In today’s world why can’t we just teach cursive or better yet just skip it and print only.
Why use two scripts?
Forget cursive!
Let’s just ensure that kids get taught how to write legibly. I am sick and f***ing tired of trying to decipher illegible handwriting when reading records for a patient that I have just accepted responsibility for.
Doctors tend to have absolutely appalling handwriting. It’s a miracle that more people aren’t administered the wrong drugs or procedures. To me, illegible handwriting in such circumstances is not only extrememly rude, it’s almost criminally negligent.
Tip for EMT’s: read nursing notes rather than doctor’s letters - they are usually more complete, and are much easier to read.
Never mind the style - just make sure the next person can read it!
WAG, because cursive is too demanding on the fine motor controls to be taught to young children. So to teach cursive first we’d have to wait a few years longer, which would be counter-productive.
When I was in 2nd grade (we learned cursive in 3rd) there was a kid who moved to town who had learned his print letters such that to do cursive, he just kinda put the letters closer together and connected them. I guess he learned the cursive letters first, but wasn’t required to integrate them together until he had mastered them individually. That seems like the best course of action if your ultimate goal is to make kids write in cursive. I, on the other hand, reverted back to print as soon as I was allowed because I could write faster and I could read it better. I can still read the sloppiest print hand-writing better than I can the neatest cursive.
Diver
So you won’t look silly by signing documents in print.
Why use two scripts? >>>>>>>>>>>>
Why bother with one? Let’s type!
On a more serious note, different techniques are used in different countries. Typical American arrogance smells here, although I understand that your kids are taught in American schools and you don’t care much about strangers and their inferior methods.
Signing my name is the only time I ever use cursive. I don’t even remember the correct way to make some capital letters in cursive.
The reason they teach kids to print first is probably because the letters are more clearly seperate and that printing is just easier.
I’ve made my own hybrid of script, combining the two. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who can read it…
Mom taught my sister cursive because she was so eager to learn. The teacher had a fit. This was 25years ago. I guess it did not help in mainstreaming.
I guess I don’t understand teaching. The textbooks are written by experts and teachers do not follow them.I’ve tried to help both my kids with schoolwork but often can’t because they aren’t taught in the structured way I was.
I reverted back to printing as soon as I could as well. The only time I ever use cursive is when doing my signature… and even then its a mix of printing and cursive (I do the capital letters in printing and the rest in cursive) And even now when I write my last name my n’s always look to me like a couple r’s that are extremely close together…
I’m all in favor of teaching kids only one form of writing. Then with the extra time, we could teach them how to think, for a change.
Another possibility is that since children have already been exposed to something much closer to print (i.e. type in books, newspapers, etc.), it’s easier to make the leap to writing in a similar fashion.
I’m another who switched to print as soon as I could, and only use the occasional cursive letter in equations (lowercase l, s, t, and a few others). When I filled out the registration forms for both the GRE subject and general exams recently, it took me an exceedingly long time to write in cursive (as mandated) their little “this is me and I won’t tell anyone about the test” statement, and my hand was hurting by the time I finished from gripping the pencil so hard.
I think perhaps you could teach cursive first, except that none of the reading materials is in cursive.
Arabic and Indian children learn cursive first, since they have no Romanized letters.
American arrogance? What the hell are you talking about? What the hell do we need cursive for? I can’t even remember the last time I bothered writing anything in cursive (except my signature, which includes some pieces of cursive letters and a bit of squiggling). I don’t think all that many people under the age of thirty use it at all.
Cursive is one of those things that should be taught (except as a very basic thing, ie how to sign your name) as an elective in HighSchool. We don’t teach Caligraphy anymore, either, do we?
The only time I use cursive now is when I don’t want my Japanese co-workers to know what I’m saying. 
Seriously, I haven’t used it since high school. In college, everything had to be typed, and after I moved to Japan, I had to print if I wanted my students to understand anything I was writing for them.
There have been a few times, though, when cursive writing has come in handy. I’m sure there are a lot of Asians who, when in the west, have been asked to write something in their native language because “it just looks so artistic.” Well, I’ve been asked by Japanese people on occasion to write something in cursive for the exact same reason.
–sublight.
I taught myself to read at age 4, but didn’t learn to print cause I thought writing was useless. When I was eight I found out what a diary was and learned cursive to keep one.
To this day, my cursive is more legible than my printing.
I haven’t written in cursive for years. When my son started to learn cursive in school, I found, to my parental embarrassment, that I had forgotten how to write some of the letters. I only use cursive to sign documents, etc.
My signature is so illegible that my husband jokes about me being a physician or CEO in training!
WAG: teaching print first allows children to focus on the letters one at a time, thus learning them better. Cursive, with the letters flowing together, might be confusing to the tykes.
Sua
I do that too, but only when writing things for myself (taking notes, journal entries, etc.). When I expect someone else to read it, I usually print it as neatly as I can (which isn’t very).
For the record, I think cursive is a waste of time and a pain in the ass. I can’t remember a single thing in school that was more frustrating than trying to get every fricking letter exactly right every time. Close didn’t cut it in Miss Guilford’s third-grade class.