The Importance Of Cursive Writing Essay Example
Did you know that 41 states in the US no longer require students to learn cursive as they did for more than 50 years? Even though this style of handwriting is very popular with most adults and some children it is on the brink of extinction and it has been for many years. There are many reasons why cursive is about to be wiped along with the reality that cursive is not as important as it was years ago when many others knew this form of writing, along with that should be permanently taken out of the curriculum.
Cursive Is no longer in use or needed in the real world as it is no longer required in most schools. In the article Is It Time for Cursive to Die the author Lauren Tarsis says “Many kids learn to sign their names and not much else” meaning that many kids barely know how to write a sentence besides their names along with that most kids no longer know cursive at all. Lauren Tarsis also says that “Before Magic Markers and sparkly pencils, people used fragile quill pens and bottles of ink” moreover we no longer have to use quills which is a very good reason why cursive got popular but we are no longer how we were 100 years ago we have pens and pencils but we don’t have those issues anymore, we don’t have broken quills or ink splots on our papers. Lauren also says “that many school leaders don’t see cursive as a 21st-century skill” so even the people who control what we learn, see that we have moved on not to mention that cursive isn’t that important as it used to be.
This form of writing is more of an elective than a skill because cursive is not even good to know anymore and most people don’t even know it, even if people do know it they don’t usually use it unless they have to. The article Is It Time for Cursive to Die states that “schools are under enormous pressure to help students develop the math and reading skills they need to succeed on tests and in college. Algebra? Vital. Reading nonfiction? Vital. Writing in cursive? Eh- maybe not.” Implying that Schools already have enough on their hands with not only math but with many more subjects, all the time spent learning cursive could be used helping other skills that they actually might need in the future like cursive with they might not use at all. She also goes on to say that “the ability to write in cursive may soon be the equivalent of playing a
musical instrument” because just like knowing how to play an instrument is a great thing to know and you might use it on certain occasions. It’s not a skill and you might not need it for other things like a job or something you usually use.
Writing as a whole might go extinct too as most people no longer write due to an amazing thing called technology which has come a long way. The article also presents that” College students take notes on laptops rather than on paper” which shows that most students no longer write or need to in most high schools, middle schools, and some elementary schools no longer write since they just type on their computers, Lauren also goes on to say that “There is no question that Snapchat and texting have transformed our relationships, enabling us to connect more easily and frequently” along with that it means technology has gone so far that we no longer have to write because now we have keyboards on top of that we can now write sentences in less than a couple of seconds. The article also establishes that “Not so long ago, sending letters was the best way to keep in touch with friends and family” which goes to show how far we have come yet how we can just text instead of writing a letter in cursive or print so that also shows how writing altogether might no longer be needed.
Many people say that writing in cursive is a rope connecting us to our past the others in it like in the article Why I Keep My Letters by Nina Sankovitch she recites ¨My friends say things like “the writer is with me, to hold and cherish,” or “I like seeing her handwriting and remember the time
and place she was writing about,” or “every time I reread these letters from loved ones,
they appear in front of me, smiling, laughing.” ¨ explaining how letters are a connection to the past even though I agree with that, not teaching cursive will not be tossing away those precious memories, but only moving on and not letting go.
There might be others who say that every text is the same but every writer is different and those curves and lines are unique. Nina also says that ¨Peter, because it is a physical
connection. A letter gives me a feel for his mood not only in what he writes but also in
how he writes. A letter brings him home again!¨ and although that is true cursive writing isn’t the thing that holds those bonds even if those letters were written in print it would still hold because many have different ways to write cursive or print so cursives unimportance is why schools shouldn’t have to teach it.
As you can see cursive is a big part of some people’s lives but the question is if cursive is important enough to be required in schools and the simple question is not really. Yes, it is good to remember the past but we cannot let it tie us down because we need to keep going forward because who knows maybe in a hundred or even a thousand years we might not even need phones, laptops, or other sorts of technology. There are many reasons as to why cursive is not needed or should be required in schools like how we can use the time more efficiently by learning something better or how we are not the same as we were a hundred years ago and maybe how technology is helping us do better things like sending important messages even though it hasn’t been a while since we mailed them. We must keep moving as well as looking forward and keep moving not even looking back especially when it is scary because only then will we understand the past and not fixate on it.
