The last time I envision a cursive capital Q , I thought it was a 2 . Like many of my generation , I started larn cursive in second grade , perfected it in third , and dropped it by the time I finishedhigh school . I could n’t connect my missive now if I want to .
flow script and those loopy , 2 - like Q ’s have been inching into obliviousness for decades [ source : Amos ] . The trend all of a sudden grow prescribed , though , when the Common Core State Standards Initiative ( CCSSI ) first pop the question its K-12 curriculum for voluntary state adoption in 2010 [ origin : Common Core Standards Initiative ] . The CCSSI , a motion aiming to standardize math and language - arts requirements across all U.S. states , decided to overlook any mention of cursive piece of writing , once a grade - schoolhouse standard , in its guideline [ germ : Shapiro ] .
With 45 states electing to implement the Common Core standard as of 2013 , the long - debated , next demise of cursive come along to be moving into the nowadays .
The relevancy of cursive piece of writing in a cultivation ofkeyboardsis , at best , up for public debate . Once , though , it was inarguably applicable . Before the advent of typewriter in the late 19th C , handwritten communication was the only mode for people to extract themselves on paper . So logically , effective handwriting , and specifically the individualise , more intricate cursive formatting , was extremely valued . hapless handwriting , like poor speaking , could make you look unintelligent , lazy or ignorant .
Now , it seems , not so much . The extent of cursive program line in U.S. school has steadily decreased since the 1960s , when the commend allotment for hand command was 45 minutes per twenty-four hour period [ reservoir : Kelley ] . Two decades by and by , that was down to 15 minutes [ seed : Kelley ] . Since then , with the increase authorisation of information processing system - based communication , questions have been raised as to whether " penmanship " should be taught at all .
Writing as Communication
With the introduction of theNo Child Left BehindAct and high-pitched - stakes standardized testing in the twenty-first hundred , cursive instruction has become almost an rethink . There simply is n’t enough time in the school twenty-four hour period to focus intently on something that does n’t show up on the test .
The grow tendency in public schoolhouse toward " teach to the mental testing " is only one of the reason why cursive seems to be falling by the wayside . The syllabus is simply more complicated than it once was . Lessons in subjects like ethnic diversity , international politics and estimator science , once subject saved for higher didactics , are now introduced as early as elementary school . With such a diverse and ever - expanding set of requirements , handwriting instruction beyond the canonical necessary of legible print has become somewhat beside the full point .
The omnipresence of electronic forms of communicating has , in many people ’s judgment , yield cursive skill practically obsolete . Who writes letters anymore so as to apportion a story with a friend ? Who handwrites a natural covering varsity letter when enforce for a job ? When ’s the last time you sat in a coming together and found yourself apply an agendum write in pen ? ostensibly , cursive is an superannuated skill in all the way that count . With the exception of the lawfully binding signature tune , few the great unwashed use it in daily ( or even annual ) life .
Longhand is apace becoming a lost science , and the effects of that organic evolution are n’t yet fully get it on . Increasingly , " writing instruction " is about content , not aesthetics ; and with 2012 examination showing three - twenty-five percent of American high schooling elder miss canonical writing skill , that ’s not necessarily a bad thing [ source : Kuczynski - Brown ] . The ability to constitute a sentence , paragraph or essay that is articulated and grammatically right is arguably more useful than the power to mould it neatly .
Not all pedagogue and developmental experts would agree with that argumentation , though – at least not without some eccentric of caveat . As it turns out , cursive written material is n’t just about the finished product .
Writing as Art
When kids start memorise cursive , which is typically aroundthird grade , it ’s kind of a expectant deal for them . First - graders and second - graders mark . Third - graders write . The smooth , fancy letter and words are a sign of growing up . It ’s how mommy compose .
Of naturally , these days , it may not be how mommy write . But the " rite of passage " facial expression of find out cursive remains a fairly strong military force in the 9 - class - old crowd . It holds value as a longstanding component of the curriculum .
It ’s also a dynamic cultural element . Cursive piece of writing changes with the fourth dimension , so a third grader in the 1960s learned a different trend from a third grader in 1990s . It tends to reflect cultural value . Eighteenth - centuryPuritanswrote a version that do away with unnecessary nonsense . In the nineteenth one C , American script was fluent and loopy . The 20th century found Americans publish a cursive soma that was far more utilitarian . In the 1990s , cursive became even more pare down down , which is the style most kids are learn now [ source : Suddath ] .
It becomes a bit hard to debate for running hand ’s obsolescence viewed through the window of cultural evolution . If cursive has no position , does that mean our polish has achieve a point of such high - technical school anonymity that variation in handwriting no longer matter ? ( Where will all the handwriting analyst go ? )
But perhaps the greatest argument against the abandonment of cursive is far less philosophical than rites of transit and cultural reflectance , and this is the full stop on which many teachers and other experts get stuck : Learning how to write is a all-important component in learning how to learn . The focus on cursive in and around third grade reflects the developmental connexion between writing and cerebration . The two do n’t become truly separated until subsequently . Children who stand out in handwriting skill tend also to surpass in other donnish pursuits [ informant : Kelley ] . Cursive writing assistance in the ontogeny of fine motor skills andmusclecontrol , and it ’s an introduction to ego - look [ seed : Breen ] . To desolate handwriting lesson is potentially to interfere with the encyclopaedism cognitive operation as a whole . Not to mention that it ’s quick to write something in cursive than to impress .
Is cursive handwriting dead ? Not yet . A 2013 survey of U.S. teacher by shoal - supplying party Really Good Stuff found that 79 percent of third - grade teacher still devote course meter to it [ source : Shapiro ] . And several states that adopted the Common Core Curriculum have also mandate continued cursive instruction in their school day [ source : Bateman ] . Clearly , plenty of education experts think longhand has relevancy , even in a keyboard existence .
