FULLERTON, California (Reuters) - A generation of children who learned to write on screens is now going old school.
Starting this year, California grade school students are required to learn cursive handwriting, after the skill had fallen out of fashion in the computer age.
Assembly Bill 446, sponsored by former elementary school teacher Sharon Quirk-Silva and signed into law in October, requires handwriting instruction for the 2.6 million Californians in grades one to six, roughly ages 6 to 12, and cursive lessons for the “appropriate” grade levels - generally considered to be third grade and above.
Experts say learning cursive improves cognitive development, reading comprehension and fine motor skills, among other benefits. Some educators also find value in teaching children to read historic documents and family letters from generations past.
There has to be a better and more useful way to achieve those benefits than cursive writing. Maybe we expand art classes as opposed to this? Maybe cursive writing is just taught as more like calligraphy in an art class? I don’t see a value or learning cursive in like English class. I’m old though so had to learn it and in the over 40 years of knowing cursive the only time I use it or read it is my signature.
There is
Probably another old person who just can’t let the damn thing go.
I learned cursive in the 3rd grade, the amount of times I’ve needed it (beyond a signature, even then it’s just a squiggle) is a whopping 0
It would be much more suitable in a separate optional class like you said, a calligraphy class or more budget for art classes (Which is far more important IMO)
There’s no arguement for teaching cursive outside of old people’s sentimentality, and that’s worthless
That’s a huge shame, because cursive is my standard handwriting for any note taking or long form writing. It feels less strenuous on my hand, and looks neater. I use print writing for short notes or to fill in fields on documents, but everything else looks so much nicer to me in cursive script.
As another commenter noted it would be a fun elective class to take or possibly we should bring back short form classes. I never had short form class but my mom took it in the 60s? And uses it. Like a right angle represents “and” or something. That would be super useful and more so than cursive.
I agree short form and other note-taking methods, typing, etc should be rolled into a single course. I don’t think it should be elective, but that’s just me.
I appreciate having learned cursive to open up historical documents, published diaries, and the like. Plus, I could read the letters and cards my grandmother sent me.
But, I never had any issue learning to read or write cursive. A lot of people talk about those lessons being difficult or grueling in school, and that wasn’t my experience at all. It was just a nifty skill I learned alongside plenty of other skills that may or may not have use in every day life as an adult.
You must be right handed. Left handed people generally get more hand strain from cursive as you must constantly push the pen against the page as opposed to dragging it as right handed people do. That and the constant need to write at an absurd angle lest you smudge all the diligent work.
It was my understanding that left-handed people experience more hand strain with any handwriting, for the same reasons? But yes, I am right-handed for writing.
Its especially pronounced with joined style or cursive writing due to always pushing compared to block writing allowing small rests when picking the pen up between letters where there is no added friction against the page. After writing a page or two there is a noticeable difference in the fatigue between both forms
That’s good to know, and something I hadn’t been aware of before. I can understand a bit more the resistance for “forced” learning to write cursive being a part of core curriculum. Though I still think it’s something important, or at least beneficial, to learn to read and understand.
Around 3rd or 4th grade in the mid-2000s I learned cursive and also have never used it outside of pretty much just using it for my signature. It’s definitely something that isn’t all that useful outside of signatures anymore, and even then, it’s becoming less relevant when you can’t write worth a damn on those electric signature rectangle things.
Though, I completely agree that expanding it by adding it to an art class in the form of calligraphy would be an amazing way to both learn cursive and make it more enjoyable.