In an article I recently read entitled, "Schools should drop cursive classes in lieu of foreign language" the idea of possibly getting rid of teaching cursive in schools seemed to be the pressing issue. The article had mentioned that some schools across our nation have pondered at the idea of removing classes that teach cursive because cursive is a "writing style preference, not a life choice." The article talks about how "with modern day technology, learning to write in cursive is not necessary and therefore the time that it takes to teach a student to learn cursive, could be better used to teach them something more current such as computer programming or foreign language." Since more and more people are also relying on technology and computers, the schools again find that teaching cursive would be a waste of time. Their argument on why foreign language should be taught instead is that since our country is "a melting pot" of different cultures, learning a foreign language is a more needed skill.
I personally agree with this article and I think that although it would be a positive to be able to teach our students cursive, since time is not unlimited, it should be replaced with a more useful skill such as foreign language. The article had stated that "3/4 Americans cannot speak a second language." This is a problem because of the "melting pot" our country has been described as. Our country is a country of immigrants, and with that these immigrants bring all types of different languages that our country should begin to take note of so we can try to communicate. If not for a foreign language class, I do also believe that the cursive classes should be replaced by maybe a computer programming class. Technology is undoubtedly becoming more and more important in each of our daily lives and the knowledge to be able to use a computer is fundamental in this day and age. Cursive would be a great skill to teach our students if we had the time, but with such limited time, it is more important in my opinion to drop the extra toppings of the cake and first focus on the bigger and more important skills that the students will need to know in the future.
This is an interesting topic, and I don’t know exactly how I feel about it. Cursive is an important thing to know throughout life. You have to sign for things as an adult, all the time! You should at least be able to know how to sign your name in cursive. Not only that, but there are forms in which you have to re-write it in cursive. The Praxis is an example of a form that does this, and I am sure there are others out there. Cursive is a useful tool in this world to know.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I see your point. With our nation mostly made up of immigrants, I can totally understand the push to teach students multiple languages. I know a lot of elementary schools have it so they learn cursive during reading and writing, and they have their foreign language once, maybe twice a week. Sometimes that is only for one marking period…. Perhaps there is a way to flip it, so they have foreign language more, and cursive only one marking period? I just don’t know. They are both skills that need practice. The more practice you get, the better you will become at them.