Why do we still teach cursive to kids?!

[HighwayDragon]

Why oh why are children taught cursive handwriting? Especially from a young age where their handwriting is poor anyway, it's a massive waste of time and effort! My dd will be heading into year1 in September wibu to say that I don't think it's necessary at all, and completely archaic?

Add - I'm a TA in her school, most staff think it's ridiculous but we've got to teach them.

[ChazzerChaser]

What would you teach instead? Individual letters or block capitals is laborious. Is there another option?

[Pastamancer]

Surely most people write this way though, it's quicker and easier than printing

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

I'd also like to know why you don't think it useful.

[Nolim]

I was never taught cursive but i wish i had. I think my handwriting would be better.

[bigbuttons]

You need to teach joins, it's faster and helps with spelling, however other joined handwriting styles are available. I find cursive rather boring.

[PtolemysNeedle]

I agree with you and I'm a TA too. I think it's fine to teach it when they're older, but it is counter productive to many children to try and force them into cursive handwriting too early.

One of my dc is in secondary school and still has terrible handwriting. I think a lot of the problem is that he was forced into cursive handwriting before he was ready.

[TheseSoles]

I don't think it's a waste of time. I write mostly in cursive as an adult, particularly quick notes.

[Icimoi]

It actually helps spelling to write in cursive - your hand gets used to the flow of certain sequences of letters. It also helps to ensure that children get their letters the right way round, as many won't join up so easily if they're reversed.

And, of course, writing in cursive is way quicker than printing.

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

Prolemy that makes sense but it's not what the OP said. She said nothing about the AGE at which it's taught. Just that it's a waste of time.

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

Um, perhaps because it's a useful skill to be able to write quickly, say if the computers all crash, and there is no electricity; oh and in case you need to sign your name with something more than just block letters?

I can't see your problem, tbh.

[hiddenhome]

Partially joined up is okay, but fully joined up can be a struggle. We had to tell ds1 to stop doing fully joined up when he was at secondary school due to his messy handwriting.

Cursive doesn't suit everyone.

[RachelWatts]

DS1 is in Yr1 and is taught cursive. He was taught printing in YrR, then we had a new head and she wanted them to learn cursive.

For a few weeks as he learnt the new letter formations, his handwriting got a lot worse, but now, I feel his handwriting is really good.

I have no problems with him learning cursive - I think it's easier for them to only have to learn to write once, rather than learn printing and then have to learn cursive at a later date.

[ninaaa]

It's faster than block.

Year 1 does seem very young though, I would expect most children would not be ready at that age.

[AmberFool]

It's the best writing style for dyslexic children. I believe it should be taught from a young age.

[petalunicorn]

The problem is when you have children with very poor fine motor skills and all the extra strokes do is add to the mess on the page and make work even less legible. That's demotivating for them too. I think they should exempt these children and teach them to print upper and lower case separate letters i.e differentiate for different abilities. If children improve they could always learn cursive when in ks2.

[DrSethHazlittMD]

I seem to think we were taught "joined up" writing in the third or fourth year of primary school, so when we were 9 or 10.

Sorry, I'm 41 with no kids, I have no idea what age Year 1 is. If that's 4 (by deduction) that seems very young.

[MrsGentlyBenevolent]

I think it's something the older generations love, but will gradually phase out. I personally think it looks messy, even if you have mastered it. I remember being forced to write this way in primary school - my writing became terrible. They would not allow me to go back to print - 'you have to do it, secondary school doesn't allow otherwise! Lying gits, higher school doen't give a toss how you write, as long as you do your work. Anyway, as important as writing skills are, there should be allotted time to teaching how to type - that sounds very old fashioned, but with computers taking over the world, the ability to touch type, have decent wpm, are vital skills that would do no harm in being taught from a young age. Obviously, it's about each child's ability - if one form isn't working, perhaps another will. If the child is perfectly ok writing in print, no need to confuse them , especially year 1!

[drbadbride]

Surely it helps develop fine motor skills? I remember sitting tracing worksheets of joined up letters from age 6 or so.

[bronya]

Is it the lead ins that are the problem?

[HighwayDragon]

I meant taught in ks1, before they can even print the letters properly

[Pastamancer]

I agree with learning how to type. I taught myself as an adult and it was so quick to learn and I struggle to type now if I look at the keys as it puts me off :o

[Sianilaa]

My children were taught cursive from nursery/Reception at their school. They are in yr1 and yr2 now and both have beautiful handwriting for their age. I think teaching them to write two different ways would be much more confusing. I love cursive and glad it's been taught from a young age.

[blendedfamilygrinch]

My ds' writing became illegible in yr1 because he was told he had to use cursive with leading curves everywhere & initial capitals joined too!

He'd started Yr R only writing his name & able to print other words by copying them, but by the end of Yr R could write coherent (phonically plausible) sentences.
Now near the end if Yr 1 he's almost back there. But his sentences have not developed much from previous year - he has to be prompted to use adjectives or longer phrases. I think another year or 2 of focussing on getting legible words down would have helped with this - and also enabled him to develop his own handwriting style.
Why should they all look the same? I remember practising very different styles at ks2+ age.