2y ago

Cursive writing to be reintroduced in Ontario schools this fall

www.theglobeandmail.com Cursive writing to be reintroduced in Ontario schools this fall

Relegated in 2006 to an optional piece of learning in Ontario elementary schools, cursive writing is set to return as a mandatory part of the curriculum starting in September

Relegated in 2006 to an optional piece of learning in Ontario elementary schools, cursive writing is set to return as a mandatory part of the curriculum starting in September.

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“A return to phonics and, for example, cursive writing is another example where the government is leaning into the evidence and following the voice of many parents who wanted us to really embrace those practices that for generations have worked."
So parents complained. Got it.
- Certain parents complained.
  
  The same people that rallied the New Brunswick premiere to “Make NB Great Again” and issue new rules that force teachers to deadname trans kids and report them to their homophobic parents.
- You'd think if it was important to them they might try to teach their kids themselves. Or have we defaulted to we can only learn things in school already?
  
  Take the initiative and be involved in my child's education!? Preposterous!

I just don't see the point? I had to learn cursive in elementary and haven't used it at all since then. There has to be more valuable things these kids could be learning.
- The point is the culture war. Populism. "Reverting to a better yesterday." Fascism, writ tiny.
  It's clever, no one can really object to it like they can to removing things from the curriculum. But it serves the same purpose as whipping up anger over sex ed or CRT, just low key.
  
  It can be useful to learn for the purpose of knowing how to read it. There's still a large population of cursive writers about. I doubt cursive usage will grow anymore, even teaching it, as everything is computer based these days.
- I learned cursive but never practiced beyond 5th grade so it never developed...
  Instead in high school and university when I was doing a lot of handwritten notes I ended up creating my own version of cursive which is just visually schwa'ing some letters. My writing and typing has always been a mess so it doesn't matter much.

I absolute hated learning cursive in school and I never write cursive now. My son has even more fine motor-control issues than I do and I'm glad he didn't have to deal with this as well.
“The computer will not take that over.”
The 1980's want their opinions back.
I actually don't disagree with the idea that some of the fundamentals that have been taught for decades were and are the right way to teach. We don't always need new ways to learn reading, writing, math, etc -- the old ways are tried and tested. But introducing something like this, which basically completely unnecessary in modern times, based on some unresearched benefits is no better.
- The old ways left many students behind.
  What seems more the problem is the assumption that there’s one best way for kids to learn something.
  Reading showed us that insisting that one method be used exclusively - whether phonics, sight word memorization or whole language - will not be successful for everyone.

“The research has been very clear that cursive writing is a critical life skill in helping young people to express more substantively, to think more critically, and ultimately, to express more authentically,” he said in an interview.
What research? This sounds pretty far fetched to me.
- Facebook University.
- You can google is pretty easily. Learning to write cursive develops various brain components as well as fine motor skills. I was skeptical as well but just a brief scan of the research shows significant changes in how children think just by learning to write differently.
  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202010/why-cursive-handwriting-is-good-your-brain
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4274624/
  https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/04/30/should-schools-require-children-to-learn-cursive/the-benefits-of-cursive-go-beyond-writing
  
  We can't go online and find out what research they used to inform their decisions. They should be stating this, it's very important that we know.

“A return to phonics and, for example, cursive writing is another example where the government is leaning into the evidence and following the voice of many parents who wanted us to really embrace those practices that for generations have worked.”
There isn’t a lot of research specifically on cursive writing, Peterson said, but the work that has been done shows that it not only teaches students the skill of writing that script in and of itself, but it helps to reinforce overall literacy.
Reading between the lines here, I get the impression that this change is red meat for a boomer base who thinks things were perfect when they were kids and don't see why kids in the modern era ought to be doing things any differently. I'm 39. I did learn cursive in school and about the only time I've ever used it since is my signature. Yet I could blow any boomer out of the water with regards to hand eye coordination. You know why? Video games and touch typing.
- I'm older than that, but yes, I agree. I rarely use cursive. OCR works better with printing, I type most of the time, and even my crappy printing is better than my cursive. I was a little surprised my kids weren't taught cursive, but think the only real loss is the exercises. I think it would be good to be familiar enough to read cursive, but that isn't worth even a semester.

It's sad how the whole world is going through a conservative nationalist phase, this isn't just a Canada thing but I've seen it in my own country and many other European countries and American states.
- Fear, uncertainty, and conservatism go hand in hand. There's a lot of that in the world right now.

Even if there are any benefits for cursive it's outweighed by lazy/illegible cursive.
- I feel personally attacked.
  My handwriting was normal printing, but as soon as I learned cursive it turned into this mishmash of cursive and not-so-cursive. It's legible, for the most part... depending on how I'm feeling or if I'm tired.
  
  but as soon as I learned cursive it turned into this mishmash of cursive and not-so-cursive. It's legible, for the most part...
  I am talking about doctor-note(/chicken scratch) stuff that may take considerably more latency/effort to decipher (or worse, may cause a misunderstanding), also loopy signatures that have 1 big letter with a scribble behind it (at which point you may be better off drawing a doodle like the cat face guy and maybe add some of your name or even initials).
  Also I get the not-so-cursive thing, particularly when some letters have odd rules or just look too similar especially if it is not controlled enough (and I think that depends on what letters are connected/how you connect them too). As in the easier/faster idea doesn't really work out most of the time. (and let's face it, the lifting-of-the-pen thing is probably silly especially in the case of straight-line print letters vs more-complex-shaped cursive letters where travel shape also now matters)
  
  I write in a hybrid printing-cursive style usually, but what forced me to revive my cursive was getting into fountain pens. They are designed to write cursive and perform beautifully when done properly. Unfortunately, my cursive writing is not nearly as wonderful as my lovely writing implements, but people tend to see the pens and not my butchered penmanship thankfully.
  That being said, I would never impose cursive on someone. Just as someone can learn a new calligraphy style, cursive can be learned too if the interest is there.
- People don't write poorly because they are lazy or because of other character flaws. This is internalized abuse from educators and parents.
  
  I was thinking they're just in a rush (well, most of the time), but I'd imagine they think it is a lot more legible than it is or will even think that the problem isn't their sloppiness but "they don't teach cursive these days!"
  I mean yeah it probably doesn't help that cursive is thought of as efficient and high-class, plus that it's required for document signage.

Cursive is fun to write but make it part of an elective art class.
- It seems like the studies are about how it helps with fine motor skills and other development, rather than it being a useful skill
  So it seems reasonable to introduce a few other options that have the same benefits, so that kids can choose the elective that's best for them

I think it might have its place, but that place might be part of calligraphy in an art class.

I used to only use cursive to sign my name. Now I often use technology for that too.

What kind of grip is that on that pencil?

But... why? Do Canadians spend a lot of time writing fancy letters to eachother? Have the beavers stolen your phones and tablets?
Just a humble eastern European trying to figure out what's going on in your frigid syrup-drenched lands.
- Murica here. They still teach it. My older kid learned just this past year. It has absolutely no real use in daily life here.

Maybe go straight for shorthand.
Personally learning Duployan, but more as learning Chinook Wawa.

I personally write almost exclusively in cursive. Printing always felt so much more unnatural to me given that it requires lifting your pencil far too often. All of your time is spent lifting and resetting your pencil.
Having said that, I know my feelings on this are outside the norm. And I know for many it is seen as having a steep learning curve.
- There is nothing wrong with you enjoying cursive. It should be an optional class like any art.
  I personally enjoy wood working using only hand tools, however if someone needed to learn basic carpentry, I'd be showing them how to use power tools.
  
  I agree with your overall point but not the metaphor. Printing is more like using hand tools than cursive is, given it is slower and less mechanically efficient.

Honestly, I don't see an issue with this? It's an interesting way to think about writing and it keeps the electorate happy.
- It's great that you had good experiences but I think if you dig through a few threads on the topic, you will see a LOT of people reporting very bad memories and even trauma around how cursive is taught. Not everyone can learn cursive and even if we had the resources to identify the large number of students who will never be able to write cursive, it is still alienating and degrading to de-stream them. And in the end, there is no significant benefit to merit the tens or hundreds of hours spent drilling letter forms. That extremely valuable time could have been spent doing something useful.
  
  Bad experiences around bad teachers will exist regardless of whether cursive is taught, though. Teachers aren't perfect.
- I would prefer my kids learn things that will be useful.

I only write in Graffiti for PalmOS.

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