{"id":9913,"date":"2006-10-11T07:33:04","date_gmt":"2006-10-11T14:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/10\/11\/dis-cursive.html"},"modified":"2006-10-11T07:33:04","modified_gmt":"2006-10-11T14:33:04","slug":"dis_cursive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/11\/dis_cursive.html","title":{"rendered":"Dis-cursive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is handwriting — cursive — going the way of the do-do and elocution lessons? Maybe so<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it’s threatening to finish off longhand.<\/p>\n

When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.<\/p>\n

And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of U.S. students who no longer get much handwriting instruction in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To be honest, it’s hard to get too worked up about it. I have never used cursive writing on a regular basis, except in my signature (and, as a result, can still do flawless textbook cursive if I need to). With keyboarding taking up more of our written output, especially outside of school, it just doesn’t seem nearly as important.<\/p>\n

That said, clarity of whatever form of writing is used is<\/em> important — keyboards are not and never will be everywhere. Just as it’s important to be able to do math without a calculator in hand, it’s important to be able to write clearly by hand, too. But is cursive essential for that? I suspect not. <\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, I was just talking with one of Katherine’s friends the other day, a grade or so higher than her. The friend was very proud that she was learning to write in cursive. She may be among the last generation that does so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is handwriting — cursive — going the way of the do-do and elocution lessons? Maybe so. The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it’s threatening to finish off longhand….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-daze","category-writing-and-language"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39718,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/11\/14\/cursive-foiled-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":9913,"position":0},"title":"Cursive! Foiled again!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Nov-13 3:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There may be some arguments in favor of teaching cursive handwriting, but some of the ones advanced here are ... um ... kind of desperate.1. 'They further argue that scholars of the future will lose the ability to interpret valuable cultural resources\u2014historical documents, ancestors' letters and journals, handwritten scholarship\u2014if they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13290,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/28\/cursive.html","url_meta":{"origin":9913,"position":1},"title":"Cursive","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Jan-09 10:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's an interesting coincidence that (a) Katherine is learning cursive in school, and (b) Les is posting about how teaching handwriting is declining in the US. Learning to write...","rel":"","context":"In "School Daze"","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/cursive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":138625,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/17\/cursive-folioed-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":9913,"position":2},"title":"Cursive! Folioed again!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Apr-19 6:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The return of cursive handwriting might have good reasons, but mostly bad ones.","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/cursive-palmer-method.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/cursive-palmer-method.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/cursive-palmer-method.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/cursive-palmer-method.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/cursive-palmer-method.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/cursive-palmer-method.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4812,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/30\/the_write_stuff.html","url_meta":{"origin":9913,"position":3},"title":"The Write Stuff","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 30-Dec-03 11:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"So, is there still a need to teach cursive handwriting? Based on this story, the question is up in the air. Kids today are more fluent on keyboards, and national...","rel":"","context":"In "School Daze"","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20586,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/28\/unblogged-bits-mon-28-mar-11-1730.html","url_meta":{"origin":9913,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Mon. 28-Mar-11 1730)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Mar-11 5:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Profits at gas pump sputter for many Colorado retailers - The Denver Post - I'll confess (if confession is needed) that I buy almost all my gas from the local Safeway station, usually at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12121,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/11\/12\/lets_get_corporate.html","url_meta":{"origin":9913,"position":5},"title":"“Let’s Get Corporate”","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 12-Nov-07 8:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"I can appreciate the need to update one's corporate image now and again -- but, honestly, Holiday Inn is making a huge mistake with their abandonment of the funky...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/holiday_inn_logo.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}