School Days changing as
cursive writing courses may disappear from core curriculum
By
Michael J Morris
Just as
I was digesting a list of nine things that will disappear in my lifetime sent to
me by old friend Ken Schroeder, I stumbled across a story on Yahoo News that the
end of teaching cursive writing in elementary schools is on the
horizon.
Ever
since, one of the verses from that old song "School Days" has been running
through my mind. Remember?
"School days, school
days,
Good
old golden rule days.
Reading and 'riting and
'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of a
hickory stick.
You
were my bashful, barefoot beau
and I
wrote on your slate.
'I
love you Joe'
When
we were a couple of kids."
Back in
the day, so to speak. "reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic" were the Three R's, the
core of the elementary school curriculum.
And
above the blackboard in almost every elementary school classroom was the
alphabet in capital and small letters.
But first,
here briefly is the list of nine things Ken sent me. Set to disappear are the
post office, the cheque, the newspaper, the physical book and newspaper, the
land line telephone, music as we have known it, television and generally many
"things" we own as they will all be on a "cloud". Actually I tend to agree, but
they are a story for another day.
Back to
cursive writing. It never entered my mind that was disappearing as core part of
elementary school curriculum in over 40 states in the United States and several
Canadian provinces. Although I can't remember the last time I sent anyone a
handwritten letter, and only scribble notes as needed, and keep a journal, I
never assumed kids would not be required to take cursive writing.
Tori Floyd,
writing in The Right
Click a Yahoo News
blog on June 16, 2013. writes, "In the not so distant past, it was a rite of
passage for student in elementary school to sit through lessons on cursive
writing, slowly learning how to shape connected-up letters in the hope of one
day having legible penmanship.
"But with
the increased presence of keyboards everywhere, the days of cursive writing may
be numbered and schools are seeing the writing on the wall.
"As the end
of cursive writing appears to be nigh, many parents and educators probably find
themselves wondering: should we still be teaching cursive writing?"
I wonder
too. Those who argue it suggest it is "one more thing teachers have to help
students with in light of the pervasiveness of electronic
communication."
But,
occupational therapist Suzanne Asherson said on Mashable “In today’s
world… children need to know how to both use keyboarding to type, as well as
being able to pick up a pencil or a pen and be able to write. Both skills are
necessary and should be taught to our children in order to have functional
adults who are efficient in their jobs and in the real world.”
Maybe, but
it begs the question -- in the 21st Century is excellence in cursive writing
needed to be a "functional" adult who is "efficient in their jobs and in the
real world".
This debate
over cursive writing takes me back to when I started high school in 1955.
Because the powers that be determined I was university bound, I was enrolled in
an academic program and took Latin instead of Typing. In fact, I took Latin
until the end of my first year at university, and I haven't spoken or written it
much in the last 50 years. I still don't know how to type properly using my own
"hunt and peck" system, and I think I typed something every day of my working
and retired life.
However, as
Mr. G.A. Hill, one of my outstanding Latin teachers told me, studying the
subject made me better in English.
And, he was
right. Perhaps the same argument can be made for the continuation of cursive
writing as part of the core curriculum. Simply put, it's good for
students.
Nonetheless, no doubt I
should have taken Typing too.
In 2011 in a
piece for ABC World News, Brian Braiker wrote, "Antiquated
or no, cursive is viewed by some parents and educators as essential to an
education -- especially as text-happy teens become ever more
thumb-centric."
Try
as I might, I was unable to compose new words for "School Days". Somehow,
"texting, tweeting and thumbing" and writing on a "tablet" just didn't do it,
although tablet may be digital version of slate!
What are your thoughts? I
look forward to hearing from you. You may comment here or my email is
mj.morris@live.ca
Full disclosure: I am not now and never have been a member of the Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society; however, I did conduct a workshop for its members for which I was paid.
