I've noticed this trend over the last few years -- many of my kids cannot use cursive writing and continue to print. Not only that, some don't even print well.

The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it's threatening to finish off longhand.

When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.

And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of U.S. students who no longer get much handwriting instruction in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.

Many educators shrug. Stacked up against teaching technology, foreign languages and the material on standardized tests, penmanship instruction seems a relic, teachers across the region say. But academics who specialize in writing acquisition argue that it's important cognitively, pointing to research that shows children without proficient handwriting skills produce simpler, shorter compositions, from the earliest grades.

Scholars who study original documents say the demise of handwriting will diminish the power and accuracy of future historical research. And others simply lament the loss of handwritten communication for its beauty, individualism and intimacy.

I'd add one additional reason for the use of printing -- the increase in the number of foreign-born or first-generation Hispanic students. The Mexican education system teaches block printing -- to the point that students do written work on what in this country considers to be graphing paper, with one letter to the box. Studetns who started school south of the border learned that system, and the children of such immigrants are often taught that at home. The result is a shift in style.

Posted by: Greg at 10:37 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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