Even though I'm afraid I didn't get a card made for this year's National Handwriting Day (and John Hancock's birthday, by the way), I wanted to mark the occasion with a post. Handwriting, and our ability to write in some sort of script, is something I feel very strongly about. I simply cannot understand why the American educational system is so quick to abandon teaching this fundamental skill that human beings have spent millennia perfecting. My post from last year, 10 Reasons to Teach and Use It, states in depth my feelings on the subject and why I believe cursive handwriting (or some sort of linked handwriting) should continue to be taught in American schools. I hope you'll click on over and give it a read!
I so agree.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%, how very sad cursive is not being taught in American schools. I remember how much I loved learning cursive in second grade and how much time I spent perfecting my signature.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy writing... and I learned the "Palmer Method" when I learned cursive. It took hours and hours of drawing little circles - but I think I attribute a lot of my fine motor dexterity to that. On the other hand - not sure where you give the credit to doctors and surgeons who most often have horrific handwriting and yet can do brain surgery. As a nurse, I never did figure that out! I enloy writing in long hand in letters and cards and journals. But when you think of it, it is rare to find someone capable of caligraphy anymore - I feel the whole "art" is diminishing. My father was an engineer and he could block print faster than I could write - and it was ALWAYS legible. If I tried to keep up with his speed you wouldn't be able to read it. And my final thought is that youg boys don't have developed fine motor skills the way young girls do... their abilities are all in the gross motor skills department for awhile in development before they catch up. Maybe that is partly what drives this movement. Maybe writing cursive should be put off several grades till boys have the control to succeed at it. Who knows - so many facets of the issue. I know I hate to see the skill of cursive to be lost foever, or to go the way of Calligraphy. Oh, one last thought, the younger generation does not write letters [or thank you notes for that matter] anymore - only emails. And in return I like to tell my grandkids I don't text, tweet or twerp!
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