Remember when your third grade teacher Ms. Johnson asked you to practice cursive? Well, that crazy old lady was right! And here are 4 reasons why she was right for teaching you cursive:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Come on, you didn’t think we were serious, did you? The fact is there aren’t any real reasons to practice cursive anymore. Anyways, most people don’t even understand cursive anymore, let alone write it. Recall when the SAT required you to write that statement saying you would not cheat on the test…in cursive?!? Let’s be honest, that was probably the hardest part of the exam. Besides the SAT and reading grandma’s letters, why else do we need to know cursive? And why are schools taking this “skill” out of regular school curriculum?
The reasons why people think cursive is important are over the top and ridiculous.
1. Reading our country’s historical documents
2. SAT security checks
3. (insert other forgotten and/or insignificant reasons)
Come on really? Reading our country’s historical documents? Is that even necessary? The ridiculous part is our vice-chancellor of the Department of Education, Jane Tappen, agreesa. But that motive doesn’t make any sense either. Knowing how to read our constitution is not important towards furthering our economy, industry, or anything. In fact, transcribed historical texts are readily available through a simple Google search.
Some school representatives think students should know cursive because they themselves write in cursive. For example, Lee Superintendent Nancy Graham says she “writes cursive all day long.” Why is that even a reason? Just because you know how to feed a circus monkey doesn’t mean everyone else needs to know either.
Related: How Important is Writing Today?
Is cursive writing dead? Has it died off too much that there is no more solid evidence to support any idea for the importance of cursive? Even higher level education school officials like, assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, Morgan Polikoff agreed cursive “should be allowed to die,” according to a CBS article. Therefore, more importantly, higher level education systems agree cursive should just be let go. No more struggling to write that SAT statement about academic honesty! Wow…the people in charge of our education do have some intelligence. Why would we need cursive in the 21st century era?
With some schools moving away from teaching cursive, our education system is beginning to realize cursive is not an important skill to learn anymore. Teaching it only lessens time that could be spent teaching more important skills like times tables and vocabulary. Some people question if cursive is a 21st century skill. In an age where typing is the new way of writing and communication, I might even ask if handwriting is a modern skill. Come to think of it, why should we even know about handwriting in general?
Related: Is Cursive Dead?
Right now, I only use handwriting when writing notes in a class that doesn’t tolerate laptop use (because all teachers think we just mess around on Facebook…well that’s kinda true). But after college, I really don’t see any purpose in handwriting besides writing Post-It notes. Someone prove me wrong but I don’t see any vital uses for this practice. Also, we are moving towards writing with technology where text is easily readable and no hard transcriptions are needed. Along with what Polikoff said about the death of cursive, he even hinted at handwriting being “unnecessary,” according to this article.
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The truth is, learning to type should be more important than handwriting since no one can really function well today without using a computer. It is necessary, more than ever, that people learn the general usage of a computer. On the reading side, I find it hard to read some others’ handwriting other than my own – even though mine is nothing but chicken scratch.
In the next 5 years, expect handwriting to be taken out of regular school curriculum and typing will take its place. Believe it or not, this future is inevitable and is only part of the process in an advancing society. Like I said before, prove me wrong and show us your thoughts on this question: Are cursive and handwriting dead?
life as a full-time student 