Monday, September 20, 2010

Is cursive disappearing?

     I don't remember when I learned to write in cursive, but I do know that around eleven it became my preferred mode of writing because it's faster, easier on my hand, and just looks a lot better than my print.  I had thought that this was pretty much the way it was with everybody. 
     Last year Anna saw me writing in my journal, and begged me to teach her "how to write all squiggly". I felt her small motor skills had to improve a little, so I told her I would teach her next year.  Well, now it's next year, and I have been getting ready to teach her cursive, but as I was looking around for teaching resources I found out something else; just as I am about to teach my daughter cursive there is a debate going on as to weather or not it should be taught.  Apparently most young Americans are not like me, in that they prefer cursive to print, but rather, they find writing in cursive tedious or difficult, or even (gasp!) don't even know how to. The big question is: What's the point? 
     So that got me thinking; what are my reasons for teaching cursive? (Other than that Anna wants to learn)  Here they are:
#1 If you can write cursive, than you can read it, and reading cursive will always be an important skill, for no other reason than reading historical documents.
#2 Cursive is artistic, and you can put more of your personal self into cursive than print.
#3 Once mastered, it is quicker and more efficient.
#4 It is just simply not true that computers are completely taking over the need for hand writing. I write things by hand all the time, and I really don't think I am alone in this.
     That being said, we just had our first cursive lesson today.  She learned how to write "A" which is the first letter in her name and the alphabet. It took maybe 10 minutes, and we had fun. How can you not have time for that?

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