I guess
you’ve heard the earth-shattering information: Kids who don’t learn cursive are
cursed. At least according to Maria
Konnikova in the New York Times, who says, “Children not only learn to read
more quickly when they first learn to write by hand, but they also remain
better able to generate ideas and retain information. In other words, it’s not
just what we write that matters — but how."
Well,
listen up, researchers: I went to laboratory school on a university campus umpty
ump years ago, and they didn’t teach
cursive! This was one of the big
experiments they chose to run, along with teaching us New Math and Spanish. Did no one tabulate the results of this
policy? Are they just now guessing at
what happens when kids don’t learn cursive?
Someone should call all the alumni of my
Edith Bowen Elementary School and see how they fared. Today a psychologist from France, Stanislas
Dehaene, says we missed adequate mental stimulation (which makes me want to
shout, “This explains EVERYTHING!”)
Apparently
you need to do more than get words down on paper; they’ve done brain imaging
that shows this cursed business—I mean, this cursive business-- helps your
brain in ways that keyboarding does not: You have to pay attention and think
about what you’re doing, plus use fine motor skills and then practice. Or so says William Klemm, a neuroscientist at
Texas A&M.
Experts also say today’s
technology has wrecked the beautiful penmanship of yesteryear, and that
teachers are now teaching to the test, instead of spending a few minutes on
loops and ovals. (Not everyone agrees-- Common Core folks see pen and paper as
antiquated.)
And, needless to say, you
should see my handwriting. I did take a
summer class in cursive at the local junior high when I was 10 or so, just to lock
down that skill, but was I a few years too late? Am I like those women whose feet were bound
in China, only my brain was bound in the U.S.?
My mother grew up in South
Carolina and learned The Palmer Method, and to her dying day had “a beautiful
hand” when she wrote.
My own writing is
a schizophrenic-looking blend of manuscript and cursive, like those ransom notes from kidnappers that are cut and pasted from various fonts. And goodness knows what’s going on up there in
the Gray Matter Zone.
So I’m going to vote for
keeping cursive in our schools. Those
who argue to do away with it say it’s less efficient, meaning it isn’t as fast
as printing. I’m sorry—is there a race I
don’t know about? Must we scribble down
our reports faster than our brains can generate thought? Maybe this is why spelling has taken a tumble,
along with clear and coherent
sentences. Maybe it would be good
thing if we all just took a breath and slowed down. And maybe put a little upswing on the tail of
that T.
It's a good thing to listen to your mother, right? So check out my Youtube Mom videos and, while I won't show you how to write in cursive, you'll learn wonderful life skills you can write home about.
