Cursive Writing Is Dying
Slowly, slowly, slowly. That's the pace of the cursive handwriting death. One by one, our nation's schools are starting to figure out that the time has come to end the absurd method of writing. As more drop the lessons from their curriculum, we can only stand by and ask, "What the hell took so long?"
Smart people began questioning cursive's place all the way back in 1970. Back then, a study by the Miami-Dade County School system found that the handwriting form has been on the decline since the Bee Gees were popular and that there was very little evidence supporting its inclusion in modern schools. A few reasons they did find that supported keeping cursive in the classroom: It is faster than printing; learning cursive helps students in other areas, such as critical thinking; and illegible handwriting creates "problems for society." The last reason, while hilarious, is even funnier when backed by the research cited in the school system's study.
Deadly Handwriting?
Doctors’ poor handwriting is responsible for the deaths of over 7,000 people each year, according to the National Academies of Science’s Institute of Medicine.
"A report released by the National Academies of Science’s Institute of Medicine stated that doctors’ poor handwriting is responsible for the deaths of over 7,000 people each year," explains the paper published by the Miami-Dade schools. "The deaths are attributed to illegible handwriting and unclear abbreviations and dosage indications on some of the 3.2 billion prescriptions written in the U.S. every year." Like we said, amazingly hilarious stuff right there.
The school system's report ended by agreeing that it was time to give up cursive. It is hardly the only school doing this, too. As CNet reports, Kansas schools are about to decide on cursive's lifespan, some schools in Wisconsin have already cut it out completely, and schools across Indiana have been directed to "deemphasize" cursive.
“Clearly, it's time for cursive to go. Our kids won't miss trying to form that weird lowercase 'q.'”
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Given that we all live in a almost completely digital world, it seems odd that kids are still being taught cursive in schools. There truly is no need for it. You don't need it for a signature, because your printed one suits things just fine. And as far as it being fast? Typing is much faster. There have even been studies that show teaching kids printing and cursive is detrimental, since they learn printing first, and then must learn another form of writing, when they could be focusing on something else. Clearly, it's time for cursive to go. Our kids won't miss trying to form that weird lowercase "q," and maybe with cursive gone, our nightmares about the dreaded uppercase "Z" will finally stop.
