Welcome to Gaia! ::

The other day on the bus, I happened to overhear a conversation in which a parent was complaining about her son's poor penmanship and how "kids these days" aren't even taught cursive writing in school.

While listening to her moaning about this supposed travesty, it occurred to me that I don't remember the last time I wrote anything in cursive.

I remember learning it (and hating it) in grade 2, and being forced to use it for most work that we had to hand in until grade 9. I assume this was enforced in the hopes that we'd develop nice handwriting, but I certainly never did. Even my printing was never that nice, and now that almost everything is typed instead of written, it's only gotten worse.

Anyway, this train of thought led me to several questions.
Is it still worth it for children to learn cursive writing in school?
Are there any professions or jobs where writing in cursive is a requirement?
If cursive writing dies out, what kind of impact will it have?
Why is it so hard for me to write neatly? gonk

I still think it should be taught, personally. Much like Roman numerals, even if we don't use it on a day-to-day basis, it's helpful to know, especially considering how many historical documents are in cursive writing. I also think nice, neat, flowing writing makes a great impression, even though I can't imagine it's used very much in the workplace anymore.
As for my own writing, from what I can gather, I don't hold writing implements "properly", so maybe that's why it's a challenge to write like a human and not a chicken.


So, I'm curious. What do you all have to say on the subject of handwriting? Do you ever use cursive, or do you just print? Do you have nice penmanship, or does it look like chicken scratch? Do you feel that "nice" handwriting should be encouraged, or is it fine so long as it's legible?

I might just include a sample of my writing so you can see what I mean.Edit: Behold

(Woo, I just got a pink giftbox with an angelic headband inside.)

Although I'm right-handed, I feel your pain. Whether I use pen or pencil, I always seem to end up with ink/graphite on my hand. I don't know why I learned to write this way; I distinctly remember being corrected over and over by my teacher in primary, but I still hold my pen all scrunched up and weird.

I'm not sure.
The way I hold the writing implement is actually detrimental to my ability to write clearly and efficiently (smudging, and...well, just general sloppiness), so it would make sense for a teacher to try and show me a better way.

But...they did try to teach me another way (the "proper" way), without success. Maybe if there was a willingness to try other methods, I could have learned a technique that's efficient, even if it wasn't traditional, if such a thing exists. I imagine that could be time-consuming for the teacher, though, which leads me to my next question.

How much are students expected to know when they start school? I remember being taught how to write letters (although I already knew how to do so, if not particularly well), but I don't remember if we were actually instructed on how to hold the pencil. I mean, I was, but that was because I insisted on doing it "wrong". razz Is that something that a kid normally learns at home, or is it the responsibility of the teacher?

As you touched on in your post, I started using crayons and pencils before I started any kind of formal education, so it could have been too late for me to relearn a new style, but...kids are pretty malleable at 5 or 6. So who knows?

For what it's worth, my twin brother holds a pen the same way that I do, but writes much more neatly. (He does write slowly, though.) My younger brother holds a pen the "proper" way, but his writing is strange. We have no idea why, but he forms many of his letters backwards or upside down. Like, to write a capital "T", I would start at the top, whereas he would start at the bottom. Cursive writing is just beyond him entirely, he's never been able to get the hang of it. He doesn't have any learning disabilities that we know of, either.

I know what you mean. It never gave him any trouble reading, though, and the letters were all in the right order. He was a strange kid overall, to be honest. He's practically the textbook definition of "hipster" now, so maybe he was just rejecting the "mainstream" way of writing at an early age? blaugh

I think I would have a lot of trouble writing words or letters backwards. I can read backwards well enough, but writing would be another story entirely. :s Like writing with my left hand.

I agree with you on the regulation (or lack thereof) of early, early childhood education. I was honestly just curious as to what (if anything) is expected in our existing system. I seem to recall that kids are expected to know their colours and shapes and to have a certain level of proficiency with English, but I wasn't sure if they are currently expected to know how to hold a pencil, or if the teacher expects to introduce it to them. If that makes sense?

In the town where Pixie and I grew up, everyone attended preschool, even though it wasn't legally required. I don't think there were any kids in my primary class that weren't also in preschool. I don't think this is the case elsewhere, though?

(To be fair, it comes to him naturally, he isn't trying to be one. But that's for another thread.)

As for preschools, that's a good question.
I had *thought* ours was public, but now I'm not sure. It was offered at our elementary school, but now that I think about it, I don't think it was funded by the government. (We also don't have "kindergarten"; it's called "primary" in Nova Scotia, but is essentially the same thing.)

Wiki tells me that most provinces don't offer preschool, just k-12, but Ontario (where I live now) and Quebec offer optional pre-kindergarten programs for kids that are 4. So I would have to assume most are private.

As for the US, "Pre-school is defined as: "center-based programs for four-year olds that are fully or partially funded by state education agencies and that are operated in schools or under the direction of state and local education agencies". Pre-schools, both private and school sponsored, are available for children from ages three to five."

Edit: In an attempt to steer this back to the original topic, I vaguely recall learning my letters in preschool, and I think we had some kind of instruction in writing. I could be mistaken, though.


Do you remember?

nice score

If I'm drawing, I'm definitely gonna end up with graphite on my hand. Inking doesn't have that happen unless I accidentally mark myself with the ink pen/copic
When I was young, I'd switch hands for writing. Kinda wish I had kept that up, being ambidextrous would be nice
My English teacher for 11th/12th grade got to telling me that I had to type up all my essays. Everyone else got the option of hand written or typed, lol
She teaches two grades for English. Another has 9th and 12th grade English classes
Didn't like the one in 9th, the other was fairly easy to distract and so do less during class XD
I think I hold mine 'normally' but I'm not sure

I have my thumb over and either one through three fingers over, with the rest under. When drawing, thumb and forefinger over, the rest under, for greater movement range. It's how I generally hold it, though sometimes the fingers shuffle. I believe it's thumb and two fingers over when writing
I think I have an idea as to how you hold it. I find it awkward and extremely restricting

It is pretty restrictive, you've got me there. If you're doing really tight detail work and you're used to it, it gives you control like you've never had before.