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

Fri Jul 15 17:49:16 IST 2011

thanks Tara Prakash...I feel most humbled by the reminder that the moving
hand is not the only one that writes!

On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 5:21 AM, Tara Prakash <taraprakash at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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/<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
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