Cursive Writing

Did you know that US public schools no longer require cursive writing practice? Do you think that is good or bad for the students?

I personally think that is robbing the children of their access to gain and improve their creative writing skills. Although today I do not write cursive on a daily basis, I know that it is fun and exciting to learn how to write new and different ways.

As a whole, writing is an art. It always has been and always should be approached as such. If we turn it into a technical and mechanical "need" the child ends up in frustration especially the boy children. The need for speed actually diminishes this creative skill.

About a century ago, students were practicing an improved method of "speed" cursive writing. They would daily go through drills that would teach them how to write the cursive letter A quickly through writing about 50 or more on a page. Later in lessons they would move on to write whole words several times on a page in a set amount of time. Each time they wrote the word they were required to create the word to look more and more professional and legible as well as beautiful looking.

To me, cursive writing helps the child pay attention to tiny and minute details. It allows the child to sense differences in traits simply by observing the texture of an individual's writing. It is said that children who are taught to pay attention to small details end up being the leaders in society. They are the ones who become the lawyers, doctors, CEO's and such.

Don't get me wrong the computer is a wonderful tool, however, imagine a child assuming that all life depends upon this tool and this tool alone. He may not know that he can kindly write a beautiful hand written letter to grandma or a beloved girl if he doesn't know he has these cursive writing skills.
Perhaps he may want to start a special calligraphy business one day, if the child doesn't have the skill, he won't be able to begin.

What do you think? Should we encourage public schools to include cursive writing in the curriculum? Does eliminating cursive writing cause the child to become "dumb" or incapable simply because they lack the skill? Are educators assuming that our children are "robots" an not creative people? Think of other skills from the past we were not taught and how this affects us adults (candle making, getting food from wild, homebirth, herbal remedies and more).


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