Should cursive writing be written off from the school curriculum?
Should cursive writing be written off from the school curriculum?
Most of the schools these days are abandoning cursive writing in favour of print writing. There’s no longer a special status attached with the students who can produce good connectors and beautiful loops. Even the schools which ask their students to write in cursive during the primary classes do not expect them to be writing italicized, beautiful letters with artistic loops in their pre-primary years. Some people argue that it is important to teach cursive while other others don’t really seem to agree. Here are some basic reasons they cite:
Those in favour of cursive writing say that:
1. Cursive writing develops the motor skills in children. The same motor skills are not developed by any other form of handwriting.
2. It activates an absolutely different part of the brain which is not done by any other form of writing.
3. Writing the lessons in cursive writing reinforces learning. Whatever the children learn, they learn in the form of print writing but while writing their lesson in cursive they have to pay more attention which reinforces the learning.
4. Children with disabilities especially dyslexia are highly benefitted by cursive writing as the level of confusion caused by print letters is higher that the cursive letters.
5. Cursive writing keeps the student attached to past as a lot of historical work is written in cursive. Not being interested in cursive writing can detach that from all those works and they may loose an opportunity to learn from the past.
The people believe that cursive writing is not important argue that:
1. Communication is more important than cursive writing so the schools should actually focus more on developing the communication skills and accurate use of English.
2. Handwriting is more important than cursive writing which means any easy form of writing or print writing is equally good.
3. The textbooks and all other books are published in print writing. Writing in print helps the children relate better to what they have read in the text books.
4. It is more important to learn writing than bear the pressure of rules.
5. All the documents or papers the children will be required to read in future including the newspaper will be published in print writing.
6. The technology also supports only print writing.
Discussion
- RE: Should cursive writing be written off from the school curriculum? -Rajani Sharma (12/14/13)
- For:
- Cursive writing should be abandoned in favour of clean and legible handwriting.
- In the 21st century where the computers are becoming primary source of students for learning, teaching cursive writing is waste of time.
- Being tech savvy is more critical for students than knowing how to write cursive writing.
- In schools more emphasis should be given on good communication skills, analytical skills rather than cursive writing skills.
- Learning of cursive writing build a pressure on students to write in a specific way.
- Cursive writing is not a tested and assessed subject. Thus should not be included in the curriculum. Instead of investing time there, schools should invest their time in teaching other important subjects.
- According to USA Today 41 states do not mandate cursive writing instructions.
- In today’s education system typing and keyboard use has replaced cursive writing.
- It is more easy and convenient to copy and paste in word rather than putting more time on writing cursive on paper.
Against:
- Cursive writing should not be written off from schools as this form of writing helps in improving handwriting of students.
- As per the experts’ report handwriting training helps children to develop better hand eye coordination.
- It also helps in developing fine motor skills in students.
- Leaning cursive writing give students a clear understanding of how the letters are formed which also helps them in their print writing as well.
- Cursive writing helps students with learning disabilities like dyslexia. As the letters in print look similar, making it hard for them to understand letters, particularly b and d. Cursive writing gives them an option to decrease dyslexia tendencies making them more confident in their abilities.
- It is an art form which helps students to develop the side of their brain that is not developed by other writing skills and reading skills.
- It is a great opportunity for cross curriculum learning.
- Many historical documents are written in cursive. Thus we can say that cursive handwriting help students to connect with past. Being unfamiliar with this art form, they may always have to depend on their elders to understand each and every thing written in cursive writing.
- Like math, this form of writing teaches perseverance. Learning cursive writing requires lot more of thought process.
- Computers are introduced to students when they are in kindergarten classes. This shows more focus is given on the learning of keyboarding skills rather than writing skills.
- Technology should be blamed for this as in today’s scenario it plays an active part in children’s life.
