Cursive Is Outdated?

First off, I am sorry for not having a post last Monday. We have been busy this week, and it got lost along the way. I also know this post is not on a normal day, but I figured a late post is better than no post at all! My dad shared this cartoon with me on Facebook, and I think this is a problem today.

  

I see so many posts, mostly on Facebook, about kids in school not learning cursive. I know one example was a kindergartner who wrote her name in cursive. Her teacher kept telling her to not write her name in cursive, but the

little girl kept doing it. While I can understand this little girl's pride at learning cursive from a Mom who travels a lot for her employment, and her desire to show this off, this little girl is not showing a respect for authority. More than proving she can write "prettier" than the other students, she needs to follow her authority like this verse says to do: Heb 13:17a "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." Even so, what is wrong with cursive? This teacher was adamant that this girl not write her name in cursive, yet some say that the teacher started to write her admonition in cursive, then scratched it out and rewrote it again in print. So why is cursive not allowed? Here are some reasons I have found.

1. Some complain that it is outdated: computers do not read or write cursive, so no one uses it. 
2. Others complain it takes too much time to teach. 
3. Even others say it looks "stupid." 

What are my thoughts on the matter? Well, as far as it being outdated; maybe if kids (and adults) did not spend all their time texting and tweeting and snap-chatting and whatever else there is, they would realize there is a life outside their phones and laptops and computers. Then they could write something down on a nice piece of paper, instead of in Microsoft word or a digital notepad. They could then stick it in an envelope and send it out near the middle of winter. Its called a Christmas card.

As far as taking too much time to teach: those who said it would take too much time to teach also said to replace it with another class like keyboarding. I am currently taking keyboarding. First I learned the home row keys, then the top and bottom tow keys, then the numbers and symbols. That was a quarter of the course, at the most. Now I am learning how to key memos, personal business letters, and business letters. Why do you need to teach a kindergartner keyboarding? That course is available in later grades and is easier to learn when you are a teen rather than when you are 5 years old. Better to teach a little kid how to make their writing "pretty" than to teach them how to key a business letter they won't need for 20 years.

Now, as for the cursive alphabet looking "stupid." The specific letter people complain about is the letter "Q." The way I have learned to make a capital 'Q'  is almost a "2" with a loop in the top; the lowercase 'q' I learned simply had a loop in the stick on the bottom of the letter. Like this:

Now I admit the capital letter 'Q' I learned is weird. However, this is not the cursive letter I normally see. This is the style I normally find:

Do you know what this is? 'Q' It is a capital 'Q' with a curly form, so people think it is wrong. I think the reason people really complain about cursive is because they never learned it. They have no knowledge of this awesome looking way of writing, but they do not want to admit it, so instead they want to have it removed from schools. People have used this form of writing for hundreds of years, all the way back to the Revolutionary War, and before that. It is an elegant way of writing that is also very quick to use.

In finishing, I find no reason to not teach a little kid cursive. Yeah, it is a little hard to teach and learn, but so is math and reading and science. Teaching cursive is better than teaching evolution in their "science" classes. Plus, it makes your kid look smart. Thoughts or opinions on this? Contact me through Facebook or leave a comment in the section below.