should cursive writing be taken out of the elementary school curriculum?

With the spread of technology, cursive has become outdated. It's purpose was to increase writing speed. Typing is much faster than cursive. Cursive really is pointless. I don't use it for anything, but writing my name, as you said, and it is becoming increasingly popular to esign over the internet, so one day, hand signatures will probably not even exist. I do believe that the time spent learning cursive could go to much more useful things.

I don't think it should. For one thing it might be some small token to prevent kids from just being only capable of sending texts and doing everything by abbreviations. Also, how would they be able to have a proper and distinctive signature?

It astounds me that this should even come up. How could one ever sign a name? And if a child can't write it, he can't read it, either. That does away with original copies of the Declaration of Independence, signatures of famous people throughout the ages, recipe notes of grandmothers, and more. Cursive writing is a part of our lives, even if we type more than we write at this time. When the power goes out and we need to record something, then we need to laboriously print it all? Depending too much on technology is short sighted and precarious. All that to say, keep teaching it! And feel sorry for the students who don't get a chance to learn it.

The day handwriting is removed from the school curriculum is the day the human race is doomed to extinction. Basic basics are far more important than modern basics. If kids can't even write, how can they be expected to do anything more complicated? Reliance on technology is all very fine and good until there's a power cut.

I think its appropriate to learn it early on so kids can build up skills through the rest of their life from elementary school. The more time they have to get use to it the more they get experience with it.

I think it should be kept alive.Its a beautiful form of writing.My little girl is going into fourth grade this year and she is very excited to learn to write in cursive.Its nice to be able to take the time and write a hand held note instead of just typing all the time on the computer.Writing is a art form that should be learned and enjoyed.

I think its important to know how to write. When writing your brain is complying with your coordination and teaching you to learn to write letters and words. My son had a reading disability, and he was about 4 years behind from his school year. He begged me to homeschool him. I never knew I would be such an asset to my child as teaching him for the last 3 years of high school. He can now write and read so much easier, we had a full year to learn so I could go at a slower pace than the 9 month go to school. We could take field trips with hands on experience which my son found easier to learn. I had him assessed in 3 different schools before deciding to homeschool him. All of them assessed him with paper and pencil and pen. What would he have done if he could not have wrote? I never dreamed I could teach a full 6 classes a day. We know most high school teachers only do 1 kind of class several periods. I had to learn everything my son needed to learn at least a week ahead of him. I printed all his lessons off the computer and we sat at the table and wrote out his answers to exams and tests. Then I would input his answers on the computer. He graduated with a 3.42GPA I am so very proud of him, and prouder still that he was willing to take the time to learn what the public schools were just herding them through. When I grew up we had the three "R"s reading, riting, rithmatic as it was called. Nowadays kids can't even make change. My son learned from me to write a check, how to write out his name properly and more efficiently, balance a checkbook etc. He is now 21, he does not use the computer to do his online banking. He goes to the bank, he pays his car loan in person, I am amazed how on tract he is with his life in his responsibility. He tells me none of his friends ever had their parents to teach him these basic things and now he is taking young adults under his wing and teaching them what they need to know for life. So he is teaching them the importance of writing. Another thing about writing that cannot be compared with a computer, cursive writing has always fascinated me. I was in the Army and stationed at Walter Reed in D.C., I remember going to the building on Pennsylvania Ave in D.C.and seeing first hand the original Declaration of Independence, and Constitution under glass. This was back in 1970-72 What impressive cursive by the eloquent men that were our founding fathers. I can't imagine not writing. I have several illnesses now and my handwriting can get bad if I write for a period of time. But I still do write the occasional letter. After all its so nice to get mail. And if you go back to the haulocaust and civil war and read the letters that were written by a special person from that time. I would much rather read it in their handwriting and see how painstakingly the time they took to write even during severe weather or harm they were living in. I hope sincerely that writing does not stop in schools Its a legacy since time, and I know China, Japan and other countries take much pride in their writing and train their kids in rituals of past and present. I wish every person would take time to spend with their children to read and write.

I find no harm in students learning how to write cursive. And I read a discussion here in mylot about someone banning the use of cursive writing or something like that. I don't really understand the reason for banning the use of cursive writing Anyway though my cursive writing isn't so good, I'm proud I can write in cursive