Schools

Is Cursive Writing a Valuable Skill? This Letter Writer Thinks So

Basking Ridge resident offers opinion on why today's students should learn cursive writing.

To the Editor,

I am writing in regards to Catherine Crawford’s article “How the Common Core Kills Cursive.” I agree that cursive is dying and less and less kids each year don’t know how to write or even read cursive. Yet, although cursive is a dying form of penmanship, it is still necessary in schools and a skill that I found useful.

Growing up, cursive played a big part in my education. It helped me learn how to spell and to learn words as a whole rather than individual lets. This allowed me to separate the words easier and make sense of them.

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Cursive also allows us to stay connected with our past and our country’s history. Cursive was the main penmanship that was used back in the day when our founding fathers created some of the most important documents in American history, such as the Delectation of Independence or the Constitution. If the students don’t learn cursive they won’t be able to connect with history and will miss out on a lot of historic events.

As big of an issue not learning cursive in schools is, the real problem goes much deeper. The new generation is so connected with technology that old school communication and emphasis on handwriting has gone out the window. Students are generally always required to turn in typed papers and a lot don’t even know proper English because they are so used to writing in shorthand lingo on social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter. Although technology and the internet are convenient in many aspects of education, it is also taking away from some core education values that were taught to our ancestors.

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Not teaching cursive to students in school not only limits a child’s skill set, it also adds to the problem of the killing of the English language. 

Sincerely,

Nick Buley

3 Talmadge Lane, Basking Ridge, NJ

Do you think today's students would benefit by learning cursive handwriting skills? Let us know in the comments section below:


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