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In reply to the discussion: The problem with you kids today is that you don't write in cursive [View all]oldhippie
(3,249 posts)14. Uh, no .....
Cursive is a whole word system, meaning the brain processes the act of writing in whole word units.
Printing is a letter system, so the brain processes each letter individually.
Printing is a letter system, so the brain processes each letter individually.
When I learned to write, in both cursive and printing, in kindergarten and 1st grade, in the mid-fifties, there was no such thing as a "word system." Everything was done by letter and sounded out phonetically. Everybody did it that way. Every letter, capital and small case, were written over and over again in drills for hours. One letter at a time. We learned how each letter was to be connected to the next letter in cursive, which varied letter by letter. By the time I finished 1st grade in my first rural school system I could copy from a book and write a whole sentence in cursive, but couldn't read it yet. We were starting to sound out the simple "See Bob run." and "Spot is a dog." in 1st grade.
I never even heard of the "whole word system" until recently.
And yes, I still write letters in cursive, with one of several vintage fountain pens, to my younger (in their 30's) step-sisters and their kids, who are in grade school and can read my cursive. I also keep my personal journal in cursive, in a fine old hand bound leather journal.
Yes, it's a dying skill. And I don't like that it, and so many other things, are being abandoned.
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There are good, cognitive reasons for cursive with regards to language processing.
politicat
Jun 2013
#2
+1 & People don't know that physical actions have physical STRUCTURAL effects upon the neurons
patrice
Jun 2013
#31
I don't think it's a reasonable system, I just don't think it's the script of Satan.
politicat
Jun 2013
#70
Why didn't she write in whatever script she writes in? Or doesn't she write at all?
FarCenter
Jun 2013
#16
no matter her reading and writing skills, what matters is that she is a witness to what happened
CreekDog
Jun 2013
#24
To enter a writing as evidence, you need a witness to testify that it is genuine and unaltered
FarCenter
Jun 2013
#36
it's pretty arbitrary of you to say that a printed signature is less than a cursive signature
CreekDog
Jun 2013
#33
The NC state legislature passed a bill requiring cursive be taught in schools.
alarimer
Jun 2013
#49