Illinois Schools To Teach Cursive Writing?

[tamiya]

http://abc7chicago.com/education/lawmakers-require-cursive-handwriting-for-students-/2619958/

 

Wednesday, November 08, 2017 06:08PM

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Children in Illinois who start their school careers at keyboards will be required to learn cursive writing.

 

The Senate voted 42-12 Wednesday to override Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of legislation that students learn cursive writing despite far less long-hand writing these days.

 

Advocates say printing is not efficient and sloppy and writing will never go out of style. They say lacking an understanding of cursive writing will hinder the ability to read historical documents or family histories.

 

Critics complained school teachers have too many requirements from the state.

 

[pgmrdan]

Saying that keyboards replace handwriting is like saying calculators have replaced pencil, paper, and the skills to do arithmetic. As far as I'm concerned we need more memorization, reading of the classics, more mathematics and the sciences, and yes even Latin couldn't hurt.

 

Good for Illinois schools!

[Goingbuddha]

We've lost the 'classical' education in exchange for shortcuts to the workforce. Our educations system, in most of the western world, was engineered to teach people how to work, not how to think. I would love if we tried some of the Scandinavian systems that seem to be doing so well. I also think that everyone should learn cursive. It has benefits in fine-motor skills and other areas of learning as well.

[TSherbs]

This popped up and caught my attention. The article linked above is dead. Here is a working link: https://patch.com/illinois/springfield-il/cursive-now-required-illinois-schools

 

Both sides are talking past each other in this article. And, of course, no research in support of the efficacy of cursive for student learning is presented. But, the governor doesn't point this out, either.

 

politics politics

[IndigoBOB]

Saying that keyboards replace handwriting is like saying calculators have replaced pencil, paper, and the skills to do arithmetic. As far as I'm concerned we need more memorization, reading of the classics, more mathematics and the sciences, and yes even Latin couldn't hurt.

 

Good for Illinois schools!

 

 

I agree!

 

Latin is sooo helpful in learning the sciences later on.

 

Nothing can replace handwriting.

 

Cursive allowed me to have a real connection with my written words and make them my signatured own. I write in a broken cursive now, mixed between some print and mostly cursive, but I love it.

 

It would be nice to see the US Education system to progress out of the rut it's in. The homework I've had to tutor my nieces on is almost intentionally convoluted to curtail creativity and helping the kids think for themselves.

[galem]

As a retired teacher, I strongly support the teaching of cursive writing. The unmentioned reason that many schools have stopped teaching it is that the states' boards of education have exerted so much pressure to teach for improved test scores, that handwriting has been pushed out of the curriculum. The other day I was looking at some of my husband's students' college midterm exams, and couldn't believe that hardly any were written in cursive, and their printing was often horrible! In Germany, people still value handwritten cards and notes, and their kids still learn to use fountain pens. Hooray for them!