DeWayne's World - Cursive writing may soon be kaput in Eureka schools

Will cursive writing be kaput in Eureka? That is a question that has arisen in Eureka schools according to Eureka Schools Superintendent Randy Crump.

I was thinking about cursive writing Thursday while headed to the Woodford County 4-H Fair. There was a discussion of the importance or unimportance of cursive writing on NPR. I decided to ask Crump about the district’s stance on cursive writing.

To provide full disclosure I have to admit I’m a bigot when it comes to cursive writing.

I don’t like it. I don’t tolerate it. I’ll explain why I’m a cursive bigot later.

I expected Crump to tell me it was important to teach cursive writing and that children would somehow be educationally cheated without cursive in their educational background.

I was waiting for him to say that without cursive writing skills children would not be able to get good jobs and would end up flipping burgers.

I expected to hear Crump say that it has always been taught and now is not the time to rock the boat.
I was going to hit him with a clever comment about why Eureka schools don’t teach calligraphy.

But, Crump blew all my expectations right out of the water.

“It’s interesting you would come in here asking about that. We’ve had a lot of discussion on this very topic,” Crump said. “We’re looking at it.”

Crump said some in the district feel it is important to continue teaching cursive writing in the primary grades.

Others believe, Crump said, that in the digital age cursive writing skills are not that important.

“We are going to be studying this issue in the next year,” Crump said.

Given that teachers have so much to cover in a limited amount of time it seems cursive is not that important. But, that’s only my opinion.

I’d rather see teachers focused on the content of a student’s writing rather than the style of writing. I don’t see how cursive adds intellectual weight to writing. Of course, I’m a cursive bigot.

In sixth grade I had a teacher who tried to make me learn cursive while at the same time trying to convert me from a southpaw to a rightie. It was a miserable humiliating situation where I got hit with a ruler if I used my left hand.

The teacher’s effort was a failure on both counts.

I print everything but my signature. All of it is done with my left-hand.

My lack of cursive skills has not prevented me from being a productive member of society. I make a living with the written word, and very very few are rendered in cursive.

So, as I listened to Crump speak about what I refer to as “accursed cursive” two questions were left to be asked.

First, I asked is cursive important in the digital age?

“That’s the big question,” Crump said.

“Some say it is important. I’m not sure it’s as important as it used to be. Maybe we need to teach it, but not emphasize it. That is what we are going to be discussing.”

Then I asked Crump if cursive writing does anything to add intellectual heft to writing. Without hesitation he said, “No, it doesn’t.”

This should be a very interesting discussion. It could be I’ll be printing more on this later.