Why teach cursive?

[Tsutsie]

Can someone please tell me exactly WHY we are still teaching cursive writing?

 

Except for being able to read it when someone actually writes in cursive, what other benefits are there?

[Ellie]

Can someone please tell me exactly WHY we are still teaching cursive writing?

 

Except for being able to read it when someone actually writes in cursive, what other benefits are there?

 

Because it is how English has been written for hundreds of years. Because the U.S. is the only English-speaking that even has this discussion which doesn't speak well to the level of education in the U.S. Because historically, those who could not write were considered illiterate. Because declining to teach children to write the way English has been written for hundreds of years has been part of the dumbing-down of America. Because I see no reason not to teach cursive. Because I want to give my children every avenue of literate-ness available to me.

 

I think that's it...

[Tsutsie]

…and because it is pretty?

 

Ok Ellie, can you suggest a program?

[Crimson Wife]

I teach it for much the same reason I teach Latin- it makes the student smarter. http://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-to-learn-cursive-2013-10

[Amy M]

…and because it is pretty?

 

Ok Ellie, can you suggest a program?

 

ABeka has a philosophy on this--not just that cursive is important, but that teaching it first is important. They will point to the signers of the Declaration of Independence with their "John Hancock's." Look at how beautiful those are! :) I do think ABeka's cursive is very pretty. It is probably harder than other programs, but my 1st grade boy has beautiful penmanship so far--we used manuscript last year.

[ByGrace3]

http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/what-learning-cursive-does-your-brain

 

I found this article interesting. Cursive is a part of our culture and heritage as well. Many original documents are written in cursive so reading it is imperative.

 

We love Zaner Bloser for teaching cursive.

[WinsomeCreek]

My grandmother always stressed the importance of beauty. She had elegant, gorgeous writing. It never occurred to me to not have my kids learn cursive. I have had varying degrees of success. I liked an Evan-Moor book called Daily Handwriting Practice. I used a book called Contemporary Cursive with my oldest. My middle self taught at a young age. I will use the same materials with my youngest. They are just practice books, not programs. Pretty standard stuff.

[boscopup]

I'm teaching it, though I go back and forth about the worth of teaching it (it sets back our progress in writing... I can't have him write a paragraph in cursive yet - he's still way too slow, but I don't want to HALT all writing progress just for cursive, so I let him do paragraphs in manuscript and then do everything else in cursive).

 

I've used Pentime, which was simple and inexpensive ($5.50 at Rainbow Resource). My son liked it.

 

I tried to teach cursive first to my middle son, but he got majorly confused because the print letters that he was learning to read weren't anything like the cursive letters he was learning to write. He also didn't have the fine motor skills to make the loops and such. He still prefers writing in all caps in manuscript, though I make him write proper lowercase letters in school work (he's 1st grade). His handwriting looks more like that of a Kindergartener's right now. He just totally isn't ready for cursive (and yes, I've heard people say that curves are easier than straight lines for kids, but I DON'T BUY IT... none of my kids have been able to do curves before straight lines when it came to letters - they have all found capital manuscript letters easier to write than lowercase or cursive, even though I don't even teach capital manuscript letters!).

 

The cursive first ship has sailed for my youngest, as he already has figured out how to write all his letters. I might try teaching him cursive anyway. He's only 4.5, and he reads and can write original words (not copying), so we could spend some time on cursive in K without sacrificing other important things. He has better fine motor skills than DS2. In fact, just a couple weeks ago, DS2 was supposed to write "November" twice in his math work. He wrote the first one, but didn't want to write the second one. DS3 said he would write it. So he wrote it, and I compared the two... DS3's "November" looked better! So yeah, he's probably a good candidate for learning cursive now. Teaching it to DS2 would result in completely illegible handwriting. DS1 couldn't handle it until last year (age 8), and his cursive is quite nice... just slow. If he makes it faster, it's unreadable (much like mine - after years and years of cursive-only in school, I never could write fast *and* legible in cursive, but I can do that in print).

[Ellie]

I prefer traditional hands: Zaner-Bloser, Palmer, and other similar ones (ABeka-ACE-Alpha Omega--the traditional textbook hands, which are modeled after Zaner-Bloser or Palmer); A Reason for Writing, etc. BJUP is a little too tweaky for my taste, lol.) Spalding and its lookalikes teach a connected writing, which is fine with me, too. I prefer teaching a traditional hand first, and then if the child is interested, something else after that--calligraphy/italics, Spencerian, etc.

[Crimson Wife]

I tried doing a "pretty" font with my oldest (Peterson Directed) and it caused meltdowns in a reasonably compliant child. "Too slanted" and "too loopy" were the biggest complaints. So after a year I finally broke down and switched her to Memoria Press New American Cursive. Within 3 weeks she had mastered it. I cringe at the ugliness of it, but I'm not going to make mastering a pretty font a hill to die on in our HS.

[albeto.]

Prettiness and nostalgia aside, cursive is practical because it's a faster form of writing and others use it, making it a literacy issue. If I could do it all over again, I would have taught cursive only, my kids would have picked up printing naturally. The best cursive teaching resource I found was Spencerian Penmanship (the theory book is unnecessary imo). For my disgraphic child, it made an enormous difference. Starting with getting the muscle memory set for simple strokes, it breaks down cursive into something that is achievable, and confidence is a huge factor in success. Being able to write notes quickly, whether for a college seminar (where laptops would be awkward and distracting), to jotting down directions, cursive is still a practical way to write.

 

[dancingmama]

We use HWT. Son has fine motor skill issues and his print improved 100-fold once we started with cursive. He also is able to make more sense when writing.

[Berta]

I think it's important too. I taught my daughter starting in 1st grade with A Reason For Handwriting. She writes beautifully. She is almost finished with the last book in the series and although she doesn't need it, she is a little sad that there isn't another book.

[trulycrabby]

DS9 started cursive last year in public school; I continued to teach it because I believe he might be dyslexic, dysgraphic, and daily cursive practice seems to help his fine motor coordination. I am dyslexic, btw.

 

We use Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success because the simple font is easy for DS9 to replicate; it's very similar to how he was taught in public school. There are many others I like better, but it gets done without fuss, and that's important when a child hates handwriting.

[Ellie]

Any advice on a cursive program for left-handed kids? 

 

The idea that writing in cursive makes one "smarter", and that this has something to do with the act of connecting the letters, always seemed a bit off to me. There are plenty of languages in which cursive or handwriting does not involve connecting letters. Hebrew and Korean are examples. I doubt this affects kids in Israel and Korea negatively. 

 

The only difference between teaching a leftie how to write and a rightie how to write is the direction that the paper is turned. The pencil/pen is held the same way, the letters are joined and formed the same way. The difference is that the paper should be aligned with the forearm, not at an angle. Many lefties will turn their papers the same way a rightie does, when it should be the opposite, if you see what I mean. ;-)

[Finnella]

I was going to skip cursive. My DS was already in sixth grade and had Aspergers. My sister pointed out how embarrassing it was going to be when he couldn't sign his name to a legal document. Additionally, his printing was illegible, which meant he couldn't leave a simple note for someone. (I know keyboarding is important, but writing on paper is still a necessary skill.)

 

We went with HWT. It's not the prettiest, but he was able to learn it. He can sign his name now and even write legibly, albeit slowly. I'm glad I went to the trouble.

[Bootsie]

I find that my college students who cannot write in cursive cannot take notes quickly enough to keep up in class.

[sbbulliv]

I think it is good for your brain.

[boscopup]

I never had any problem taking notes in college using print. In fact, I can take notes quicker in print than in cursive, and my notes are legible if they're in print. My cursive notes are practically useless if I want to read what I wrote down and study it later.

 

Most of my friends, whose notes I would borrow if I had to miss class, also wrote in print and had no problem taking notes.

[Crimson Wife]

Most students these days take typed notes rather than handwritten. This was true even back a decade ago when my DH was in grad school. Now exams are generally not allowed to be typed unless the student has a documented disability and that is where I think the speed issue comes into play.

[boscopup]

Most students these days take typed notes rather than handwritten. This was true even back a decade ago when my DH was in grad school. Now exams are generally not allowed to be typed unless the student has a documented disability and that is where I think the speed issue comes into play.

 

And I definitely wouldn't use cursive on an exam. My teacher wouldn't be able to read it! :lol:

 

I'm a fast worker, so I was often one of the first to finish exams - in print (with a high score).

 

[Ellie]

Most students these days take typed notes rather than handwritten. This was true even back a decade ago when my DH was in grad school. Now exams are generally not allowed to be typed unless the student has a documented disability and that is where I think the speed issue comes into play.

 

The ability to take notes in class has nothing to do with learning to write in cursive, nor does the speed with which one is able to write.

[Ellie]

Most students these days take typed notes rather than handwritten. This was true even back a decade ago when my DH was in grad school. Now exams are generally not allowed to be typed unless the student has a documented disability and that is where I think the speed issue comes into play.

 

The ability to take notes in class has nothing to do with learning to write in cursive, nor does the speed with which one is able to write.

 

I never had any problem taking notes in college using print. In fact, I can take notes quicker in print than in cursive, and my notes are legible if they're in print. My cursive notes are practically useless if I want to read what I wrote down and study it later.

 

Most of my friends, whose notes I would borrow if I had to miss class, also wrote in print and had no problem taking notes.

 

That you are unable to read your cursive notes doesn't have anything to do with whether cursive should be taught or not. :-) If your grade school teachers had been more decisive about the necessity of educated people to learn to write legibly (and by "writing" I always mean "cursive"), it is probable that your writing would have been not only more legible but it would have been pretty.

 

I know you're just replying to the comment about the poster's students not being able to keep up in class by printing. :-) That is not an assertion I would have made, and it has no bearing on the reasons for teaching children to write in cursive. You are a product of your educational environment. :-)

[sbgrace]

Any advice on a cursive program for left-handed kids? 

 

The idea that writing in cursive makes one "smarter", and that this has something to do with the act of connecting the letters, always seemed a bit off to me. There are plenty of languages in which cursive or handwriting does not involve connecting letters. Hebrew and Korean are examples. I doubt this affects kids in Israel and Korea negatively. 

 

I'm using Handwriting Without Tears for my left handed son.

 

The article above doesn't site support for the ideas of cursive writing making a person more intelligent or similar.

 

When you find an article that does site support for this sort of thing and look up the actual research, often the statements are taken out of context or otherwise mis-represented. I find that frustrating.

 

Printing or cursive handwriting of letters by young children does seem to assist letter recognition and even reading if I recall.

 

Anyway, I teach it. I don't want to regret that I didn't some day. I expect my kids, like most, will adopt some hybird form of writing. This is more efficient and what most adults eventually do. I do not expect that doing this instruction is making my children smarter or similar claims.

[boscopup]

 

That you are unable to read your cursive notes doesn't have anything to do with whether cursive should be taught or not. :-) If your grade school teachers had been more decisive about the necessity of educated people to learn to write legibly (and by "writing" I always mean "cursive"), it is probable that your writing would have been not only more legible but it would have been pretty.

 

Oh, I always wrote legibly for school. I had plenty of time to write! I never needed to write FAST in elementary or middle school. It's writing FAST that makes my cursive illegible. I can write beautiful cursive at a modest speed. Taking notes requires me to write so fast that it becomes illegible.

 

My education was fine. My hand/brain connection just can't work properly when writing fast. I end up going loopy-dee-loop all over the place. My 'm' will end up with 5 humps, for example.

 

[OneStepAtATime]

For a cursive program, there are many that are good.  We use New American Cursive by Memoria Press, along with the StartWrite  software.  I LOVE the StartWrite software.  I can type out vocabulary words, whole passages of text, letters that need additional practice, etc. in New American Cursive in nearly any font size, with closely spaced dots, with widely spaced dots,  without dots, etc.  so the kids can work on tracing, copying, reading, free style writing and so on.  I can type in science and history vocabulary, grammar rules, and anything else we are studying so the cursive lesson is also reinforcing learning in other areas.  The font is easy to use, too, and both children have enjoyed using this system.  So far it has worked quite well for us and neither of my kids likes writing much.

 

As for whether you should teach cursive, different families will obviously have a different take on cursive so it really depends on what you think is best for your child.  I have two friends who have chosen not to and I respect their wishes.  They are the parent/teacher and must choose what is best for their own child.  I will mention a few things that swayed me to decide to teach cursive, but not everyone may feel these are a priority or fit with their own family needs and view point:

 

1.  The Egyptians, for several generations, stopped teaching their children how to write and read Hieroglyphics.  After a few generations there was no one left alive who could read the ancient text and a lot of history was lost.  While some of this knowledge has been regained, there are still some things that are lost to them.  There are other cultures where this is true as well.  Cursive is part of my children's heritage and I would not want there to be a time when they wanted to read old family letters or original source historical documents but be unable to do so because I failed to teach them how.   

 

2.  Also, my son is dysgraphic and cursive is easier for him.  He enjoys the physical process of writing more when writing in cursive.  He still does most assignments in print for now, until he gets more proficient, but cursive causes him less fatigue.

 

3.  My cursive is really poor unless I write slowly.  I wish that good penmanship had been emphasized when I was growing up so when I DO write in cursive it looks better (my mother has beautiful cursive and I love watching her write).

 

4.  I would hate for my children to not even know how to sign their own name or read a note jotted down by someone who writes in cursive because they never learned how.

 

The bottom line for me was this:   If my children find that printing is easier, faster, or preferable in any other way to cursive when they are older, then I have no issues with them not writing in cursive once they have mastered it.  I just don't want doors closed to them in any way because I failed to teach this skill.

 

Anyway, good luck and best wishes.

 

[Megbo]

We haven't started it yet, but I have Zaner-Bloser ready to go for when Ds5 shows some interest in cursive. Dh has beautiful handwriting, while I remember being embarrassed by how juvenile my cursive writing was high school, so this is something I feel will be worth the effort we put in over the next few years. 

 

Also, I've just been reminded that for the GRE test, you're required to rewrite the confidentiality statement in cursive! I think this is also the case for the MCAT and LSAT? Not that I'm planning that far in the future for my kindergartener...

[LaCEmom]

For me it's faster. I definitely don't print slowly, but just needing to lift the pen so frequently and keep my eyes on the paper to verify the starting point for each letter slows me down when compared to how quickly I can write something down in cursive.

 

And yes I want my kids to be able to sign their names and read cursive.

[NASDAQ]

Because I have a very good hand and I want to get some use out of it. Also, my daughter insists.

 

We're using a redacted Rod and Staff.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited June 9 by SilverMoon

[Bootsie]

Most students these days take typed notes rather than handwritten. This was true even back a decade ago when my DH was in grad school. Now exams are generally not allowed to be typed unless the student has a documented disability and that is where I think the speed issue comes into play.

I find that for the college classes I teach--finance and economics--students who try to type their notes do not do as well as those who write their notes.  It may work in some other types of classes, but finance and economics notes are interspersed with equations and graphs.  Even the students who can type most quickly are not able to insert those items into their typewritten notes efficiently.  I know that there are many other things I do when I take notes, such as draw lines and arrows to make connects, circle important concepts, etc. that it would be impossible to do when typing notes.

[RootAnn]

I teach it because some of my kids have trouble with (print) spacing of letters and between letters. You see this in their numbers all the way up to 10 (for the kids in my family who have trouble with it). When they write in cursive, they don't have to think through (as much) how big or small to make the letters or where to start each letter. There is no thinking about spacing between letters - just between words.

 

Did my kid who reversed still reverse in cursive? Yes. She just reversed the entire word instead of individual letters.

 

Did it help with spacing of their printing? Some. It is still something they had to think about when writing in print when they were doing their own stuff. (My kids that learned cursive first always write in cursive for school.)

 

Did it help their handwriting be more legible? Absolutely. Amazingly, for my oldest, it even improved her print.

[SilverMoon]

On 12/2/2013 at 7:45 AM, SparklyUnicorn said:

 

 

Edited June 9 by SilverMoon

[Tracy]

I haven't read all the responses, but I teach it largely because in doing so, I don't have to worry about remediating reversals, writing in all capitals, or spacing issues.  I have better things to do than to constantly be correcting my kids in handwriting.  

[sunnyday]

My son is keenly interested in "connected letters" and anything written in cursive, and he basically pestered me until I started teaching him. I write cursive (or a stenographer-shorthand-inspired version of it) when I need to jot quickly. Even the Nate the Great book that he read to his sister yesterday had a note written in cursive that he had to have me read.

 

With the logical mindset we both share, and since I'm convinced by the author's arguments about smooth fluid writing from the start (not herky-jerky tracing of dotted letters or awkward exceptions disconnected at the baseline), Rhythm of Handwriting has been a good fit for us."Swing-down-dot!" We just started a couple of weeks ago with the downloaded manual and a white board. When we are ready to practice with pencil on paper, I'm fortunate that my library will let me print for free.

 

Funny, I was just googling "handwriting" for other reasons and found this article. Handwriting: An Elegy.

[OneStepAtATime]

Can a child get by in the world as it is today without cursive?  Yes.  

 

Should this skill be relegated to the junk pile of old musty things that have outlived their usefulness?  I think that is something that each parent must examine and determine for themselves and their children.  Arguments can be made both ways.  

 

Will I continue to teach my own children cursive and have them perfect that skill?  Yes, absolutely, without doubt.  All of my grandmother's letters and her diary are in cursive.  My mother has beautiful cursive writing and I want my children to read those notes she so lovingly puts on their birthday cards and Christmas cards and the personal notes she jots them.  Most of the legal and historical documents in our family going back generations were handwritten in cursive before my grandmother's time.  My son with dysgraphia feels less pain and fatigue when he writes in cursive and my daughter, from her artistic perspective, loves the flow and feel and look of cursive and wants to perfect this skill.  There are dozens and dozens of reasons I can think of that for my family teaching cursive is the way to go.  

 

Would I argue that ALL families MUST teach cursive?  No. Not at all.  Not even remotely.  Every family is different, every child is different and every circumstance is different.  Why does there have to be a one size fits all mentality?  I don't think that there does.  We are all trying to do what is best for our children and what is best for one may not be best for another, even within the same family.  

 

This has been an interesting discussion.  Blessings to all and good luck....

[YaelAldrich]

Any advice on a cursive program for left-handed kids? 

 

The idea that writing in cursive makes one "smarter", and that this has something to do with the act of connecting the letters, always seemed a bit off to me. There are plenty of languages in which cursive or handwriting does not involve connecting letters. Hebrew and Korean are examples. I doubt this affects kids in Israel and Korea negatively. 

 

 

I have some experience with both languages. Actually in script Hebrew some of the letters do "connect".  Perhaps it is just sloppyness, but the tendency is to join certain letters.  When I write my name in script Hebew (Yael), I connect the ayin and lamed.  Most people tend to.  In Korean/Japanese, it is true, they do not connect, but once again for expedience sake in Korean there can be some sliding between letters..

[ChrissySC]

I wrote on this ... http://www.thelearningtrunk.com/say-yes-to-cursive/

[Trish]

Can someone please tell me exactly WHY we are still teaching cursive writing?

 

Except for being able to read it when someone actually writes in cursive, what other benefits are there?

 

Well, don't people still take notes for things? I have had occasion to interview people and I've taken notes in cursive. (modified cursive for speed, of course, but I can't imagine printing in that situation) I guess in class kids can take notes on their laptops. Not sure if that would always be true in a business meeting.

 

Why wouldn't you want to learn cursive if you might need to write quickly in a situation where you didn't have a laptop or recorder at your disposal?

 

Do people think cursive is only needed to sign your name to a check?

[Walking-Iris]

Our occupational therapist said that as American public schools continue to stop teaching cursive, there is going to be a rise in children with sensory issues and other problems. I believe it. I teach cursive because its good for the brain...period. Not saying it makes children "smarter"---that's a silly statement. BUT there is plenty of evidence that handwriting and cursive especially helps with the integration areas of the brain.

 

Sensory areas in the hand are really important for brain integration and neural connections. Typing or using a touch screen, or worse simply speaking what you want your device to write, does nothing for that critical brain development. My oldest has Aspergers and I have noticed he prefers computers and screens because he can do what he wants with a feather like touch of his fingertips. But it's not good for him to avoid the deep pressure that pencil to paper and other fine motor skills activities provide. Cursive has been an important part of his therapy. I especially cringe inside when kids who NEED to write don't---if a kid has any special needs or dysgraphia etc I don't personally feel you do them any favors avoiding handwriting. Struggling with it and basically hating it is what got my ds working through his fine motor skills issues. 

 

It's simply the motions a hand has to go through to form letters that are key. Cursive especially. I also believe that handwriting, print and cursive, are important in learning to read. I always teach handwriting first.

 

My oldest has pretty cursive, but he chooses to print instead. I just simply make him practice cursive in various ways (spelling list or a dictation passage). I'm not too worried about what personal handwriting style he adopts, but the initial learning of cursive was very important to me. 

 

I teach cursive for the same reason I provide various hands on manipulatives ---for the motor skills. 

 

People are usually willing to provide motor skills activities to toddlers and preschoolers, but it's important in all stages of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kathryn]

Most students these days take typed notes rather than handwritten. This was true even back a decade ago when my DH was in grad school. Now exams are generally not allowed to be typed unless the student has a documented disability and that is where I think the speed issue comes into play.

I finished grad school just six years ago. I don't recall a single person in either of my degree programs typing notes, nor in my undergrad which was finished nine years ago.

[Tracy]

I finished grad school just six years ago. I don't recall a single person in either of my degree programs typing notes, nor in my undergrad which was finished nine years ago.

 

That seems really unusual to me.  I finished my law degree 9 years ago, and it was much more common for people to type notes than to write them.  

 

OTOH, the bar exam includes a 6-hour, handwritten essay.  It is really, really important on that test that one be very comfortable with handwriting.  

[OneStepAtATime]

I feel the same. I was not trying to argue that people should not teach cursive.  My argument was that there is no reason why it is an absolute must. 

 

My son with handwriting issues didn't benefit from cursive.  I'm glad yours did. 

I agree, this isn't a must for functionality in our society.  If it isn't working, I don't see a child ending up an unemployed junkie because they didn't learn cursive.  And I am REALLY glad cursive did work for helping my dysgraphic son.  He needed a boost of confidence in his handwriting.  I have terrible cursive handwriting, though, and was never able to write as fast in cursive as in a hybrid of print and cursive.  Thankfully, I didn't end up an unemployed junkie either.  :)

 

Really do wish I could write like my mother, though.  Her cursive looks so pretty.

[wapiti]

I finished grad school just six years ago. I don't recall a single person in either of my degree programs typing notes, nor in my undergrad which was finished nine years ago.

 

Like Tracy, but maybe a bit older  :tongue_smilie:, I graduated law school more than 17 years ago.  FWIW, virtually everyone either typed on a laptop in class or took their class notes home and typed them up (on a desktop computer) into an outline for studying.

 

Back then, all exams were handwritten in bluebooks - a big challenge for me and my handwriting.  I don't know how they do it now.  I can only pray that the SAT allows typed essays by the time my kids take that test.

[Walking-Iris]

Is there any real proof of that though?  People say stuff like that, but I feel like they just say it.  I spent years writing in cursive.  I basically refused to use a computer until my junior year in college.  Prior I'd hand write my long papers before typing them because I was convinced I could not think and type.  Well, after just doing it for awhile I have no trouble thinking and typing and in fact I much prefer it now.  I really think it is all what one is used to.

 

I'm not saying people can't think and type. Or that it's better to hand write notes or papers. Or it matters what people prefer. Or culture or pretty handwriting. I'm talking about the fundamental connection between our hands and our brain development. It's why handwriting and cursive, among other things, are important. 

 

People don't just say this to be saying it. There's plenty of evidence in neurobiology, neuropsychology, and so on about the hand brain connection. Books have been written on the subject of the importance of the human hands. Occupational therapists and physical therapists spend their careers helping people in the use of their hands. 

 

Many diseases are associated with symptoms in the hands. 

 

I'm not talking about opinion here or how people prefer to write notes. Proof in a hand brain connection is basic common sense physiology.

 

What is my opinion however, although plenty of other people have it, is how reducing handwriting and cursive instruction is going to have a lasting effect. Writing is a huge part of human cultural development and a huge part in our physical development as a species as well. We may be surrounded by touch screens, but our brains and hands evolved to work together. 

[Korrale]

I am mixed on this. I didn't grow up being taught the cursive that is commonly used in the US. In Australia they changed the cursive when I was in school. I learnt QLD cursive instead. It is easier to read and more streamlined and akin to printing. I thought that teaching my son cursive with a more American style would assist him in being able to read some original documents.... But from the comments above that might not necessarily be so.

I am just not convinced about any of the arguments. I feel cursive is going the way of shorthand. Do people teach that anymore? I know I learnt it is school. If I had to choose typing over cursive I would choose typing.

For what it is worth my printing is much faster than my cursive. I often choose to write in a hybrid running writing style with efficiency. And it is my neatest.

[Tracy]

I would agree that teaching typing earlier is very important nowadays.  I would think by 8yo, kids should begin typing.  And if that is the case, then typing almost necessarily has to push out something else.  Many people are going to allow it to push out cursive, and I don't really see anything wrong with that.  I prefer to push out printing and just teach cursive from an earlier age.  

[4KookieKids]

I finished grad school just six years ago. I don't recall a single person in either of my degree programs typing notes, nor in my undergrad which was finished nine years ago.

 

I finished grad school just three years ago, and it was rare for people to type notes in class. With some regularity, we'd have one person in class typing their notes, and occasionally two, but never more than that. It sounds like this might be dependent on the field, however. I can imagine that in law, as some people mentioned, most of the notes were words, whereas in my field (math), a large portion of the notes were symbols and diagrams and things that are too complex to type into a computer quickly. 

 

However, when time was not an issue, as on homework assignments, almost *everyone* typed their assignments.

[OneStepAtATime]

I love typing because I can type quickly and can get ideas on paper far faster than when I hand write.  Honestly, the most useful class I took in High School, with immediate application when I got to college, was typing (and it was still called typing when I was in High School :)  ).  However, there are times when a handwritten note is more useful, especially if I have to diagram (as others have mentioned), so I do still use print, and a hybrid print/cursive when needed.  I am having both kids learn typing and intend for them to get to mastery level since this is such a critical skill now.  

 

I am glad that they already know how to print because there are many times when someone is required to print to fill out forms.  Also, there are times when they may need to write a card to someone who does not know how to read cursive.  Typing out a note and inserting it seems too impersonal for some situations.  Not everything is done on computer yet and some things have to be written in print, especially at local places of business.  Some professions require daily printing, as well.  I have several doctor friends who say they have to print all instructions to the nurses.  They aren't allowed to use cursive and not all private practices are set up on computer for everything yet.  I actually find myself being required to print something rather often, although not as much as I use typing.

 

I have already mentioned several reasons that cursive is something I have included in our curriculum.

 

I think all three skills (typing, print and cursive) can have value, and typing and print are certainly used quite often in our society.  I am hoping that with steady, systematic exposure both of my kids will be proficient at all three.  However, if we were running into serious time constraints, etc. and the kids didn't already know how to print, I guess I would drop cursive and just teach print and typing, since those are more likely to be needed on a day to day basis as adults.  

 

Thankfully, they both know how to print already (even if my son's printing is a bit shaky and he has a devil of a time judging sizing and spacing with smaller print still).  Both are getting more proficient at cursive and typing.  They actually both enjoy cursive, but I haven't made it a pressure thing, just something we do for a few minutes every day using the Memoria Press New American Cursive books.  They both frequently choose to write in cursive now for other subjects when they know how to form the specific letters required but I do not yet insist anything be written in cursive since they are still learning.  Keeping it something fun and their choice has kept them interested and wanting to perfect the skill.  

[Kathryn]

I finished grad school just three years ago, and it was rare for people to type notes in class. With some regularity, we'd have one person in class typing their notes, and occasionally two, but never more than that. It sounds like this might be dependent on the field, however. I can imagine that in law, as some people mentioned, most of the notes were words, whereas in my field (math), a large portion of the notes were symbols and diagrams and things that are too complex to type into a computer quickly.

 

However, when time was not an issue, as on homework assignments, almost *everyone* typed their assignments.

I noticed that thy were mentioning law also and wondered about it being more program specific. My degrees are in history and library science--one full of people attached to the old ways(!) and one that involved a lot of research, science, and hands-on (I specialized in archives and preservation/conservation).