I read that article and looked up the original research. The handwriting used in that study was print-writing, not cursive. This hasn't stopped devotees of cursive from misrepresenting the study — intentionally, at times, because some dupporters of cursive have "explained" to me that "describing this study as being about cursive is ethically and intellectually necessary because that way of describing the study is necessary in order to support cursive." ? ! ? !
Legible cursive writing averages no faster than printed handwriting of equal or greater legibility. Further research shows that cursive does NOT objectively improve the reading, spelling, or language of students who have dyslexia or dysgraphia. (Sources for all research are available on request.)
The fastest, clearest handwriters avoid cursive. Highest speed and legibility in handwriting belong to those who join some letters, not all: joining the most easily joined letter-combinations, leaving the rest unjoined, using print-like shapes for letters whose printed and cursive shapes disagree.
Reading cursive still matters — but this is much easier and quicker to master than writing the same way too. Simply reading cursive can be taught in just 30-60 minutes — even to five- or six-year-olds (including those with dyslexia) once they read ordinary print. (There's even an iPad app teaching how. The app — “Read Cursive” — is a free download: appstore.com/readcursive )
Teaching material for more practical handwriting abounds: fluency WITHOUT cursive. Some examples, often with student work: BFHhandwriting.com, handwritingsuccess.com, briem.net, HandwritingThatWorks.com, italic-handwriting.org, studioarts.net/calligraphy/italic/curriculum.html )
Even here in the United States, educated adults are quitting cursive. In 2012, handwriting teachers across North America were surveyed at a conference hosted by Zaner-Bloser, a cursive textbook publisher. Only 37% wrote in cursive; another 8% printed. The majority — 55% — wrote with some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive. When even most handwriting teachers don't use cursive, why exalt it?
Cursive's devotees sometimes claim that cursive justifies anything said or done to promote it. They state (in sworn testimony before school boards and state legislatures) that cursive cures dyslexia or prevents it, that it lets your brain work, that it creates proper grammar and spelling, that it teaches etiquette and patriotism and reasoning, or that it does anything else educationally imaginable. Some invoke research: citing studies that turn out to be misquoted or otherwise misrepresented by the claimant.
That eagerness to misrepresent research has substantial consequences, as the misrepresentations are made — under oath — in testimony to school districts, state legislatures, and other bodies voting on educational measures. Proposals for cursive are, without exception, introduced by legislators or others whose misrepresentations (in their own testimony) are later revealed — though investigative reporting does not always prevent the bill from passing into law, even when discoveries include signs of undue influence on the legislators promoting the cursive bill. (Documentation on request: I'm glad to speak to anyone interested in bringing this serious issue before the public.) By now, you probably wonder: “What about signatures?” Brace yourself: in any nation, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over other kinds. (Hard to believe? Ask any attorney!) Questioned document examiners (specialists in identification of signatures, verification of documents, etc.) tell me that the least forgeable signatures are the plainest. Most cursive signatures are loose scrawls: the rest, if they follow the rules of cursive at all, are fairly complicated: these make a forger's life easy.
All handwriting, not just cursive, is individual — just as all handwriting involves fine motor skills. That is why any first-grade teacher can immediately identify (from the print-writing on unsigned work) which of 25 or 30 students produced it.
Calling for cursive to support handwriting is like calling for top hats and crinolines to support the art of tailoring.
Kate Gladstone — DIRECTOR, the World Handwriting Contest CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works — 518-482-6763 165 North Allen Street Albany, NY 12206-1706 USA
Re: Don't be too quick
?
!
?
!
Re: Re: Cursive
BFHhandwriting.com, handwritingsuccess.com, briem.net, HandwritingThatWorks.com, italic-handwriting.org, studioarts.net/calligraphy/italic/curriculum.html
Handwriting matters ... but does cursive matter?
Legible cursive writing averages no faster than printed handwriting of equal or greater legibility.
Further research shows that cursive does NOT objectively improve the reading, spelling, or language of students who have dyslexia or dysgraphia.
(Sources for all research are available on request.)
The fastest, clearest handwriters avoid cursive. Highest speed and legibility in handwriting belong to those who join some letters, not all: joining the most easily joined letter-combinations, leaving the rest unjoined, using print-like shapes for letters whose printed and cursive shapes disagree.
Reading cursive still matters — but this is much easier and quicker to master than writing the same way too. Simply reading cursive can be taught in just 30-60 minutes — even to five- or six-year-olds (including those with dyslexia) once they read ordinary print. (There's even an iPad app teaching how. The app — “Read Cursive” — is a free download: appstore.com/readcursive )
Teaching material for more practical handwriting abounds: fluency WITHOUT cursive.
Some examples, often with student work: BFHhandwriting.com, handwritingsuccess.com, briem.net, HandwritingThatWorks.com, italic-handwriting.org, studioarts.net/calligraphy/italic/curriculum.html )
Even here in the United States, educated adults are quitting cursive. In 2012, handwriting teachers across North America were surveyed at a conference hosted by Zaner-Bloser, a cursive textbook publisher. Only 37% wrote in cursive; another 8% printed. The majority — 55% — wrote with some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive.
When even most handwriting teachers don't use cursive, why exalt it?
Cursive's devotees sometimes claim that cursive justifies anything said or done to promote it. They state (in sworn testimony before school boards and state legislatures) that cursive cures dyslexia or prevents it, that it lets your brain work, that it creates proper grammar and spelling, that it teaches etiquette and patriotism and reasoning, or that it does anything else educationally imaginable. Some invoke research: citing studies that turn out to be misquoted or otherwise misrepresented by the claimant.
That eagerness to misrepresent research has substantial consequences, as the misrepresentations are made — under oath — in testimony to school districts, state legislatures, and other bodies voting on educational measures. Proposals for cursive are, without exception, introduced by legislators or others whose misrepresentations (in their own testimony) are later revealed — though investigative reporting does not always prevent the bill from passing into law, even when discoveries include signs of undue influence on the legislators promoting the cursive bill. (Documentation on request: I'm glad to speak to anyone interested in bringing this serious issue before the public.)
By now, you probably wonder: “What about signatures?” Brace yourself: in any nation, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over other kinds. (Hard to believe? Ask any attorney!)
Questioned document examiners (specialists in identification of signatures, verification of documents, etc.) tell me that the least forgeable signatures are the plainest. Most cursive signatures are loose scrawls: the rest, if they follow the rules of cursive at all, are fairly complicated: these make a forger's life easy.
All handwriting, not just cursive, is individual — just as all handwriting involves fine motor skills. That is why any first-grade teacher can immediately identify (from the print-writing on unsigned work) which of 25 or 30 students produced it.
Calling for cursive to support handwriting is like calling for top hats and crinolines to support the art of tailoring.
Kate Gladstone —
DIRECTOR, the World Handwriting Contest
CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works — 518-482-6763
165 North Allen Street
Albany, NY 12206-1706 USA
http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
handwritingrepair@gmail.com
Re: Cursive handwriting
Re: Cursive Writing Affects Cognitive Development?
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