Posted on 10/24/2001 6:11:49 AM PDT by Brookhaven
Mr. Nancetti, my third grade teacher, was wrong.
Mr. Nancetti claimed that script, or "cursive", handwriting was much easier and faster to write. He was wrong.
Writing in script is slower, messier, harder to read, and rare. What percent of the population writes in script? I doubt that it is very high. I can't remember the last note I received in "cursive" writing.
With typing now the norm rather than the exception, print handwriting will be forever dominant over script. Gone are the days when z's look like y's or when n's and m's are barely distinguishable.
I used to tease my mother that she did not know how to write in "cursive" -- she had never learnt it in school. But now I envy her for not spending time learning a soon-to-be defunct dialect of handwriting.
It could be that "graffiti," the handwriting style introduced by US Robotics' (now 3com) Pilot, will soon overtake script as the number 2 form of penmanship in the United States.
The biggest problem with teaching kids cursive writing is it takes the place of ensuring better penmanship. I can't tell you how many times I get notes from co-workers, colleagues, and friends that I can't read. Important messages are indecipherable and beautiful post-cards contain cryptic messages. If people would focus, just a little bit, on improving their handwriting rather than learning a new handwriting style, messages would be a little clearer.
So my suggestion is to scrap cursive writing altogether. Stop wasting third graders time when you could be teach more math, spelling, reading, government, or typing. Getting rid of cursive writing won't make the world a significantly better place or solve world hunger or create lasting peace, but it will ensure that written documents will be more legible. It will be a very tiny step toward a more productive society -- and we won't waste months of our children's life having to learn a handwriting style that is virtually useless.
Summation: stop teaching cursive writing in the classroom and stop encourage people to write neatly in print.
My 6-year-old is doing just fine learning it at home.
Sneaky homeschool bump!
Why not stop teaching all forms of writing? In this age of computer technology, even the keyboard will soon be obsolete. </tongueincheek>
With the rise in computer usage, I rarely write anything except checks - and you couldn't read my signature if you had to.
I took typing back in 1973 and was one of the few guys in the class. The thought then was you only needed to know how to type if you planned to become a secretary. I figured I would need it to type college papers. Little did I know I would spend hours everyday typing.
I almost never write anything in cursive.
They should take some of the time spent teaching cursive handwriting, and use it for typing classes for everyone.
This is Bull. Another lazy Gen-Xer, methinks. I was actually waiting
for the author to say, stop teaching spelling, we have spell check.
Really? Never asked to sign your name?
But I did read an article that stated that most males revert back to block printing once cursive is no longer required. According to this study, females don't.
Stop wasting third graders time when you could be teach the author better use of the English language.
Perhaps instead of dropping it all together, we should go back to the mindset of "this is what we require of you, do it."
As I tell my son, if this is the worst thing you must do in your life, I want your life.
After all everyone has a calculator.
Give me a break.....what a moron.
MKM
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