Learning Cursive Is The Basic Right Analysis

| |literacy skills are not confined to the language arts classroom, but are embedded in the school curriculum. Language arts programs are | |

Michaela Cullington’s essay “Texting and Writing” explores the possible effect of teen texting on formal writing in school. Cullington lists three different hypotheses scholars pose about the cor- relation between the two: those who criticize texting for its negative impact on writing, those who believe texting is actually a beneficial exercise in writing, and those who see no relationship at all. Cullington begins her analysis with the first theory, quoting concerned teachers, citing the shock- ing statistic that “only 25% of high school seniors are ‘proficient’ writers” (90), and adding testi- mony from two of her former teachers. Cullington then explores the second take on texting and writing by providing contrasting testimony from other teachers who believe that texting is a bless- ing to their students’ writing. Cullington retrieves support for these two opposing views from inter- views and previous studies. To explore the theory that texting is irrelevant to formal writing, how- ever, she performs her own research, gathering results from seven students, two teachers, and an analysis of students’ written work. Despite the testimonial evidence against and in support of tex- ting, Cullington’s own results show that texting has “no effect, positive or negative, on [students’] writing as a result of texting” (95).

Taught more than thirty decades ago, cursive writing has a famed and legendary past. It was once a vital element of American education but is now becoming an archaic artefact as technology advancement and the requirement of more regulated tests push it out of the education system. Cursive writing should be scrapped out of the education system for there is no need of wasting time and resources to continue teaching a skill that won’t be beneficial to the students in the near future.

“There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.” This quote by Edward Gibbon illustrates the intensity of writing and what gratification it can hold. When one writes, they are not confined to one certain formula. A person is able to express their thoughts and feelings in any way they choose. Language is a border for many people in that some cannot comprehend a certain language, understand how to use it, or recognize what is being said to them. On the other side of the border, they are not viewed as equals or as important compared to those who are not competing with this barrier. In his essay “Coming into Language,” Jimmy Santiago Baca uses his personal experiences to demonstrate how much

People are going to need to know how to read cursive in some famous documents. If it is not going to get taught then some of those documents are not going to to able to be read. Cursive has been around for centuries. Christopher Columbus wrote his adventures in the Americas in cursive handwriting. Thomas Jefferson penned one of our utmost famous documents “The Declaration of Independence” in cursive. People are going to need to

In this lab, I observed four handwriting exemplars from four different suspects. Roughly a year ago, an unidentified male abducted a ten year old child from a prosperous, private, residential school. The unidentified male then sent a ransom note to the boy’s parents requesting a large amount of money to return their son safely. The authorities identified four male suspects and called me into analyze their handwriting exemplars. I started by using twelve characteristics to analyze the suspects handwriting. These characteristics include line quality, word and margin spacing, continuity of words, ratio of uppercase to lowercase letters, completion of letters, cursive writing, pen pressure, slant, words written on the line or not, curls and loops,

First of all, if people can write in cursive, they can sign their name on a bill or letter. Tom Zelinka recently said, “Cursive has become a small part of our curriculum therefore most children cannot read it.” That means in fifteen to twenty years these kids will not be able to sign their names. 82% of the children don’t know how to write or read cursive. In the future this gives their boss a reason to fire them.

Not So Fast,” Andrea Lunsford argues that rather than leading to a new illiteracy, the digital technologies in the modern world help students to develop their ability of writing. Not only that students are daferrors than 25 years ago, actually with less spelling errors. In order to help students with the challenges, the teacher should offer solid instructions and encouragement rather than derision.

Murray is insightful not only to instructors but also to learners. Murray argues that the challenge facing writing is the fact that teachers have treated it as a product rather than a process and the same concept passed on to students. The author holds that the main problem with this view is that students get to receive irrelevant criticisms that are not related to their learning goals. While I tend to agree with the author based on the arguments presented, it is notable that Murray has paid little attention to the idea of education in the contemporary world. In most learning institutions, the outcome of the writing is considered more than the process. As a teacher paying attention to the process of writing but not be consistent with the students, who are mostly driven by

Technology has completely taken over when it comes to writing and it’s not fair to strip this curriculum out of schools and it’s especially not fair for the parents of young children to have to teach their children at home how to write in the cursive script I think it should at least be offered as an extra curriculum class such as music, band, and sports. I think that cursive writing could really benefit anyone children especially but for some reason the school systems have become so dependent on computer technology that a lot of the testing in schools are even done on a computer I remember doing CSAP testing and you had to make sure you filled in the correct bubble just right. As the author writes cursive is a lost virtue and to get it back is more than likely not going to happen this really makes me wonder what other skills schools no longer teach children I mean I know as parents it’s our job to prepare our children for the future but if it comes down to the point to where were having to teach our children the necessities to get them through life at home then what exactly is the point of public schools if they aren’t preparing our children for the future. To me cursive is like math people use it every day and if children aren’t being taught how to write it they definitely aren’t going to be able to

Adrienne Rich’s essay about “Teaching Language in Open Admissions” left me with much to ponder. I echo her sentiment about the “secret fantasy of many teachers: the ill-scrawled essay...which has the mark of genius” (Rich 14). I think all teachers have the innate desire to be able to say at some point, “Hey! I taught that student!” Rich explains that the SEEK program was for those students traditionally written off from college because of “the politics of their situation” (19). I’ve seen students in similar circumstances within my own teaching experiences. Rich mentions students with no nostalgia for high school or the experiences found there. As a high school teacher, it hurts my heart that there are so many students who do not have good experiences or memories of high school. Working in a non-traditional public high school gives me a different perspective on the traditional educational system. I have to agree with Rich, “that education has failed for too many students” (21). I was especially given pause by the thought that writing offers a type of freedom for students (Rich 23). I had never considered the freedom offered by writing expression.

Teachers, who are aware of children becoming emergent writers, can better understand the amount of effort and concentration required. Teachers can appreciate the value of observing children’s early writing for evidence of children’s developing phonological knowledge of written language.

In 2003, the National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges published a report called The Neglected ‘’R’’: The Need for a Writing Revolution. This report argued that ‘’writing has been forgotten in American schools for the past 20 years and how now it must receive the attention it deserves’’. As the name of the report mentions, there are three Rs in education. This refers to the foundations of a basic skills-oriented education program in schools: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. According to the above mentioned report published in 2003, ‘’Writing, Education’s Second R, has become the neglected element of American school reform. The school improvement journey that began 20 years ago with the publication of A Nation at Risk

So Andrea Lunsford argues that the activities did not lead to “ a new illiteracy”. The activities like for example, texting and emailing seemed to help develop a variety of writing styles like tones and formats along with many abilities. I believe Lunsford uses great examples to explain how the students adjust their writing styles to suit their occasion/ situation. For example, “Next up: words stolen from before the power went out Whadda-ya-know, I am back in Dhaka from the villages of Mymensingh”. This is an informal message that the student wrote using slang and special effects. Another example is when writing professional, “in June of 2003, I traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh for 9 weeks to intern for Grameen Bank. Grameen Bank is a micro credit

In the essay, “ Why Johnny can never, ever read: The perpetual literacy crisis and student identity,” Bronwyn T. Williams claims that the reason for the complaints about a literacy crisis is due to the anxieties the middle class has about privilege and status (179). Williams states that the “alarm about declining literacy skills” usually derives from the “middle class” (180). Williams suggests that unconventional speech is an indicator of “lower class status,” and he suggests that someone could “fall from the middle class” if he uses language in an unconventional way (180). The author notes that there are complaints about the literacy of young people, but once they become adults people focus on the next generation of students (Williams 179).