No More Cursive! PDF
Document Details
Uploaded by BountifulField1964
Suncoast School for Innovative Studies
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Summary
This document argues against the continued teaching of cursive writing in schools, advocating for the adoption of modern tech skills such as typing. It discusses the historical origins of cursive, the inefficiency of learning it, and the shift to digital signatures. The document suggests that time currently spent on cursive would be better utilized in learning computer skills.
Full Transcript
## No More Cursive! Students don't want their time wasted on skills they won't need in life. Cursive is one of those skills that just isn't important anymore. Schools have more critical topics to teach students to prepare them for success. Technology has provided many reasons why cursive instructio...
## No More Cursive! Students don't want their time wasted on skills they won't need in life. Cursive is one of those skills that just isn't important anymore. Schools have more critical topics to teach students to prepare them for success. Technology has provided many reasons why cursive instruction is no longer necessary. * Those in favor of cursive writing say people need to be able to sign their names on important documents. In today's world, however, e-signatures are gaining popularity. * Documents sent electronically have the ability to accept typed signatures. Furthermore, most people's handwritten signatures are nearly illegible. Places that might require a signature don't often check to see if it matches the one on a driver's license, either. * Being able to sign one's name with cursive doesn't offer added security over digital signatures. * Other people suggest cursive writing is a natural part of human development. This is also an untruth because cursive is merely a tool for communication. * It is not an instinctual activity that humans engage in. Learning to write in cursive involves an intensive series of lessons over an extended period of time. These lessons often frustrate students, teachers, and parents. * Cursive requires frequent practice, and if it is not used regularly, the skills are easily forgotten. Spending time badgering students to learn and use cursive is not time well spent. This time would be better spent on learning how to type, along with other computer skills. Lastly, cursive came from Renaissance Italy when people wrote with quills. Lifting a quill off and on the paper caused damage and ink splatters. Cursive writing allowed the quill to stay on the paper and glide through the formation of letters in a word. We haven't written with quills since the mid-19th century, though. This method of writing, therefore, isn't needed. Pens have made it easier to write individual letters quickly and without making a mess. Typing is even more efficient and clean. Cursive is simply an outdated manner of communicating nowadays. People tend to want to keep cursive around because of its ties to history. Many of the official documents that founded the United States were penned in cursive. With the ability to translate all of them into typed copies, however, there is no reason to bore students with learning cursive in school. The time for cursive to step aside has come. Our advancements in technology have given us easier ways of communicating.
