Why is cursive writing important?

[Govinda]

Just that really?

My eleven year olds handwriting looks so messy and horrible compared to if he didnt join it up. All his homework sheets say that they have to do it in joined up writing. I remember getting taught this in primary school myself but as soon as I went to highschool I stopped doing it. Just wondering why its so important?

As a year 2 teacher I find it incredibly frustrating that cursive handwriting has such a weighting. If a child's writing content is outstanding but their writing looks terrible I can't judge them outstanding. I know we need to encourage neat cursive handwriting, but to actually grade children by it seems harsh. Surely the content is their ability in writing, not their fine motor skills. They're 6and 7! But maybe that's just me... obviously the government disagrees lol

I haven't used cursive writing since primary school. I have no idea why it is important.

I do feel that some of the government goals fail to acknowledge the reality of what is expected in our working life. I haven't needed to use a pen in my working life for years.

a pen? As opposed to a pencil?

If that was to me birdseye2010 I use a laptop. I can write in whatever font I want to download. No need for pens or pencils in my work.

"If they ever work in a job where note taking is important then that will be where it comes in useful."

It'll be done on a computer. If I have to take minutes for more than an hour and more than just decisions I take a laptop anyway. In future, I imagine we'll have even more access to work laptops.

Or voice recognition. I actually think that beyond the basics of writing being legible for your own benefit, touch typing is a far more useful life skill. It is mainly for exams up to A-levels where writing is important. The further on you get the more it is possible to use workarounds - e.g. GCSEs and A-levels on laptops. Yes some people will need to write neatly but I would say that many jobs now, and even more in the future will be computer based.

"There’s a myth that in the era of computers we don’t need handwriting. That’s not what our research is showing. What we found was that children until about grade six were writing more words, writing faster, and expressing more ideas if they could use handwriting—printing or cursive—than if they used the keyboard,” University of Washington professor Virginia Berninger told the Washington Post. A leading expert in the field of handwriting education research, Berninger’s extensive work with students in elementary school indicates that learning handwriting improves kids’ ability to think."

"Brain scans during the two activities also show that forming words by hand as opposed to on a keyboard leads to increased brain activity (pdf). Scientific studies of children and adults show that wielding a pen when taking notes, rather than typing, is associated with improved long-term information retention, better thought organization, and increased ability to generate ideas.
No one can say why this is exactly, though researchers surmise one reason may be because when we write by hand, every letter of every word demands different actions, engaging the brain more. When we type, we repeat the same moves over and over again, whatever the word."

"Researchers from Princeton University concluded in three studies of adult students taking notes on laptops and in longhand that transcription was less effective than selective translation of the information. “We found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand…whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning,” they wrote."

Bur Norestformrz does that still apply when it is painful to write and the writing is illegible? With two disabilities that affect writing (both of which qualify for extra time/laptop) the pain of handwriting is going to outweigh the benefits. Even typing can require conscious thought on some days to avoid pain. Fortunately my children retain a lot of information by listening to the extent that they can quote whole chapters so they can record their revision notes. All of your evidence though is for students learning and retaining information which does not explain why (other than speed) cursive is better. At least their print, although still painful to produce, is legible. And yes school has extensively tried grips, pens, handwriting interventions etc. The pain is still there.

Obviously if someone is unable to write by hand they may look to alternative methods but the findings of the research remain.