Andrew Napolitano believes cursive writing should not be required in the school system. Times have changed. People are texting and corresponding with email. Although Napolitano benefited from learning cursive writing, few people are writing on stationery paper anymore. There are pros and cons to learning cursive writing.
On the pro side of learning cursive writing, there are still contracts and checks to sign. People can sign petitions. It is still important for a person to learn how to sign his name and have a nice handwriting. Cursive handwriting can stimulate the brain. Educators and mental health professionals have discovered that people with dyslexia can benefit from learning cursive writing. People with dyslexia can use cursive handwriting to associate the letters mentally. Writing things down, such as creating a shopping list, can help slow a person down and have them focus on what they want to accomplish. Many famous and historical documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, are handwritten and would be unreadable if the art of cursive writing was lost. Cursive writing is faster than printing. People who learn cursive handwriting can learn better than students who don’t learn cursive handwriting. Many companies use cursive writing on their products. Without knowledge of cursive writing, people could not read family documents or old recipes.
There are cons to learning cursive handwriting. In addition to email and texting to communicate, as already mentioned, some documents use e-signatures to sign their names. Only 14 states in the United States require students to learn cursive writing. Many educators believe cursive writing is dying out and takes time away from learning other subjects. Many documents are typed reports that are easier to read than handwriting. Many students are using laptops to take notes in class. Parents who support cursive writing are creating after school cursive writing clubs for their children. Cursive writing is being taught to kindergarteners in France, and we are behind.
Politicians are having a debate over whether cursive handwriting should continue to be taught in schools. The Common Core Standards of 2010 were updated and made cursive handwriting take a backseat to education. Keyboarding is a required skill in 4th grade. In kindergarten and first grade, students are learning basic printing. By second and third grades, students are not being taught handwriting skills. Students don’t have to worry about losing grade points because of sloppy handwriting. Many politicians believe that students would benefit better from learning how to use technology than spend time learning cursive handwriting. Another argument politicians make is that there is no difference between the time spent printing or handwriting. People are no longer writing letters to the editor, they simply type their opinions in a dialogue box online. Many politicians believe it takes too much classroom time to teach cursive handwriting when students could learn more modern day things. Some politicians and Andrew Napolitano, along with educators, think teaching writing is an inefficient way to spend valuable teaching time. Cursive writing is considered obsolete in a technological world.
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