Learning and Leading - September/October 2011

L&L wants your opinion! Send comments to letters@iste.org.

Participate in our reader poll at iste.org/LL.

READERSrespond

POLL RESULTS

Is Cursive Writing Worth Teaching?

Although most poll respondents vote in favor of teaching cursive, many commenters think class time is better spent on more practical pursuits.

Global Communication Skill

Four or five times a week, students will be reading a book and some of the text will be in cursive, which they cannot decipher, and they need me to interpret it. If we don’t teach them this skill, we are not preparing them for their future in a very global society, where most cultures predominately use a type of cursive handwriting.

Suzanne Livingston Second Grade Teacher West Palm Beach, Florida, USA

Waste of Time

Cursive is, for the most part, a waste of time. I stopped using cursive the second I was allowed to. There are a lot more important things we should be teaching our children other than making their words look pretty. Education needs to be about teaching practical things.

Ben Marshall Education Student Bowling Green, Ohio, USA

Prepare for the Future

The utility of cursive should not be an issue. Teaching cursive is a great way for a student to develop fine motor skills. At one time, cursive was taught before printing, because it developed rhythm and flow in hand motion. It is important to expose students to a variety of experiences that challenge various aspects of their minds, so that they have a point from which adaptation can start as they encounter an unpredictable future.

Joel Fox Retired Professor Lady Lake, Florida, USA

Going, Going, Gone

There is not enough time to teach cursive with the right emphasis. When I taught third grade, cursive was a requirement. Then I moved to fifth grade and found there was no use for cursive. Papers were typed, and students were not allowed to write in cursive on the state test. It is becoming more obsolete in the “grown-up” digital world, and there are more important skills that teachers have to focus on.

Angela de Guzman Teacher Reistertown, Maryland, USA

Child’s Play

My son recently finished kindergarten at a French school in the U.S. and loved working on cursive. It is taught at an earlier age in the French system to help students develop not only fine motor skills, but concentration and a sense of mastery. This being said, I don’t see him needing to utilize this style of writing as he grows older. Not only does technology make this easier, most adults I know write in print or block letters so their ideas and thoughts are actually legible.

Melinda Kolk Vice President, Tech4Learning San Diego, California, USA

Digital Age Angle

The tech aspect of this is creating a program and trackpad that would allow students to practice at home and post their work to online learning environments.

John Moody Career and Technology Education Teacher Asheville, North Carolina, USA

No Longer the Fastest

I have been promoting dropping the instruction of cursive from our curriculum for over 15 years. Cursive writing was developed as a faster way to put words on paper. Today students are printing; typing on computers, smartphones, and iPads; texting; podcasting; and using voice-to-text.

Craig Nansen Director of Technology Minot, North Dakota, USA

Ancient History

I think it should be taught. Left-handed students should also have their knuckles hit until they learn to write right-handed. Just kidding. Beyond a signature, I think cursive is a relic of a horrible past.

Steven Wells Comment on the ISTE Facebook page

Unrecognizable

Cursive doesn’t work as well with handwriting recognition devices, and moving forward most communication will be device dependent.

Easy IEP Help Comment on the ISTE Facebook page

Technological Workaround

I have an adult child with a learning disability. Two things he never mastered were committing his multiplication tables to memory and cursive handwriting. Both are easily overcome through technology.