Is Cursive Writing No Longer Essential in Indiana Schools?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the decision by the Indiana Department of Education to no longer require cursive writing in public schools. Participants explore the relevance and necessity of cursive writing in modern education and daily life, considering its implications for handwriting skills, typing, and emerging technologies.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express that cursive writing is largely unnecessary, as most writing done after school is typed rather than handwritten.
  • Others share personal experiences of transitioning away from cursive, noting that they primarily use printing or a mix of printing and cursive for speed and efficiency.
  • A few participants mention the importance of being able to read cursive, suggesting that while teaching perfect cursive may not be essential, some exposure should remain.
  • Concerns are raised about the time investment required to teach cursive writing, with some questioning whether it is worth the effort given the prevalence of typing.
  • There is speculation about the future of typing due to advancements in voice recognition technology, with some suggesting that this could render traditional writing skills obsolete.
  • Participants reflect on their own handwriting skills, with many admitting to having lost proficiency in cursive and relying on printing or informal styles.
  • Some discuss the practicalities of note-taking in meetings, contrasting the use of laptops for typing versus handwritten notes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally express a lack of consensus on the necessity of cursive writing, with multiple competing views on its relevance and the implications of its removal from school curricula. Some agree on the declining importance of cursive, while others advocate for its continued teaching in some form.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the discussion is influenced by personal experiences and the changing landscape of communication technology, which may affect the perceived value of cursive writing.

  • #61
I guess I'm in the minority, but I see this as a bad thing. I grew up learning cursive, and had to use it basically all the through school, and pretty much up until college, I had to use it. When I was in school the perception was always pretty much that non-cursive was the "lazy" way to write, and cursive was the elegant, fluid, educated way to write.

Does it actually help you write faster? probably not. But it is somewhat of an artform. I did practive, and to this day I have to write excruciately slow in order to make it come out not looking like chicken scratch. but It's something worth keeping. Some day some archeologist may scratch his head at our cursive and it will have become "heiroglyphs"
 
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  • #62
It's a lot eaiser to write cursive in the snow than it is to print in the snow.
 
  • #63
BobG said:
It's a lot eaiser to write cursive in the snow than it is to print in the snow.
:smile: You dog you (respectfully speaking). I know exactly what you mean. Been there done that. :smile:
 
  • #64
dlgoff said:
Now my biggest problem is spelling since I heard things differently and phonics made no sense.

I was reading at age 3, and I still had significant trouble with phonics. What a complete waste of time.
 
  • #65
BobG said:
Not just voice recognition software, but the ability to search for spoken words/word combination and to cross reference to other spoken word sequences, etc and do it as fast, or faster, than computers handle numbers/words now. In other words, the ability to create an organized database of spoken words so no "written" records have to be kept at all.

That would be an interesting development if technology made written language, itself, obsolete, seeing as how written language was the key to so much of our technological development.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hShY6xZWVGE
 
  • #66
Ivan Seeking said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hShY6xZWVGE

Love it. Go Scotty go.
 
  • #67
I've had several professors who won't accept hand written papers unless they are in cursive without errors. Writing things without my computer helps me with better spelling in the long run and makes me a little more diligent; I tend to write in a really sloppy manner when I am on a computer and make really embarrassing grammatical mistakes. Penmanship is good in a classroom situation, and I prefer to do proofs by hand and not on a program-- and cursive makes it look so darn good.
 
  • #68
thegreenlaser said:
I can't see written word ever being completely replaced by spoken word. I MUCH prefer reading to listening, especially with large documents, and I know a lot of people who would agree.

Consider the hearing-impaired, for whom reading versus listening is not a matter of mere preference.
 

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