TEACH CURSIVE IN SCHOOLS?  SOME MORE YESSES,  SOME MORE NO’S

                                                   WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

Cursive, the art of penmanship cast aside in recent years as schools increasingly focus on keyboarding, may be getting a second act.

Last year, Alabama and Louisiana became the latest of 14 states to pass laws requiring cursive proficiency in public schools. And in the fall, New York City Schools – the country’s largest school district, with 1.1 million students – encouraged teaching cursive to elementary school students.

CURSIVE UNNECESSARY?

As we as a society find ourselves relying more and more on computers, cell phones, and other forms of technology to communicate and express ourselves, many educators have declared cursive an unnecessary skill. In 2010, most states adopted the Common Core curriculum standards, which don’t mention handwriting.

But proponents of cursive say it provides students with the practical skills to take notes more quickly, read and understand a broader range of documents, and sign their name in a more aesthetically pleasing way. And some suggest that the benefits go beyond practical: cursive, they say, can encourage creativity, allow young people to more easily express themselves in writing, and even boost SAT college entrance exam scores.

A study published in 2012 that examined the writing habits of Canadian second-grade students found that students learning cursive benefitted more in their work than students who only learned print, as The Christian Science Monitorreported at the time: Click open the underlines articel

DEVELOPING AUTOMATIC MOTOR MOVEMENTS

The development of automatic motor movements, the study suggested, was key – when you can write in a smooth, no-thought-required manner, you can concentrate on expressing yourself, not on grinding out each individual word or letter. Cursive in particular forced students to develop a stroke order that resulted in no backwards letters, and it also pushed students into laying down proper word spacing.

The study didn’t, however, account for a future where handwriting could potentially be replaced entirely by typing on computer keyboards – a method that some penmanship skeptics argue is even more conducive to self-expression than cursive.

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

While we are on the subject of cursive handwriting you should know that we offer one of the best cursive handwriting courses available in Samuel Blumenfeld’s historic book:

          HOW TO TUTOR

It covers ALL THREE “R’s.” Readin, Ritin and Rithmetic

Yes, it contains Sam’s original phonics reading instruction program (Which later became Alpha-Phonics), it contains his excellent Math for the first 6 grades and contains his long-time favorite cursive handwriting instruction program.  It is a “triple-header.”  All three subjects in one handy book.

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Look at these links to learn more about this great book that Mary Pride (Probably the all time leader in Homeschool materials reviewing) calls “….a whole school in one book.”