I don’t know about anyone else, but it sure seems to me that every time I turn around we are talking about forcing our kids to spend more time in the public system, yet removing one skill after the other to make our kids less competitive. Most kids today can’t write well nor to they have typing skills. Yet, somehow in days gone by, we could learn printing, cursive and 10-finger typing skills… the 3- R’s, history, science, health, art, music something practical like home economics, cooking or a shop skill, or additional office skills a second language, learn to drive at school, have P.E or be part of a sports program every day and still have room for electives. And back then most of us also had a part-time job as well as chores at home. So what happened?
You learn to print by 3rd grade. You learn cursive in the 3rd grade and you could learn typing skills after that… Why eliminate something the rest of world still does? We should be adding to our curriculum and the time our kids spend studying, not cutting back. For God sake, what if our kids had to learn Chinese characters as well as printing, cursive and typing skills?
Indiana public schools will no longer be required to teach cursive handwriting come this fall, and instead students will be expected to learn keyboard typing skills.
A memo from the Indiana Department of Education said schools may decide for themselves whether to keep teaching cursive, or to drop it from their curriculums completely.
Reaction to the decision has been mixed. Karen Goeller, deputy superintendent for the Vigo County School Corporation, told the Indiana Tribune-Star her district will keep teaching cursive in elementary school for now, even in a typing and tech-savvy world.
“We consider our students’ needs, and right now, we do see a benefit in teaching cursive as part of our curriculum… we feel it’s important students have a healthy mix of handwriting and keyboarding skills.”
Currently, SAT and Advanced Placement exams require handwritten essays, leading to questions about how future test-takers will fare:
“Speed and legibility are keys to success,” Goeller said.
Another concern is handwritten signatures for the next generation: Ericka Hostetter, a parent whose children attend public school in Indiana, told the Tribune-Star that while she’s “right in the middle” on the decision, “I think we all need to know how to sign our names in cursive.”
Clip: Indiana No Longer Requires Teaching of Cursive Writing
But the debate isn’t just confined to Indiana. Parents and schools in Colorado and Georgia are having the same discussions:
Clip: Teaching Cursive in School
And one school in South Carolina has decided to stick with its cursive writing despite its fleeting popularity:
Clip: School Preserves Cursive Writing
What do you think? Is this an example of schools making necessary curriculum updates, or just more dumbing down in education? It is just more dumbing down of America!!
Source: the Blaze
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