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What's the point of them learning cursive writing at primary?

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84

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EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:46

My youngest is left handed her handwriting still looks like a spider has done it but I can see constant improvement albeit slowly. Download papers from the net to help her at home, they have some for lefties too.

Sugarbeach23383

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EW EXPERT

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:40

Thank you ladies. Very informative. I was taught bits of cursive writing on and off between my schooling in Hong Kong and England. I guess my joined up hand writing now is influenced by cursive, but isn't strictly cursive. I always thought joined up writing comes naturally when you write fast anyway, seems to be how my hand writing developed...although now with the keyboard, sometimes I think I've forgotten how to write on paper.....:/: Now I need to find out how to teach a left hander cursive writing properly as a right hander myself. I guess in the olden days they didn't have many left handed cursive writers......I'm still not convinced cursive writing is faster for a left hander.

Saharagypsyrose

484

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EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:33

For one thing, cursive handwriting is generally faster than print handwriting. As expatriate pointed out, it is also the time when fine motor skills is further improved and perfected. This applies to anything else we do in life I supposed. For instance, I write Chinese characters, if I didn't know how to do the "cursive/shortcut" version, I would be at a great disadvantage. On the other hand, I guess someone could always argue that it's the computer age, as long as you have fast typing skills, who cares about writing. Again, this goes back to fine motor skills we need for other tasks :) JM2C ETA as others pointed out, it is also a benefit if we know how to read them too. <em>edited by Saharagypsyrose on 17/10/2012</em>

2262

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EW EXPERT

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:28

it seems I did this in school, it was just called penmanship though :). Our penmanship teacher was the Principle and she was tough on us. Our round letters had to be round and perfect, tails in the right spot, straight lines straight. We learned to write with our arms rather than just our fingers.. All her students ended up writing beautifully and above all, it was readable!!! Sounds to me that is what is now called cursive writing :) it is not a bad thing, it is a good thing and does no harm in the least. It teaches the children to form proper letters that they will always remember. so, I hope all children have a Miss Iveson to teach them how to write and link properly so it is readable :) now reading below responses it seems cursive is more detailed than plain penmanship. Could someone put a cursive sentence up here? A learning morning for me. Cursive is penmanship. I learned English cursive at school. Apparently though, now a good majority of teachers do no know how to teach cursive properly. I would imagine that would be a problem. What I find amazing is that there seems to be so much discussion of this. There is printing in block letter when a child first starts, then they learn to link the letters to make it writing. The letters in writing are a bit different though than block printing. Both forms take practise. Being an old person, I learned to write with an ink nib pen and an inkwell lol...and let me tell you, Miss Iveson was a stickler that no messes were made. Anyway, just my input. edited by SueB on 17/10/2012 <em>edited by SueB on 17/10/2012</em>

Expatriate62065

310

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EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:25

According to NY Times: An ACT spokesman said students are not required to write in cursive on the ACT. A spokeswoman for the SAT — for which only 15 percent of students wrote the essay portion in cursive in 2007 — said students must also copy a paragraph. “Students are instructed not to print the statement,” the spokeswoman, Kathleen Steinberg, said in an e-mail. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html

84

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EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:24

It's how English has been written for centuries and literate people should be able to write their own language. Many important and older documents and pieces of literature have been written in cursive, and we should be able to read them and not have them as seemingly a different language when they are our history. It has many important practical uses as well as being faster once she has mastered the art. Other English speaking countries teach their children how to write in cursive, and not doing so puts new generations at a disadvantage. It also aids in basic growth of the brain and necessary connections.

drownedinthenil...

219

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EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:24

Important bit of classical education. Also, to make them understand when they read things that are in cursive. And finally, because it is faster to write in cursive so for writing essays, notes, etc. it is better to write in cursive.

Sugarbeach23383

1566

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EW EXPERT

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:19

But she can write fine normally, why does she need to write cursive?

Expatriate62065

310

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:17

I learned cursive around the same time. I assume they teach at a young age because that's when our motor skills are developing and trying to learn this skill as adults would be more difficult.

Sugarbeach23383

1566

Posts

EW EXPERT

Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:14

Would the clever EW's be able to help me understand the whys and what fors please? Dd's left handed, she can do cursive writing but it seems awkward and extremely slow. At times, I 've said to her to just write whichever way she feels comfortable, but not sure if avoiding the practise is the right answer. If I could understand why they need to do it, I could better support her. I briefly asked the teacher today, and she said something about it counting towards SATS - I'm not quite clear how though. TIA.

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