States fight to keep cursive handwriting in the classroom

[DeliveryValve]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The swirling lines from Linden Bateman’s pen have been conscripted into a national fight to keep cursive writing in American classrooms.
Cursive. Penmanship. Handwriting.
In years gone by, it helped distinguish the literate from the illiterate.
But now, in the digital age, people are increasingly communicating by computer and smartphone. No handwritten signature necessary.
Call it a sign of the times. When the new Common Core educational standards were crafted, penmanship classes were dropped. But at least seven of the 45 states that adopted the standards are fighting to restore the cursive instruction.


Read more: States fight to keep cursive handwriting in the classroom - NY Daily News

I understand the reasoning. But I don't know about anybody else, I still think penmanship is important. Plus, how will someone even know how to write a signature if the don't know cursive. A signature would be printed for now on.

[Botnst]

As long as we have digital communication, script is an anachronism.

[TnBob]

Some out there have the aim of resurrecting X as a signature.

[MTI]

They could teach it as calligraphy in the art class . . . Art class . . . Oh dear . . .

[Dudesky]

you are missing the most important part...Common Core.....do some research.

[aklim]

Originally Posted by DeliveryValve

I understand the reasoning. But I don't know about anybody else, I still think penmanship is important. Plus, how will someone even know how to write a signature if the don't know cursive. A signature would be printed for now on.

Question. Do you prefer I print my writing or write cursive if it is on your prescription? Cursive reflects a personal style. I might not read your style well and suddenly you find yourself not taking the proper dose. I think a signature is a personal thing and you don't need to be writing cursive to sign something. But so what if it is printed? Those were the things developed for the past in the past. I look at it this way. Whoresmanship is a good think to know but highly unnecessary in the light of the automobiles we have today.

[Mike Murrell]

PRINT please!

Far more legible

[elchivito]

Originally Posted by Dudesky

you are missing the most important part...Common Core.....do some research.

Yeah, like maybe starting with actually reading the Common Core State Standards.
CCSS is designed to be a basic framework upon which the individual states can build. It doesn't specifically exclude penmanship or any other curriculum.
This is a made up issue. Good grief.

I clipped this tidbit out of a copy of the CCSS for K-2 that I happen to be using for reference on a consult I'm doing:

The Standards should be recognized for what they are not as well as what they are. The most important intentional design limitations are as follows:
1. The Standards define what all students are expected to know and be able to do, not how teachers should teach. For instance, the use of play with young children is not
specified by the Standards, but it is welcome as a valuable activity in its own right and as a way to help students meet the expectations in this document. Furthermore,
while the Standards make references to some particular forms of content, including mythology, foundational U.S. documents, and Shakespeare, they do not—indeed,
cannot—enumerate all or even most of the content that students should learn. The Standards must therefore be complemented by a well‐developed, content‐rich
curriculum consistent with the expectations laid out in this document.
2. While the Standards focus on what is most essential, they do not describe all that can or should be taught. A great deal is left to the discretion of teachers and
curriculum developers. The aim of the Standards is to articulate the fundamentals, not to set out an exhaustive list or a set of restrictions that limits what can be taught
beyond what is specified herein.
3. The Standards do not define the nature of advanced work for students who meet the Standards prior to the end of high school. For those students, advanced work in
such areas as literature, composition, language, and journalism should be available. This work should provide the next logical step up from the college and career
readiness baseline established here.
4. The Standards set grade‐specific standards but do not define the intervention methods or materials necessary to support students who are well below or well above
grade‐level expectations. No set of grade‐specific standards can fully reflect the great variety in abilities, needs, learning rates, and achievement levels of students in
any given classroom. However, the Standards do provide clear signposts along the way to the goal of college and career readiness for all students.
5. It is also beyond the scope of the Standards to define the full range of supports appropriate for English language learners and for students with special needs. At the
same time, all students must have the opportunity to learn and meet the same high standards if they are to access the knowledge and skills necessary in their post‐high
school lives.
6. Each grade will include students who are still acquiring English. For those students, it is possible to meet the standards in reading, writing, speaking, and listening
without displaying native‐like control of conventions and vocabulary.
7. The Standards should also be read as allowing for the widest possible range of students to participate fully from the outset and as permitting appropriate
accommodations to ensure maximum participation of students with special education needs. For example, for students with disabilities reading should allow for the use
of Braille, screen‐reader technology, or other assistive devices, while writing should include the use of a scribe, computer, or speech‐to‐text technology. In a similar
vein, speaking and listening should be interpreted broadly to include sign language.
8. While the ELA and content area literacy components described herein are critical to college and career readiness, they do not define the whole of such readiness.
Students require a wide‐ranging, rigorous academic preparation and, particularly in the early grades, attention to such matters as social, emotional, and physical
development and approaches to learning. Similarly, the Standards define literacy expectations in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects, but literacy
standards in other areas, such as mathematics and health education, modeled on those in this document are strongly encouraged to facilitate a comprehensive, school
wide literacy program.

[JamesDean]

I dont know guys, I know an awful lot of people who have poor penmanship even in non-cursive writing. Down right horrible stuff.

There are an awful lot of things that are taught in school that are not 100% relevant to the student however the practice of learning those items is relevant.