should cursive writing still be taught in schools?

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by mc1

should cursive writing still be taught in schools?
how important is it?
is typing a more usefull skill?
what about signatures?
what about reading older cursive documents?

eidt: (sorry for the "spent" in the poll, i believe that was a case of edititus - yes, they should still teach spelling in school - but not capitalization! j/k, that's another thread, like apostrophes)

As much as I'd like to champion its continued use, I can't. It's going the way of Latin. Archaic for routine use, it's been supplanted by the keyboard. I write in cursive but not nearly as frequently as I used to. When my folks were alive and I was globe trotting we'd send letters back and forth and usually in cursive. My Pop later switched to printing rather than cursive.

People comment on my signature these days like it's a work of art, which cursive writing was, but the simple truth is most people take no pride in how they represent themselves on paper. They write like crap, IOW, so a legible signature is rare. Go back 30 years when cursive was still commonly in use and you'd see many people who did take pride in how they looked on paper.

I'm employed in a maintenance industry where technicians have to describe in narrative form the findings of maintenance and inspections they perform. It's pathetic the way people are now expressing thoughts on paper and indicative of the dumbing down in the school systems.

I guess my belabored point here is cursive writing, like so many other disciplines that require practice-developed skills, just doesn't fit into the instant gratification me-generation's ideals. It's no wonder there's so much guitar hero worship. No one puts themselves to the grindstone to develop similar skills. It's a systemic failing to seek easier things and be jealous of the harder.

So, going with the flow, I voted #3.

[SongwriterFan]

Make your X here, sir.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Pitar

As much as I'd like to champion its continued use, I can't. It's going the way of Latin. Archaic for routine use, it's been supplanted by the keyboard. I write in cursive but not nearly as frequently as I used to. When my folks were alive and I was globe trotting we'd send letters back and forth and usually in cursive. My Pop later switched to printing rather than cursive.

People comment on my signature these days like it's a work of art, which cursive writing was, but the simple truth is most people take no pride in how they represent themselves on paper. They write like crap, IOW, so a legible signature is rare. Go back 30 years when cursive was still commonly in use and you'd see many people who did take pride in how they looked on paper.

I'm employed in a maintenance industry where technicians have to describe in narrative form the findings of maintenance and inspections they perform. It's pathetic the way people are now expressing thoughts on paper and indicative of the dumbing down in the school systems.

I guess my belabored point here is cursive writing, like so many other disciplines that require practice-developed skills, just doesn't fit into the instant gratification me-generation's ideals. It's no wonder there's so much guitar hero worship. No one puts themselves to the grindstone to develop similar skills. It's a systemic failing to seek easier things and be jealous of the harder.

So, going with the flow, I voted #3.

I thought the baby-boomers were the "me generation". Yes, they are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation

Wonder how kids got the way they are. Undoubtedly from the way they are raised. I think instead of this constant blaming of the kids for everything wrong in the world we need to do what we can to do it right. Both my kids are in good schools and take music lessons. Both doing well in school, and focused on reading, science, history and programming. They happen also to learn cursive.

That said, cursive is so far down the list of priorities I don't even know why this is a topic, except for older people to laud the end of the world as they knew it...yet again. All we can do is do the best in the world we have with the hand we have been dealt. It's not impossible, it's just harder. Both parents working, distractions everywhere. At least crime is way down from when I was a kid.

Find a mate who shares your values, dedicate yourselves to getting into an area with good schools by getting great jobs, and learn from other good parents around you.

Why aren't there more posts about what's going well with kids? All this constant barrage of complaints and blame is unproductive and just totally negative.