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Should schools still be teaching cursive?

Chris

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Post n°1

Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Chris Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:21 am

What do you think, is cursive writing still relevant in this day and age? Is it something schools should go out of their way to make a point to teach?

http://www.cta.org/en/Professional-Development/Publications/2012/06/June-Educator-2012/cursive.aspx

Should fancy loops and flowing letters of cursive still be taught to students? Is cursive writing an obsolete skill no longer relevant in today’s technological society?

The new Common Core State Standards for English do not require cursive. However, under the new standards, states are allowed to teach cursive if they choose, and California still does. Some states, like Georgia, are considering abandoning longhand lessons altogether, since cursive is not on standardized tests.

This issue is being hotly debated in teacher lunchrooms around the state. We asked two CTA members to weigh in. Here’s what they have to say.

Supernova

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Post n°2

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Supernova Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:37 am

I say it is necessary, I can't speak for anybody else but until I learned to write it, I couldn't read it, and everybody I know writes in cursive, hell, even on the computer people print notes in cursive.

Forgiveness Man

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Post n°3

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Forgiveness Man Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:30 am

Schools haven't been teaching for a long time. haha

Shale

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Post n°4

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Shale Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:06 am

Of course when I went to school, there weren't even electric typewriters and ppl carried notepad in their pockets, such as police. Now everyone has a computer, including the police so this ancient technology of writing by hand may be waning.

However, as a guy who uses computers exclusively in my finished product, I am also the guy who takes minutes at meetings sometimes filling up many pages on a paper tablet. And, I do that in a very fast cursive. That is the process before typing up the minutes electronically.

Now, there may be ways to bypass this process but I haven't found a better one. So, I think it is a basic that still needs to be taught.

You could argue the same for arithmetic - why not do away with that in this pocket calculator age?

Nystyle709

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Post n°5

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Nystyle709 Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:25 pm

Yes they should. You're going to be signing your name for the rest of your life.

Tony Marino

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Post n°6

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Tony Marino Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:28 pm

Nystyle709 wrote:Yes they should. You're going to be signing your name for the rest of your life.

Jason B.

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Post n°7

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Jason B. Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:05 pm

Yes. I'll go as far to say that schools should shy away from allowing school work to be done on computers. Most of it should be done with a pencil and paper. Kids will have the rest of their lives to use technology.

Supernova

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Post n°8

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Supernova Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:15 pm

Jason B. wrote:Yes. I'll go as far to say that schools should shy away from allowing school work to be done on computers. Most of it should be done with a pencil and paper. Kids will have the rest of their lives to use technology.

I'm in favor of this too, when I was in school it was all done on paper with pencils and sent through the mail to the school and then back again, we did just fine with that process.

Cheaps

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Post n°9

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Cheaps Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:42 am

Nystyle709 wrote:Yes they should. You're going to be signing your name for the rest of your life.

Yup

Alan Smithee

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Post n°10

Re: Should schools still be teaching cursive?

by Alan Smithee Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:55 pm

Chris wrote:What do you think, is cursive writing still relevant in this day and age? Is it something schools should go out of their way to make a point to teach?

Yes and yes. The benefits of learning that skill outweigh what some see as an archic practice. I don't have a problem if they want to revise the model alphabet that's taught but students learn more than just the ability to make squiggly lines.