California students will be taught to write in cursive, reports NPR. A new law signed -- in cursive -- by the governor takes effect in January.
Most U.S. schools haven't required students to learn cursive handwriting since 2010, says host A Martinez.
Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, a former elementary school teacher, proposed the bill when she started researching her family and realized most of the records were in cursive handwriting.
Teacher Pam Keller told NPR she started teaching handwriting to her students when she realized her adult children couldn't read old documents and family letters. Students like it because they see cursive as "something adults do," she said. "And they all want to have signatures."
California teachers say teaching cursive handwriting shouldn't be a priority, reports Evan Symon in the California Globe. The new mandate faces a "growing backlash."
“Writing in cursive has multiple benefits, including better brain development, retention, and learning in children,” said Quirk-Silva earlier this year, citing new research. “Writing in cursive helps join the auditory and language centers of the brain.”
It also develops fine motor control, "activates areas of the brain that do not participate in keyboarding," and improves comprehension, writes Melissa Breyer. However, some teachers say cursive was dying out for a reason, writes Symon. "There are many, many other ways besides cursive to help students develop," argues Joy, a private school teacher. Students can learn to sign their names "on their own or through a parent or from so many other places.”
For me, not in CA, there is no debate...from what my children experienced no one at public school is teaching anything more than pecking at the keyboard or drawing the letters and numbers. Its up to the parent to move the child from pecking to keyboarding and from drawing to writing. Plenty of effective programs that take a lot less time than the school would if the district chose to offer more than the very basic lessons in those subjects. Same for spelling. Not everyone is willing to give up literacy.
Reading and writing script is a skill that no one will need. AI will handle -- DOES handle -- reading handwriting. And then some. Here's version 1.0 of such an AI that is already working. https://readcoop.eu/transkribus/
Personally I don't think learning cursive is necessary. Spending more time on one subject (including all the woke propaganda in classrooms today) takes time away from learning vital skills and knowledge. But what you or I think should not be the criteria for what should be taught (or NOT taught) in ALL CA public schools. The PARENTS should decide what's best for their kids. In other words, the ONLY sensible choice IS choice. School choice. UNIVERAL K-12 school choice. The one group least qualified to dictate classroom curriculum is our state's clueless politicians.