Are children being taught cursive writing in school these days?

[raccoon]

It seems there is less and less need for it.

[charlie and algernon]

1. You still need to be able to sign your name

And to fill out a check.

But yeah, other than that, I don't really use it anymore.

[eyesroll]

10. But there's no legal requirement that the signature actually be in cursive.

An "x" can be someone's legal signature.

Just sayin'.

[Captain Hilts]

25. Try it in practice. Folks insist it be cursive. That's happened to me. nt

[quakerboy]

34. It don' gotta be cursive

to be illegible.

[Captain Hilts]

36. But people require you to sign your name in cursive. nt

[quakerboy]

37. prove a squiggle isnt cursive?

I have a hard time getting places to check my ID, even though all the cards say to check ID. How I sign my name is rendered pretty irrelevent. I occasionaly dont even sign, or make a symbol, just to see what they will pass. Ill formed squiggle always passes. Stylized smiley face generally passes. Print passes. "Mickey" passes. Blank only passes about half the time.

[tigereye]

2. yes, but early on, and then it seems to have been abandoned since kids

print and type things so much.


My son learned to write in cursive, but he doesn't actually do it much. :shrug: I bet there is some research that says that it is developmentally useful despite how little it is used.

I used to have lovely Catholic grade school handwriting, but you should see how bad and illegiible my chicken scratch is now! :hide:

[Captain Hilts]

26. But most kids don't seem to be learning to type either. It's maddening watching kids hunt and peck

on a keyboard.

[tigereye]

39. you mean formal typing training?

good point. I think the kids at school did have some as part of their computer training. My son seems to type pretty fast from what I can see....

[nomorenomore08]

3. I learned cursive back in 2nd grade (circa 1992-93), and my handwriting still looks like that.

Which is to say, I still write like a 2nd-grader just learning cursive. :P

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Hell, they don't even teach spelling or grammar any more.

Of course they don't teach penmanship.

More important for fourth graders to learn how to do reports on Power Point.

:eyes:

[femmocrat]

20. Yes, they do. If it's on a standardized test, thus it will be taught.

NCLB, ya' know!

[tigereye]

41. well, they do teach spelling - but not grammar, from what I have seen

They do teach writing skills early in many schools now and also the follow-up - my 7th grader is learning to write a formal-type research paper this term.

[redqueen]

5. Yes.

I use it for writing letters. I can't send people typed letters. It's so impersonal.

[rug]

6. I hope not. They swear too much already.

[jobycom]

7. Do you still write in cursive? Aside from my name, I can't remember the last time

I wrote anything in cursive. I can barely fill out my checks by hand anymore. Everything is typing, texting, or voice.

[raccoon]

8. I still do, in my journal, grocery lists, etc.

But then, I'm also trying to brush up on my shorthand. Just for my own use.

I can still do it, just not fast.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. p.s., there isn't less need for it. The problem is that too many people just don't give a shit.

Even when the idiots can be bothered to send a letter to someone, it's usually just a fucking Hallmark card with a shitty canned sentiment on it, to which they merely sign their name, shove it in the envelope, maybe hand-address the thing (though likely spend the extra time to print it out in a sticky label), and then slap some fucking idiotic return-address label to thing, instead of showing the respect of hand-writing it, and mail it off.

All nice and antiseptic and easy as can be, to tell the person receiving it, "You should just be damned happy that I bothered to send anything".

[Left Is Write]

11. Yes.

[AngryAmish]

12. There is a judge I appear before that has the most beautiful handwriting

SHe'll on occasion draft her own order. She could be totally screwing me over and all I can do is look at the paper and go "wow".

My only D- in grade school was in writing in second grade. Now if there ever was a class prejudiced against small boys it was writing - fine motor skills and all that. And I was a year ahead...I just could not get my hand to work right, despite practice. Catholic school cursive rocks.

[sasquatch]

13. They did when I was in school, it's one of the reasons why I have anger issues

x(

[schmuls]

14. I know the 8 year old girl upstairs is learning it. She goes to a

Catholic School.

[XemaSab]

15. In Russian class, yes

:D

[Captain Hilts]

23. Man, did I have a tough time with that!!! Samaia plokha! nt

[XemaSab]

28. Kal!

Ya hochu mnet!

(But really... Russian improved my cursive immeasurably.)

[Kali]

31. huh?

Oh I thought you were talking to me, but I see the i is upside down.:P

[XemaSab]

33. You too

:P

[Shell Beau]

16. I still write in cursive.

[Kerrytravelers]

17. I always did, when I was still in the classroom.

My students liked it because I was also teaching them how to take notes and they thought they could actually write faster in cursive than printing. These were 2nd and 3rd graders.

I write in cursive on everything, as I, too, find it much faster than printing. I only type if I have to... like now!

[tigereye]

42. hey KT!

How have you been? :hi:

[Inchworm]

18. Fuck cursive!

that is all.

x(

[femmocrat]

19. Of course they do.

And the younger children cannot wait to learn cursive! They try to write instead of print as early as kindergarten. Hard to read, but hey, they still want to learn it!

And they still write in cursive on their spelling tests! So cute ... neatly numbered lists of spelling words. :)

[BarenakedLady]

21. Yup, just ask my third grader

He's been complaining about it.

[Captain Hilts]

22. Any writing. Adults now have the handwriting 5 yr. olds used to have. nt

[lightningandsnow]

24. I learned it in the late 90's.

And, honestly, learning it kind of hindered rather than helped me, because I have issues with my fine motor coordination, and it was hard enough for me to write in the first place. I definitely wasn't ready to learn it in grade 3, and since it was a subject in school (I went to a private school), I got terrible marks in it.

Actually, maybe it's a good thing that I learned it. It's all I use now, since my printing is atrocious. My cursive is also atrocious, but slightly less so.

Oh, and just as an aside; you have no idea, as someone who struggles to be able to write by hand, how much it pisses me off when people attribute messy handwriting to laziness or stupidity.

[raccoon]

38. I have some idea. I'm left handed and some of my teachers gave me hell about my

handwriting. Well, duh, I was trying to write in a right-handed desk.

[Kali]

27. My last kid just finished high school, but they all had to learn cursive in grade school.

Seems kind of obsolete. I still write letters and cards by hand but I print.

[InvisibleTouch]

29. Sometime during undergrad I realized...

...that nobody would ever make me write in cursive ever again, and so I quit doing it, as my own tiny little rebellion against rules and regulations. :) Besides, I could take notes in print at least as fast as I could write in cursive.

[Odin2005]

30. It's a waste of time, IMO

Why learn a way of writing that is only half-readable? Manuscript/Printing/Whatever looks neater and is easier to read.

[Lethe]

32. Not sure, but penmanship is admirable

look at our founding fathers and what they wrote.

you can't exactly exposit grand theories of politics or philosophy without having outstanding penmanship. (back then of course)

[blogslut]

35. My father had the most gorgeous signature

My mother wrote like a school teacher. All perfect, just like the charts.

I was a lefty so cursive was always a challenge and my defiance to conform to the standard style kicked in early. Today, my natural handwriting is a mix of cursive and print.

[bigwillq]

40. I hardly ever write in cursive.

I like my printing better.