Opinion

Can you still write like this?

Friday, May 27, 2016

A few days ago, I received a graduation announcement, from a very good friend's graduating senior daughter. When I looked at the front of the envelope, there was an obvious error on the address line that had been corrected. In my address, a lower case error printed 'e' had been replaced with a lower case 'i.' That seemingly insignificant miscue, would lead me to a startling discovery. It appears we no longer teach cursive writing in our public schools!

When I discovered the mistake in the address, I contacted the parent, who I have known her entire life. Her reply left me at a temporary loss for words. "I helped my daughter with her list of invitees. When I looked over her envelopes, I discovered that yours' and a few more had incorrect letters. When I confronted her with these errors, she replied, 'Mom, you know I can't read your cursive!'"

This revelation was so shocking to me that it took me by total surprise. I discussed this issue with several friends, and they were equally dumfounded. Our common questions were -- when did this happen, and why is this a good idea?

There are many explanations for this change in our writing curriculum in public schools, but the education plan that appears to be the cause for this change, is generally referred to as "Common Core."

For several decades there has been an ongoing battle in the field of education. The Common Core system varies from state to state, but there are some basic components, that are generally included. The curriculum for each pubic school under these plans has a list of subjects, concepts, and materials, that are considered vital to learn for every student. There are regular tests administered to determine if the students have learned and retained these goals.

In some states, school funding and teacher retentions, are linked to these test results. Many school districts and teacher organizations, railed against this rigid system. The battle lines have been drawn, and there is little prospect of a compromise in the near term.

To teach to the test, so that the school districts and teachers would be validated in their successes or failures, it became necessary to eliminate some of the basic curriculum that had historically been taught in practically every American school.

That is the most prominent argument and reason, that cursive writing, is no longer taught in our public schools. To most people my age, this seems to border on the absurd, but there are arguments pro and con, that must be considered.

We live in an electronically connected world. Despite our feelings regarding concepts like the teaching of cursive writing, most of us don't physically write much anymore. I write so little now, that I actually have to take a bit of time, to carefully sign my name to a bank check or other document.

I am writing this column on my Apple MacBook Air. It has a word processing program called "Pages." The program offers you a huge list of "fonts." that include many types of print and cursive options. At the beginning of this article, I included the capital and small letter cursive letters that were the most like the ones I was taught to write in grade school.

Ms. Butler was my second grade teacher at the old Jefferson School here in Nevada. Alta Gordon, my first grade teacher, had taught us to write our numbers, as well as to print our letters. She also taught us the basics of phonic reading. How many of you remember Dick, Jane, and Spot?

In Ms. Butler's class, we were regularly given these green writing practice sheets. They had darker top and bottom lines, and a lighter middle line. We repeatedly practiced writing our letters in cursive. The capital letters extended all the way to the top line, while the small letters only rose to the level of the middle line.

I think I missed my calling in life, as I am sure I was meant to be a doctor. I was very fast in completing my work sheets for Ms. Butler, but my writing could easily have been mistaken for a doctor's scraw.

Even today, I have trouble writing legibly. My cursive writing is so awful, that on more than one occasion, I have picked up a note I had previously written, and to my horror, realized that I was unable to read my own cursive!

When I looked at the list of cursive letters that I included in this story, I also became acutely aware, that I had forgotten some of the letters. For example, the capital letter G was not the same in the above list. I next noticed that I had completely forgotten the styles of the capital letters Q and Z.

In my research I found a few arguments in favor of teaching cursive. One theory believes that cursive teaches the child's brain in combination with hand eye coordination.

Another faction reminds us that our Constitution and many other valuable documents were written in cursive. That is a valid point, but practically every one of these documents can also be found in print versions.

The more I thought about this issue, the more I realized how much older and out of touch I seem to be these days. Today's youth rarely wear a watch, carry money, and for sure, rarely physically print words, much less write cursive.

It's just the way of life. A couple of generations ago, writers thought the typewriter was too new fangled. My mother's generation thought word processors were crazy new inventions. I guess the kids today think cursive is as ancient as hieroglyphics!