[Reader-list] Cursive being phased out of U.S. schools

[Tara Prakash]

As master Shakespeare said in the golden days: if keyboard is the food for 
liberty, type on.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "geeta seshu" <geetaseshu at gmail.com>
To: "Ujwala Samarth" <ujwala at openspaceindia.org>
Cc: "reader-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 4:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Cursive being phased out of U.S. schools


>I do agree...handwriting is a skill we shouldn't jettison...though I've 
>been
> cursed with bad handwriting and liberated by the typewriter (and later the
> computer keyboard)...
>
> perhaps it was the excessive pressure to get kids in primary school to
> master cursive that made my handwriting, and so many others, so pathetic.
> Tridha, a Stiener inspired school (where my kids studied briefly) used to
> approach handwriting differently and I guess a number of alterntive 
> schools
> have tried different ways to teach children to write.
>
> the moving hand will write...
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Ujwala Samarth
> <ujwala at openspaceindia.org>wrote:
>
>> No cursive writing, or no handwriting at all? I don't quite get that 
>> answer
>> from the article.
>>
>> While I firmly believe that handwriting is a skill (and an important
>> brain/motor coordination exercise) that is important enough to be 
>> continued
>> in primary schools, I personally wouldn't mind if cursive writing itself 
>> was
>> offered as an art form to those who felt so inclined and not insisted 
>> upon
>> as a requirement. Being able to print clearly and regularly is more than
>> enough as a form of handwriting isn't it?
>>
>> Far too many of us have miserable memories of not being able to form 
>> those
>> damn cursive loops and what-not easily, and of being castigated as dunces
>> for the same. It didn't really matter WHAT we wrote -- what mattered was 
>> the
>> CURSIVE. While things may have changed now to some extent -- and they 
>> have
>> -- I suspect that the tyranny of cursive handwriting continues -- the 
>> child
>> with the 'beautiful' pages, no matter that she has written a page full of
>> unoriginal drivel, will always receive more praise/validity/recognition 
>> than
>> the child with the untidy handwriting and interesting ideas. In a country
>> where good cursive writing (like the parrot-like reciting of tables) is 
>> an
>> immediate mark of a 'bright' student, where children are often taught to
>> write cursive before they enter first grade, one has to question this
>> obsession with handwriting.
>>
>> As a teacher with very bad handwriting (and memories of tearful 
>> handwriting
>> classes)  who has formed my own legible semi-print/cursive writing style, 
>> I
>> feel completely liberated by the keyboard. And so do many students who
>> simply don't have the motor skills that others have -- finally, their
>> teachers may actually READ what they have to say.
>>
>> I do feel handwriting is a skill to be learned -- like skipping rope and
>> riding a bicycle -- and I do appreciate a beautiful flowing handwriting 
>> the
>> way I appreciate a fine painting or a piece of embroidery. Let's just
>> remember what writing is all about in its essence -- communication.
>>
>> Ujwala
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 12:20 PM, geeta seshu 
>> <geetaseshu at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> very interesting chintan...thanks for the post.
>>>
>>> apart from all the implications of right/left brain development, 
>>> cultural
>>> issues and whatnot, I was trying to recall when - and what - I last 
>>> wrote
>>> by
>>> hand...
>>>
>>> but to give up on teaching a skill completely?
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 8:53 PM, Chintan Girish Modi <
>>> chintan.backups at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > From
>>> >
>>> >
>>> http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07/07/cursive-finally-being-phased-out-of-u-s-schools/
>>> > Cursive being phased out of U.S. schoolsJul 7, 2011 – 8:04 PM ET |
>>> >
>>> > By Laura Baziuk
>>> >
>>> > Forget the looping Ls and curving Gs.
>>> >
>>> > Students in Indiana’s public schools will no longer have to learn
>>> cursive
>>> > writing starting this fall.
>>> >
>>> > The state is one among 48 others transitioning to new state-led 
>>> > national
>>> > learning guides, the Common Core State Standard Initiatives, which no
>>> > longer
>>> > require children to learn handwriting. They do, however, have to 
>>> > sharpen
>>> > their typing skills.
>>> >
>>> > An Indiana Department of Education memo last spring said teachers can
>>> still
>>> > choose to teach cursive writing, or can stop altogether.
>>> >
>>> > “State standards themselves, they’re just supposed to be a guide for
>>> what
>>> > students must know before moving on to the next grade,” said 
>>> > department
>>> > spokeswoman Stephanie Sample. “And there are lots of little details 
>>> > that
>>> > aren’t in those standards that kids learn.”
>>> >
>>> > Sample said she has not heard any feedback from parents who are
>>> concerned
>>> > their children will no longer learn a basic, yet fading, skill.
>>> >
>>> > How often does one write in cursive every day? Much of our daily
>>> personal
>>> > and business correspondence is done by a quick e-mail or text message.
>>> > Note-taking and composing essays or statements are done almost 
>>> > entirely
>>> on
>>> > the computer.
>>> >
>>> > Indiana father Mark Shoup said he wouldn’t be concerned if his 
>>> > children,
>>> > though now grown, had not learned cursive.
>>> >
>>> > “There are much more important skills I think they take into this
>>> century
>>> > than whether or not they write cursively,” the former teacher said,
>>> listing
>>> > critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork and literacy.
>>> >
>>> > “Maybe it’s something we should not give up on, but keep it in
>>> perspective
>>> > of its relative importance in the scheme of things,” Shoup said. “How
>>> long
>>> > we really have children in school and what are our real goals for 
>>> > them?”
>>> >
>>> > Perry Klein, a professor of literacy education at the University of
>>> Western
>>> > Ontario, said a child’s ability to compose depends on whether she can
>>> form
>>> > letters clearly and accurately.
>>> >
>>> > “If students can form letters fluently, then that frees up their
>>> attention
>>> > to focus on the content and language of what they’re writing,” Klein
>>> said.
>>> >
>>> > Research has yet to be published, he said, on whether forming those
>>> letters
>>> > works best on a page with a pen or on a computer screen. But as long 
>>> > as
>>> > they
>>> > can read what they compose, they will develop the right skills.
>>> >
>>> > “The important thing is that for kids to learn [printing)]and cursive
>>> > accurately and fluently, and if they have that, then they’ll be able 
>>> > to
>>> do
>>> > written composition in a whole variety of situations,” Klein said.
>>> >
>>> > Marie Picard, a penmanship workbook dealer in London, Ont., said 
>>> > cursive
>>> > might be fading away, but still exists in letters, envelopes, 
>>> > signatures
>>> > and
>>> > signs.
>>> >
>>> > “Handwriting shows some sort of style and flair and how you are as a
>>> > person,” she said. “I just think that it’s (becoming) a lost art.”
>>> >
>>> > Sonja Semion, with the Colorado branch of Stand for Children, an
>>> education
>>> > advocacy organization, said with limited resources in classrooms, it’s
>>> time
>>> > to focus not on what has always been taught, but what’s best for
>>> children
>>> > for when they become adults.
>>> >
>>> > “I think schools have to toe a line right now where they have to 
>>> > really
>>> > prepare kids for the careers of the future,” she said. “We still need
>>> > writing, some kind of penmanship, but I think the keyboard is really 
>>> > the
>>> > way
>>> > it’s going to go. The technology is the future.”
>>> >
>>> > *Postmedia News*
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ujwala Samarth
>> (Programme Coordinator, Open Space)
>>
>> www.openspaceindia.org
>> www.infochangeindia.org
>> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Space/116557125037041
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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