The demise of handwriting
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- October
- 29
I was taken aback last year when, during back-to-school night at my son’s school, his fourth-grade teacher noted that students would not be taught cursive writing if they had not learned it in the earlier grades. There just isn’t time to teach it by the fourth grade, he said. For those that don’t know, cursive writing is what we commonly refer to as “script,” or what a friend from England told me this weekend is known as “joined” writing back home.
I’ve thought about that teacher’s comment ever since, and it came up in conversation over the weekend. It strikes me as sad that such a school policy  perhaps a natural consequence of the modern-day, state-test-driven public school system  might spell the demise of cursive writing. I was therefore not surprised to find that I wasn’t alone in that concern, and that there has been some debate over this in recent years, as expressed in “this article from The Washington Post”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475.html last year.
Now, my son does write in cursive, and I frankly don’t know that any of his friends don’t. But it seems clear there are kids out there that still use block writing, and perhaps it is just a matter of time before the computer keyboard replaces all penmanship. I certainly hope not. Heck, our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence are written in cursive. Are we heading for a generation of children who won’t be able to read them?
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on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 11:20 am by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon.
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My 4th grader loves to write in script and enjoyed all of the workbooks from last year. This year, at the class open house, a savvy mom asked the teacher to please require that the kids complete some of their assignments in script because there is a standardized test in 5th grade that requires them to use it.
Thanks for the input, CR.
I’m actually quite surprised to hear that there could be a standardized test that requires the kids to write in cursive. My son is now in fifth and, although he does write in cursive, I’ve learned that there are other students in his grade that don’t know how. So they’d be at a disadvantage to meet the requirement that you alluded to.
As a teacher I think it is really important that children learn to write in cursive. I teach third grade and although it is difficult to fit in the children do learn by the end of the school year. However, I hear that they are not required to use it in fourth grade or middle school.
Thanks for posting here, Mary. A teacher’s input is valuable, particularly on this topic.
Personally, I’ve been continually surprised on the input I’ve gotten on this issue. I was approached by a mom last week who reads Parents Place, and she told me she was furious that her son, who is about to apply to colleges, never learned to write in cursive. And this is no substandard or even average student: He’s a high-achieving student. But, apparently, he was never taught in the earlier grades and then it just wasn’t taught as part of the curriculum.
What a shame.
Tis a pity indeed that teachers and Parents are not teaching cursive writing to children. We graphologists are able to see the emotinal, mental, academic and social development of children by analyzing their writing, much more so than their printing.
One of the services we offer is counseling, and the more we can see in children’s writing, the more we can help.
There is no reason to teach archaic script handwriting to modern day students. Haven’t any of you noticed that standard script drifts off to incredibly different personal style, bordering on the illegible? Block printing for short notes is more practical. Computer typing for longer writing is extremely available and ever more commonplace. Times change over the centuries, and so must handwriting.
Yes, thank you, Sloshy.
I was going to point out that very same thing.
Script writing is pretty, yes, but in these more modern time, it is not as practical. Having children required to learn to write like this would be a waste of time for them and the teachers. I’m not saying that script writing is a bad thing, but seriously, forcing it on kids when it is not needed is a bad thing.
I loved writing by hand so much that I learned calligraphy. Ive always thought that script was much more appealing, visually, than block or typed lettering. It would be a shame if we shortchanged our children in this manner.
When cursive writing dies out so will a part of our humanity. Cursive is the feelings and emotions of we mere humans expressed in writing (some would say it is an artistic expression). I recall some years ago I came across a handwritten letter by my grandmother who died in 1985. The flood of emotions and the human connection to her leap out of the page at me. It was electrifying that the love and other feelings I had for her were so strongly recalled by simply reading something she had written in her own hand. She did not have an elegant script and it became difficult for her in her last years by the pain of arthritis. The handwriting told the story. A typewritten note would not have had this strong emotional impact nor made such a human connection. The children in my family were taught that “Thank you” notes should always be handwritten. It is more personal and tells the person you are sending it to that you are conscientious and caring and appreciative of their thoughtfulness by taking the time to write out a note in “longhand”. We humans are our feeling—for ourselves and for each other. We express this, quite eloquently, through our handwriting. If we allow handwriting to die, then we are giving up an essential part of what it means to be human. Parents should demand that handwriting be taught and if the schools don’t teach it, you should take it upon yourself to teach your children yourself. The benefits they derive from it in their futures is immeasurable. And some day they may find a letter from you long after you are dead and gone that was written in your hand. How sad it would be if they had not learned cursive and could not read it then just tossed it away as a meaningless relic of the past.