SPEAKING OF POLLS – LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT LAST WEEK’S POLL. WE ASKED: SHOULD LEARNING CURSIVE WRITING BE REQUIRED IN SCHOOL? AND MOST OF YOU 56% SAID YES – YOU THINK WE SHOULD SAVE THIS DYING ART.
LET’S SEE WHY YOU VOTED THIS WAY BY TAKING A PEEK INSIDE OUR INBOX.
[INBOX]
ABIGAIL AT LAGONDA ELEMENTARY, WAS A YES-VOTER – TELLING US:
I THINK CURSIVE SHOULD BE TAUGHT TO STUDENTS BECAUSE WHEN KIDS GROW UP THEY HAVE TO SIGN THEY'RE NAME ON PAPERS AND OTHER THINGS AS WELL. WHEN I WAS IN THIRD GRADE MY TEACHER TOOK ABOUT 10 TO 15 MINUTES TO TEACH US LETTERS BY HAVING A PAPER TO TRACE WITH. THAT’S IS WHY I THINK TEACHERS SHOULD TAKE THE TIME TO IMPLEMENT AT LEAST A LETTER A DAY TO TEACH THE STUDENTS CURSIVE FOR MANY, MANY PURPOSES IN THE FUTURE.
JORDAN FROM RUSHWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL VOTED YES, AND GAVE US SPECIFICS:
I THINK WE SHOULD STILL LEARN CURSIVE BECAUSE, SAY IF YOU WANT TO GET A NEW CAR YOU HAVE TO WRITE IN CURSIVE TO GET THAT NEW CAR. ALSO IF YOU GET FAMOUS PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO GET YOUR SIGNATURE!
OLIVIA FROM PRESTON ELEMENTARY MAKES A COMPELLING COUNTER-ARGUMENT, WRITING:
FOR THIS WEEK'S POLL I VOTED NO! I DO NOT THINK THAT CURSIVE WRITING IS A VITAL PART OF OUR CURRICULUM, AND IT TAKES AWAY FROM VALID TIME TEACHERS COULD USE TO TEACH MORE PERTINENT SUBJECTS IN THE SCHOOL DAY, SUCH AS MATH, SCIENCE, LANGUAGE ARTS, SOCIAL STUDIES, ETC. ALSO, NOW THAT MOST PEOPLE TYPE DOCUMENTS ONLINE, IT COULD BE A WASTE OF TIME.
AND JAMIE FROM SHARONVILLE ELEMENTARY, AGREED, TELLING US:
I THINK STUDENTS SHOULD NOT LEARN CURSIVE BECAUSE CURSIVE IS HARD TO LEARN AND TEACH AND IT HURTS YOU HAND WHEN YOU ARE WRITING CURSIVE NEATLY.
BUT HANNAH FROM NORTON PRIMARY MAKES AN INTERESTING POINT, TELLING US:
I THINK CURSIVE HANDWRITING SHOULD BE REQUIRED. MY HANDWRITING TEACHER TOLD US THAT CURSIVE WRITING IS BETTER FOR YOUR HAND RATHER THAN PRINT BECAUSE WHEN YOU PRINT YOU LIFT UP YOUR HAND FOR EVERY LETTER. WITH CURSIVE IT IS ONE SMOOTH MOTION.
THAT MAKES SENSE – THANKS, HANNAH! THANKS ALSO TO ABIGAL, JORDAN, OLIVIA, AND JAMIE – INTERESTINGLY NONE OF THOSE LETTERS CAME TO US IN CURSIVE!