Cursive practice is a way to learn twice

Date published: 12/7/2012

Cursive practice is a way to learn twice

I heartily agree with "Off script" that cursive is a skill to be learned and used. It does develop the eye-hand coordination differently from keyboarding and texting. Any fine motor skill children develop is not wasted.

When my daughter was in school, her cursive skills were developed by copying documents such as the Preamble to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and lines of poetry and literature that are part of our cultural knowledge and academic development. There were no silly writing exercises without meaning; this time was doubly useful to her education.

Many years later, I had the opportunity to become acquainted with a number of new teachers from other states where cursive was not taught. Every one of them printed illegibly and had messy, easily forged printed signatures. Many found it difficult to read notes from parents or documents from our history.

All the young children I see take to a computer like ducks to water, and I do not think we would be neglecting their technology skills to teach them a different means of communication.

Elizabeth White

Spotsylvania