In a poll on Debate.org, 60% agreed that cursive should still be taught in school, while the other 40% deemed it unnecessary. Here is a sampling of the top responses:
Agreements For Cursive:
Cursive writing is a good break for kids with dyslexia. Yes, cursive writing should be taught in schools. You may not have noticed but cursive handwriting is quickly becoming a skill of the past. Many schools are choosing to eliminate handwriting instruction from their elementary classrooms. Controversy is growing over the role handwriting and keyboarding instruction will have in the classroom, particularly in the elementary grades where students are still developing their reading, writing and motor skills. Elementary school teachers attest to students often having trouble with the same letters since preschool. Introducing another writing form gives them the same leg up on printing as foreign language does with English-grammar learning for native born speakers. It reinforces their learning.
Freedom depends on it. Cursive is important because our founding documents are in cursive. I teach students who cannot write in cursive, thus they cannot read it. They cannot read historical documents and require others to interpret these for them. They are made dependent through ignorance. To discontinue cursive is to trust others with the interpretation of our civil liberties and history.
We stand to lose much of our history. We could not decipher hieroglyphics not because Egyptians ceased to exist, rather because they stopped teaching young scribes and priest how to write them. Within a generation the knowledge was gone – their civilization followed. We stand at the same crossroads.
Arguments Against Cursive:
Spend the time where it’s needed There are people who have beautiful handwriting that do not write in cursive. I don’t think it’s necessary. I think we should spend more time teaching our kids how to spell instead of how it looks when written on paper. A lot of schools around the country have poor tests scores and it’s not because they don’t write in cursive. Spend the time where it’s actually needed.
Outdated It’s going to be completely irrelevant within a decade; it’s all moving to computers! You most likely carry a mobile typing device in your pocket! You could have a genius that is held back because he can’t figure out a form of writing. Why should kids learn something that will be useless in a few years!
What is your opinion on cursive in schools?
