Re: Cursive

I recently received a note from a fraternity brother of mine written in a beautiful cursive script.  Now, I am a tutor in a MetroWest school system outside of Boston.  I have taught many students in Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, History, English, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry.  To my shock and disappointment none of my students has been able to write in longhand.  They all print ... usually very slowly and often so illegibly that they cannot read their own notes.  A few say that they did learn cursive writing early on in school but can no longer perform it due to lack of practice and pedagogical focus.

Can I be a little dogmatic?  I think that this failing on the part of our nation's schools is a main reason for our educational degeneration.  The simple ability of students to take notes quickly and efficiently while in class or on the computer is a big step forward in their learning process.  Too, too many of today's students cannot do this and therefore have lost a tempo in what was once the traditional educational experience.  And learning script writing was a second- and third-grade rote exercise that I also believe helped reinforce our children's  hand-eye coordination, hand-eye-mind connection and, even more importantly, non-oral communications skills.

How about it Arne Duncan, our Secretary of Education, can you spend a few billions of your huge yearly budget to re-introduce serious cursive writing practice into our children's early educational experience? I can even suggest a slogan for this effort: "Writing is also fundamental!"

Added thought: I did not mention that, if a student cannot decipher his/her own printing, how is his/her teacher supposed to understand and/or fairly grade such student's essays, exams, and other written communications?