I haven’t used cursive in years. Even my signature can hardly be called cursive. It’s more of an indecipherable scrawl. Other than the years I spent instructing my students in cursive when I taught third grade, I have not found any use for this form of writing in my own life.
Perhaps it has something to do with being left-handed. Dragging my hand across a written page leaves my hand stained with ink.
I mention this because there’s been some concern lately that cursive is a fading skill, a dying art.
Should we be concerned?
Is the use of cursive necessary for the future of our society?
As a teacher, one of my greatest challenges is finding room for the new material and additional curricular responsibilities in an already packed school day. While it seems we are more than willing to add to the curriculum each year, we never actually remove anything to compensate for the additional time requirements, nor do we try to extend the school day.
So perhaps cursive should go. Maybe it’s expendable.
Thoughts?
