining loops that made it very fluid. I now write a mixture of the two, except when I want my writing to look really presentable, and then I go back to the old (and proper!) way of writing.
My nephews who are 15 and 12 couldn't read a card I sent to them because it was in cursive. They didn't have to learn it like we did. I am still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or a bad thing. They don't read books either which is a bad things. What are they learning in English class?
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