Is cursive obsolete?
Dan Vilter
I was reading a Christmas card to my son the other day. I was reading it to
him because it was written in long hand, cursive, and my son doesn't know
how to read it or write it. Later when we were talking about the makeup of
his 1750 point Warhammer 40k army and I was looking at his draftsman like
printing of his list, I panicked. Those ugly fears that --I know how to do
something that he doesn't --grabbed me and I asked him if he was interested
in learning how to read or write cursive. He said "yeah that would be
interesting, but not now."
So I started thinking...
Is cursive obsolete?
I don't use it. My written communication with him [and everyone else] is
either typed on the computer or handwritten printing, the way I prefer to
write. The only place my son runs across cursive is in letters from his aunt
and uncle. His reading is almost exclusively printed.
Is a person considered illiterate if they can't read cursive?
How would an unschooler ever get the desire to learn it if they never run
across it?
We didn't have much to do with his learning handwritten printing. I now
marvel at how he forms letters, mostly starting at their bottoms. Nothing
like the uniform way the public school taught me. He prefers unlined paper.
I don't know what he would use as a model if he did have a desire.
Does anyone here have experience with this? It seems like something a
person could easily pick up if there was a need. But what if that need
doesn't arrive until some vitally urgent bit of information needs to be
understood with no time for the learning?
So is cursive obsolete? Did any of your kids learn cursive? How? Why?
-Dan Vilter
him because it was written in long hand, cursive, and my son doesn't know
how to read it or write it. Later when we were talking about the makeup of
his 1750 point Warhammer 40k army and I was looking at his draftsman like
printing of his list, I panicked. Those ugly fears that --I know how to do
something that he doesn't --grabbed me and I asked him if he was interested
in learning how to read or write cursive. He said "yeah that would be
interesting, but not now."
So I started thinking...
Is cursive obsolete?
I don't use it. My written communication with him [and everyone else] is
either typed on the computer or handwritten printing, the way I prefer to
write. The only place my son runs across cursive is in letters from his aunt
and uncle. His reading is almost exclusively printed.
Is a person considered illiterate if they can't read cursive?
How would an unschooler ever get the desire to learn it if they never run
across it?
We didn't have much to do with his learning handwritten printing. I now
marvel at how he forms letters, mostly starting at their bottoms. Nothing
like the uniform way the public school taught me. He prefers unlined paper.
I don't know what he would use as a model if he did have a desire.
Does anyone here have experience with this? It seems like something a
person could easily pick up if there was a need. But what if that need
doesn't arrive until some vitally urgent bit of information needs to be
understood with no time for the learning?
So is cursive obsolete? Did any of your kids learn cursive? How? Why?
-Dan Vilter
Dan Vilter
on 12/23/01 10:22 AM, Dan Vilter at dvilter@... wrote:
on 12/23/01 11:02 AM, SandraDodd@... at SandraDodd@... wrote:
Thanks
Dan Vilter
> I don't use it.I lied. I do use in in my signature
on 12/23/01 11:02 AM, SandraDodd@... at SandraDodd@... wrote:
> When I leave notes for the kids I print if it's for Marty or Holly, and KirbySo is that just from reading your notes?
> seems to have picked up reading cursive, or at least my version of it.
Thanks
Dan Vilter