"They don't teach kids cursive anymore"

non news

The US education system is not nationalized so yes some school districts don't teach it, but I still think many do.

Not true. This goes hand in hand with the meme that says schools no longer do the flag salute. My husband has been a teacher for nearly 30 years, we’ve raised children nearly as long (fostering and adopting), and they’re still teaching cursive and doing the flag salute in our school district.

If it's true, why should we care? Why do we need cursive? Dumb nostalgia or generic trolling? You're wasting our time regardless.

I agree with R4. Schools should only spend time teaching the very specific skills and knowledge that are considered relevant and needed as of this moment.

I think it went on for so long, that they’re starting to reintroduce it.

At least you’re not complaining about schools no longer teaching how to diagram a sentence

We don’t teach them cursive because we’re teaching them how to write code instead

I've seen people complain about this same thing, OP. Right after they bitch about Minnie Mouse being allowed to wear pants and Killary coming to take away their gas stoves and drink their cold, dead blood from their hands. Or something like that.

They all sound like Alzheimer's patients or like they've taken their daily supply of norcos, all at once.

I think it’s been true for the last decade. My division in the Navy, my junior sailors couldn’t write in sailors. Fah shame.

Couldn’t write in cursive*

There’s research to suggest cognitive benefits associated with handwriting/cursive, since physically forming the letters (versus typing) can help with processing and retaining information.

I went to Catholic school, which taught us that we would be failures in life and headed straight for hell if we had bad penmanship, so the importance can be overemphasized. However, some instruction is beneficial even in a digital world.

Some still do. I work with an NY private school that teaches it beginning in second grade.

R14 That’s because you teach at an excellent school not your typical public school.

It's ridiculous, whatever cognitive benefits must be small and tenuous, I'm not reading any data about something so stupid, we will never need to write much anymore, give up the stupid boomer shit. Move on God dammit, worry about other things.

I was certainly taught cursive in school, but couldn't do it now to save my life. Got my first computer (Apple II+) in 1981 and haven't felt the need to write much since.

OP your point Gran? They don't teach this anymore either.

R18 😂. Good retort.

A requirement to teach cursive was signed into law in California early in 2024.

Being taught cursive has benefits, including writing a decent and legible signature.

We made fun of Madison Cawthorne's signature but since then I've see many college educated people using the same simplistic style of signature.

You may not have to write much in cursive these days, but you may indeed want to be able to read it, like going through family correspondence.

R21 I always thought in addition to teaching us how to sign a check that cursive taught discipline and stream of consciousness type thinking.

Some schools do, while others don’t.

It depends on where the school is located, and their budgets.

One thing that really bothered me when I worked as a nanny, is that the school where my two kids who I cared for attended, taught revisionist history. They were still being taught the same bullshit stories about Christopher Columbus, Pilgrims, & Native Americans. I made a decision to help them with their lesson plans and homework, along with teaching them REAL history that included the treatment and decimation of Indigenous peoples.

I honestly DGAF if kids learn cursive, however, learning truthful history is very important, & I was shocked that a top notch school in a very well to do area in Los Angeles was still using the same lesson plans taught to me as a child.

BTW, when living in NYC, the schools I attended then were waaaay better than the ones in Los Angeles.

They should start teaching AI prompt generation, since that will probably be the future if the tech bros have their way.

Yes, it’s true.

Bill Gates’ foundation is behind American schools dumping cursive handwriting. Now kids can’t read it.

Only 21 states require the learning of some form of cursive handwriting. The majority don’t teach it. It’s been deemed unnecessary.

What students lost since cursive writing was cut from the Common Core standards

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with historian Drew Gilpin Faust about her story in The Atlantic, "Gen Z Never Learned to Read Cursive."

1 in 10 Gen Z understand cursive handwriting. Sad.

Yes, it's true. I'm an older millennial that uses cursive and the Gen Z people at my workplace cannot read my handwriting.

They still do where I live (Georgia). I'm not sure what year they start teaching cursive, but when I was a kid in the 50s & 60s we were taught cursive in grade 3.

[quote]I've seen people complain about this same thing, OP. Right after they bitch about Minnie Mouse being allowed to wear pants and Killary coming to take away their gas stoves and drink their cold, dead blood from their hands. Or something like that.

Or, you know, maybe just wanting their kids to learn the LITERAL MOST BASIC SHIT. And it's clear you have no actual experience in this area, even via siblings. My sister was quite stunned a few years back when she moved to Westchester with her three kids, only to find out cursive isn't mandatory in the state of New York. She's sure as fuck not a Karen or "Killary" type wanting to eliminate all natural gas-fueled anything.

My kid curses with the best of them!!

No the school my kids go to teaches cursive in second grade

R35 Do they teach commas and punctuation?

The open secret is that the US educational system is in fast decline. And it's not a matter of total funding, but a combination of: allocation of that funding; the total end to discipline in many schools (kids can hit teachers at many schools and not get expelled these days); putting the kids with behavioral and special educational problems in with the regular students making it difficult for anyone to learn; way more kids claiming a disability; many schools abandoning phonics for whole word reading (the kids literally guess at the sound and meaning of words; this was a disaster pushed by some academics and thankfully many school districts are recognizing it, but the damage has been done for an entire generation); the use of phones in schools (this is a huge one, especially tiktok); teaching to the test because of the major focus on test scores for rating schools (No Child Left Behind result); DEI and social justice nonsense (this ties back into the discipline angle); parents treating schools as daycare; parents not supporting teachers and acting like their kids are special angel rather than being mad at their kids for poor performance; terrible school boards; administrators not backing up the decisions of teachers when parents complain; states banning books; teachers being forced to do endless paperwork to make the administrators and lawyers happy; school shooting drills that needlessly terrorize little kids; and the list goes on. What you will notice is that there is fault to be found here with people from both left and the right when it comes to people pushing their nonsensical theories on our schools. So much money is spent on bullshit to be frank. Its a huge industry of bullshit. And no one trusts teachers anymore despite them being the only ones close to the actual students during the day. And that's not even getting into the people who hate public schools altogether. It's a mess.

Oh, what was the topic. Cursive? Yeah, add to it the long list of things not taught much these days.

They're denying an entire generation of Rhoda Penmarks her rightful award!

R37, you had me till you started bitching about "DEI and social justice 'nonsense.'" Does this mean you think kids bullied as "faggots" should just sit there & take it, without the school intervening? Or any racial minority? Or any religious minority? I don't suppose you work at a school, or even know any kids currently enrolled in it? Your rant sounds like a laundry list of everything routinely reported in the newspaper, never mind that the issues may only affect a tiny number of schools.

You make some valid points, but spoiled them by bitching about a Trumpists' favorite gripe. "OMG DEI is akin to SATAN!" 🙄

I think it's a shame if they don't teach it. I always enjoyed as a kid in school, and I do think it has a positive effect on the brain.

They will never need it again, how about teaching fucking science and math? There is not enough benefit, if any, to teaching fucking hand writing when we lack so much other stuff, then you old fuckers say they can't read my writing, well perhaps you should move into the modern world and write like they do, you are the old ones who need to change.

[quote]They will never need it again, how about teaching fucking science and math?

R41, you should probably acquaint yourself with a little thing called STEM.

The best argument for teaching g cursive can be found in US currency dated 2017. Notice Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s chicken scratch block letter signature. He went to a fancy private school (which obviously didn’t teach cursive) and Yale. Embarrassing

A Pennsylvania legislator proposed a bill requiring Cursive be taught in all schools.

R39, I know very well what I'm talking about. I made it a long list for a reason. And you won't find most of that reported in newspapers. And the fact you picked out one thing that triggered you and said it ruined it reveals more about you than me.

I firmly stand by what I said. The focus on diversity and inclusion is part of the problem, but nowhere did I suggest that schools should sit back while kids are bullied and targeted for being gay or of a certain race. I don't know how you got that out of a post that complained there wasn't enough discipline, but oh well.

Yes, we know. We've discussed this issue several times on DL.

Also, they can't read analogue clocks, use a card catalog, read a map or use an atlas, and, of course, the DL fav dial a rotary phone - with or without a pencil.

Now they want be able to read official documents like the Bill of Rights or the US Constitution. That works out perfectly for the GOP.

There's always some phony crisis in public education. The real problem is that everyone thinks they know what's best---phonics for everyone (they're great for learning disabilities but boing for everyone lese), endless drills, preping for standardized exams, uniforms. Bringing back cursive or sentence diagramming (what a waste of time that was). is just as bad. There's tons of research on how children learn best and what works best for whom, as well as how to manage a classroom. that's the stuff that gets neglected. There's always a need to teach critical thinking and a need for more writing.

There's a crisis in education because there is a crisis in parenting. Kids are starting the 1st grade without being potty trained. They are showing up without even the most basic literacy. They are showing up without basic social skills. They are showing up without the ability to concentrate for 15 minutes. Why? Because they are being raised on devices and algorithms. If you don't properly engage children in the early years they will never catch up to their full potential. We are full on into the idiocracy and there is no turning back.

Sadly, they also let go of the abacus.

In my school board in Ontario, it was eliminated for a number of years. However, it was reintroduced about 2 years ago when people learned teens and young adults couldn’t write their signatures anymore, let alone read cursive.

[quote]A Pennsylvania legislator proposed a bill requiring Cursive be taught in all schools.

Except it got stuck in committee like 98% of all proposed legislative bills.

I hated it, and quit doing it as soon as I could, but I can see the value in teaching hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

R52: Thank God. So many more important things in the world than cursive.

Love cursive writing. Both my parents wrote beautifully and I followed suit. Now days I tend to use CAPS like an Architect for some reason.

R37, you're complaining about the decline in education. Look at your post. First "paragraph" is one overly-long block of text.

Physician, heal thyself.

R53: They still have to print. There are lots of ways to practice eye-hand coordination and fine motor.

I realize that rote memorization is out of favor today in "modern" education, but it's impossible to think critically or analyze anything without a solid foundation of knowledge from which to draw data and comparisons.

You will never question the statements being made if you lack the basic knowledge to understand what they're saying is factually flawed. From climate change to basic biology, chemistry, and physics, if you do not have things like the period table, parts of a cell, or the where all the continents are by name, how can you tell when to be skeptical when someone claims something idiotic under the veneer of it being "science"?

Apparently in some schools the alphabet is now recited in phonetics. I know this is true in some Swiss schools.

qua qua "queen"

The queen was caught in a quake.

🤪🤡🫅🏼

R37 Does anyone remember years ago when the school board of Oakland decided to make Ebonics an official language or acceptable to be used in submitted essays or something. I think that was so offensive and a big fuck you of paternalism to the black community. Those of you that are educators, were you aware of such draconian measures and how do you feel about it?

I don't have a stake in the game, so I see both sides. But it's a little disconcerting when I read about teenagers not being able to write a signature, read a handwritten letter, or read an analog clock. I mean...that's crazy.

We don’t teach kids Hieroglyphics either. I don’t get the lament over cursive, or clocks with hands.

As a primary teacher years ago, I taught first graders block letter formation, and third graders cursive writing. We once did many activities in early grades (clay play, cutting, crafts, penmanship) that helped develop eye hand coordination. Once mastered as students matured, cursive writing encourages the flow of thinking while writing, unlike printing in which one form words in isolated elements letter by letter. There are studies that support the link between handwriting and neurological development in children.

Of course, with the advent of technology and its constant presence in daily life, kids now spend much of their time in and out of school on tablets and phones, even young kids. So, progress I suppose. We also used to teach counting change and telling time on an analog clock as part of primary math curriculum. I am sure that is no longer the case.

Years later, I was a math consultant visiting grades 5-8 classrooms in a beleaguered urban district. Some of the kids were a handful. I got them to pay attention and participate by rewarding them with cursive workbooks. It was the one carrot I found useful. They really wanted to learn, to have a signature, to write in script. I would meet them during their lunch period. Rather than go out outside or fool around, they ate quickly and all sat diligently practicing.

Big fucking deal. I’m 68, left handed, and I never had good cursive handwriting. Didn’t hurt me one bit in life.

My students said they teach them ABOUT cursive in the second grade but never go back to it, like many English skills (grammar, spelling, etc). I teach 11th grade, and while my students know about it (and the other old school skills), there has never been any remediation or reinforcement. Don't get me started on how little these kids know about history!

r61 Fuck off, racist trash. You flail around in your own fatness typing like your fantasy person. Freak.

And what a charming, open-minded and generous soul R65 is, indeed!

R65 Yeah, but I'm assuming that you can read it and sign your fucking name?

I loved cursive handwriting in school. Of course, I’m gay.

California just passed a law mandating cursive instruction.

I had the best handwriting* for a boy in grammar school. Mary Katherine P. and Barbara S. had better handwriting, but I kicked their asses in spelling and diagramming sentences.

Cursive isn't hieroglyphics--enough with that argument. The fact is, if you don't know cursive, you can't read any historical document or anything handwritten at all before the 70s or 80s. That's incredibly sad to me.

I asked my sister who has 2 children in public school. They both learned cursive. One is in 5th, one is in 3rd (and learning it now).

Also not taught - cuneiform.

This is somewhat relevant... I do think they should have kept certain 'old-school' topics - general home-ec, shop class, typing/keyboarding (maybe they still do that one?)

I learned some basic auto stuff, how to sew a button and, thanks to the fabulous Mavis Beacon, how to type rather quickly.

R75 we had to do base 2 flash cards because that was the language of computers and we had to be ready for the digital age!

We had base 2 seat races in fourth grade math (this would have been 1969).

R42 re-read what I said, do you have low comprehension? Acquaint that bitch, you're just being a cunt.

How about learning runes, add that to the hieroglyphic lesson plan, it helps with cognitive thinking you know, and will come in handy some day, idiots

Other useful stuff I was required to learn in public school:

Elementary school: Art class with an art teacher. 2x a week. And he had a curriculum and we learned important stuff such as color theory, perspective, using tools, the property of materials, etc. Library - classification system and the basic of information literacy. Singing - 1 time a week. With optional chorus. Mandatory musical instrument for 4 years. Gym class - many many important lessons and skills.

Kids need all these cognitive exercises. It's also in elementary school where kids figure out their cognitive strengths and weaknesses and where they discover their intellectual, creative and physical interests and talents.

[quote]Does anyone remember years ago when the school board of Oakland decided to make Ebonics an official language

It was an attempt to gain funding from a program for teaching standard English. It was never an attempt to make "Ebonics" an official language.

The SAME PEOPLE who complain about "no cursive anymore" are the same ones who keep voting to cut school funding so there's barely enough money to merely teach the Three Rs to the overcrowded classrooms

Teachers don’t get to choose what they teach. When I was an elementary teacher ( I retired during the pandemic) we had allotted time that we were required to spend teaching each subject. The biggest blocks were Language Arts and Math, but we also had to teach science, history and art. As well, we had to legally certify our PE instruction time, which was 30 minutes each day.

I added it up one day, and they had mandated just under 7 hours of required teaching each day. The day was only 6 hours long. We were mandated to teach every day almost an hour more than there was time to teach.

Of course I didn’t have time to teach cursive. If it wasn’t in the mandated curriculum, it didn’t get taught.

Our schools are run by bloated bureaucracies. Fix that, and the other problems will be much easier to fix.

I'm enjoying these perceptive and persuasive postings by the geniuses who apparently don't realize that cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing have not been used for thousands of years, while cursive is still very much in use and ability to read it is essential for anyone who researches or otherwise accesses documents of the last several centuries.

I'd add History and Logic to Cursive as necessary subjects for these fine young scholars to study.

There other languages that don't rely on some analogue to "cursive"---for example, the Sanksrit-based languages like Hindi, Thai, and Khmer. Learning script is sufficient and I don't think anyone's eye-hand coordination is impaired by this. The attachment to cursive just seems like prissy rigidity or misplaced nostalgia.

R86 This is a stealth “why can’t I pay with my checkbook” thread.

Rather than an "autoshop," "home ec," or "shop" and class, there ought to be a sort of survey course entitled "Life skills" that goes over basic cooking (how to follow cooking directions and recipes), basic skills like how to light a pilot light on your hot water heater and oven, use a washing machine and dryer (how to read laundering labels), change a flat tire, jumpstart a dead car battery, how to use and balance a checkbook, basic credit card finance, etc.

Such a course should be mandatory on a pass/fail basis.

That way, idiots no longer have never having been taught as an excuse for their incompetence and stupidity.

Basic finances should be a class. You can learn about income and outgoing expenses. Credit cards (yes, you have to pay it back or go bankrupt). Rent, mortgage, food, balancing your debit account, etc.

r88 and r89 Please add INCOME TAXES to that list. It's amazing how ignorant most people are about how income taxes work.

50% of Americans apparently don't understand import tariffs.

They reintroduced cursive in Texas in 2019. Some kids know it and some do not. I think they should learn it, but there are far more important skills they lack, including: understanding cause/effect, logical inferences, map-reading, and more.

Since reading this thread, I've started to write in script (we called it script, not cursive), again.

"You call it corn, we call it maize..."

Teach kids basic nutrition. Corn oil and corn syrup are garbage.

Kids know nutrition and are more concerned with junk food than the adults I know. Teach them the dangers of sports betting, excessive consumption of THC gummies, and energy drinks. Mark my words: gambling addiction is the next major public health crisis.

My grandson is almost 25 and grew up in Brooklyn. When he was twelve I handed him something to read. He looked it over, handed it to his mother and said, "what does this say, I can't read it" First I was shocked, then I wondered why he couldn't read it when I realized printed letters and cursive letters aren't the same. I had never thought about that. I told my daughter she better teach him. Older documents are written in cursive especially anything before the typewriter. Who knows what he would have gone into that he might have needed to be able to read something in cursive. I don't know about you but I would have been extremely embarrassed to be handed something to read as an adult and had to hand it back and say I can't read it.

My niece and half-sister are 7 and 8. They asked me to write something in cursive, I did and they were impressed. They have not been taught it. Not yet anyway.

Standards keep falling. It’s sad.

R96 what did you hand him to read?

R93: You don't get out much, do you?

r98 a letter that I had written to some company or something.

R100 You hand wrote a letter in cursive to a company circa 2010, 2011. Interesting.

They’re too busy learning how to use semiautomatic weapons.

I like writing. I do calligraphy too. So why shouldn't I write if I like to? Sometimes you get a better response pertaining to the way you handle something. I bought a Marie Callendar small single size frozen pizza one time. When I went to eat it I realized that some of the cheese was white plastic. I took the box and the pizza and threw it into a manila envelope with a handwritten note and mailed it to the company. I got a letter back from the Owner of the company with a long apology, a refund, coupons, etc.

R103 aww you’re cute. Sorry. I was lowkey being a shady bitch.

all's well r103

[quote]I got a letter back from the Owner of the company with a long apology, a refund, coupons, etc.

So cute that you think the company has an "owner."

I assumed since his name was Callendar and I think he signed it owner but I would have to find the letter to check. I know you are trying to make me out as an idiot but I am not, but thanks for trying.

wtf? lol