While watching the evening news, I happened to catch a brief segment on the subject of my beloved cursive writing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that some fourth graders in Kendall New York, also share my passion for this subject. According to this segment that aired on 13WHAM News earlier this evening, some eager students have made their desire to learn cursive writing known and have made quite an impressive case. This instance immediately took me back to a previous article I posted on 6/8/14 that focused on this very subject. Please see the link: https://sporterhall.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/cursively-speaking/
- New York is 1 of 41 states that does not require students to learn cursive writing. I was amazed at the number of states that no longer have this requirement.
- Some children in Kendall New York are determined to learn this ‘lost’ art form regardless. A fourth grader by the name of Cameron and his friends are making quite the fuss about the subject.
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Common Core Standards do not require cursive instruction which is why it is no longer taught.
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There are some states that are considering mandating instruction. Unfortunately, New York state is not of those.
When asked why he wanted to learn to cursive write, Cameron said that he wants to know how to write and sign checks, sign his legal name, and to write quickly. How impressive for a fourth grader. They even went as far as to make posters to aide their presentation to the school board, which was very much appreciated by the school principal, Sharon Smith. Cameron and his friends definitely seem to have a handle on the importance of learning to cursive write and it’s crucial role in their future functionality. I couldn’t agree with them more and wish them well in their ‘quest to learn cursive’.
By Sylvia Porter-Hall
sporterhall 
Aug 28, 2014 @ 07:36:11
I had no idea kids don’t learn cursive anymore. I used to attend American schools abroad and remember the endless hours of classes with first handwriting, then cursive. What a great pity that this art is disappearing.
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Aug 28, 2014 @ 13:02:06
Yes, it is very much a pity that cursive/handwriting has become a ‘lost’ art. I used to love to practice my cursive writing as a young girl. It’s a part of the writing process that helped me grow to love it. When I think of a ‘writer’, I think of someone sitting at a desk, writing in longhand -vs- someone at a computer composing a a Word document. It’s truly a shame. Thanks for your comment.
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Aug 29, 2014 @ 21:08:18
Wow. This has to be recent…I’m in my twenties and remember learning cursive as a child. But then again, that was under the British system. I saw another article related to the loss of handwriting (due to technology) that linked it to an increased future risk of high illiteracy rates. I don’t know if I can find it again, but it was an interesting read!
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Aug 30, 2014 @ 03:04:27
Yes…it’s very sad that cursive writing is becoming a thing of the past. In my opinion, it’s one of the times when technology needs to take a back seat. I don’t know that everything could or should be replaced by technology and cursive writing is one of those things. WordPress did an article a couple months ago about “Lost Art” forms and everyone was encouraged to share what they felt had become a lost art. I definitely chimed in on that one and my comments even received quite a few replies and it wasn’t even my article. But it did inspire me to do my post: “Cursively Speaking”.
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