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What's the point of a lot of stuff? Why teach long division when a calculator does it in seconds. Know how many times I used long division in calculus, never.
I think cursive is still important. Being able to read our Constitution, prescriptions, old script, love letters, is all part of being a gentleman or lady. I actually write in cursive and in a way respect those who do a little more. Receiving a hand printed business letter seems so unprofessional. Cursive written on the other hand, especially if it is clean and practiced, is much more presentable.
Exactly. Why learn long division when a calculator is available? Why put people who are not interested in math, through that? Same with memorization of the times tables?
In the US they teach it for one grade. Most people under 40 rarely use it except for a signature. I have my own special scribble that I use for taking notes related to business. No one can read it but me. Which is fine.
Education should stress critic thinking, deconstruction of texts, reading, and writing. Not handwriting.
As far as those ancient texts that our children will be unable to read - who cares? I don't happen to have a copy of the Declaration of Independence in my home - do you?
And that cursive is hard for me to decipher. It has changed over the years.
Most professionals such as Attorney's, Doctors, and such use cursive to take notes or shorthand. Most kids write like they are texting to someone they will pay for that poor writing skills if they ever want to get anywhere. Printing is just too slow for taking proper notes when someone is speaking. The real problem these days is the reliance in computer spell checking. I know someone who said he runs all his reports he turns into for school though software that can fix all the grammar issues. Only teaches you how well the software is able to take care of it.
I'll gladly admit that my cursive penmanship is horrible. As a result, I began typing my homework assignments in 4th grade long before most of my class mates even had a computer.
Fast forward to today, and yes, my boss can probably write notes faster than I can using cursive, however I can definitively type an email faster than he can either write or type a message.
Cursive writing in my daily career is meaningless. I bring my laptop to meetings, I type my notes on a computer, and I can't remember the last time I wrote anything other than my name in cursive. Doesn't mean it's meaningless overall, but I'd probably put it on par with learning a second language. It's beneficial to know, and if it comes up and you don't know it you'll be kicking yourself, but I wouldn't consider it essential at all.
In my opinion, learning to type without doing the "two finger peck" is much more important in today's world than cursive.
That said, I believe some people may be confusing cursive with grammar. Sure, there's a higher requirement to learn grammar when you can't type something, but that's more of something related to writing by hand vs cursive in particular. Not knowing the correct version of your/you're won't help you whether you print or write in cursive.
I'm starting to like the fact that they aren't teaching cursive anymore just because it's become somewhat of a mark of distinction. I think ours (early millenials) was the last generation to learn the skill.
20-year-olds look at me amazed like I'm writing in a foreign script or something. I can read the Constitution with no problem; they can make no parts of it.
Stop teaching anything. Let them all be ignorant and borderline illiterate.
That said, I believe some people may be confusing cursive with grammar. Sure, there's a higher requirement to learn grammar when you can't type something, but that's more of something related to writing by hand vs cursive in particular. Not knowing the correct version of your/you're won't help you whether you print or write in cursive.
They don't teach grammar anymore either. Explicit english grammar instruction was pratically banned from primary and secondary school education generations ago.
As if I don't have enough trouble wit the post office without all their younger employees being unable to read the address on a package or letter.
A lot of things are written in cursive. What a shame to have kids who can't read everything they might encounter that is written in English. Maybe they can hire someone to read the letter that their grandmother sends them.
Maybe banks will have to hire an interpreter to tell their clerks what the check says before they cash it. It is the written amount that is the legal value of teh check, not the numerals.
Give me an actual legit reason for teaching cursive writing to all students. To me it's seems like teaching old English.
Educated people know how to read and write, and understand cursive writing's importance in everyday life.
When was the last time you wrote a check? Signed your tax return? Signed a contract? Purchased a house (lots of signatures required there!)? Signed a work order?
The act of printing takes longer than writing cursive. Odd in today's get-there-quicker society that people don't realize this.
Printing is more easily forged.
Learning cursive, especially when children are young, reinforces reading and spelling lessons. Children hone fine motor skills, improving their hand-eye coordination. Later, especially when children grow into teenagers, they add their own preferences and flourishes to their handwriting, fostering personal expression and artistic ability.
They don't teach grammar anymore either. Explicit english grammar instruction was pratically banned from primary and secondary school education generations ago.
I think that's oversimplifying things.
The trend was to teach grammar and punctuation in context, rather than have long droning lessons about each part of speech and each type of punctuation mark. Personally, I learned better with the older style. However, how many people of my generation could really distinguish between an adjective and an adverb, or when a semicolon was more appropriate than a comma. Probably a balance of the two styles of teaching is best.
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them.
