Whether to Teach Cursive Writing or Keyboarding

 

 

 

Whether to Teach Cursive Writing or Keyboarding

           

           I noticed a headline today in one of the newsletters I get on various educational topics that referred to this long-standing debate that exists not only within our profession, but also amongst the wider parent community.  There are many who believe that schools should still be teaching children how to write using cursive script and with a pen.  Obviously, the alternative, which has much currency in the community is to teach typing instead.  From the very beginning of the digital revolution in elementary schools, there was this raging debate about students and their writing or not writing.

            When we look at the adult population, which I do when I go shopping, I see just as many people who have hand-written grocery lists as those who have handheld devices with lists that they are referencing.  I haven’t really noticed the difference between the two groups in ages, but I am going to guess that the younger the shopper, the more likely they are to have a list on a hand-held device.  That would make sense because that is how they engage with the world.  When they finish school, they do everything on their devices.  I don’t think any reader of this current blog entry would question whether or not this is true. I am an elderly educator now and I do as much as I can on my devices, but I still keep notes and lists on pieces of paper.  It is an old, ingrained habit.

            In order to think about what position to take today on this argument, I think we need to think about what role cursive writing plays in our daily lives. When you think about it, there aren’t many ways that anyone, even the elderly like me, sit down and write out in long-hand a letter or a speech or anything like that.  Everything we do, we do it on a tablet or a computer or a smart phone. When we engage with paper, it is to print out or make notes about something.  I write my lists, but I could just as easily print them out. This brings me to what I think we should be doing in the classroom.

           I believe we need to teach proper printing skills to encourage young people to put away their devices and engage with paper and a desk.  Once they have learned to print properly, then we can move to typing skills.  Typing skills are not easy to teach at a young age and most teachers are not able to teach others how to type. I learned that in Grade 10 and I’m forever grateful.  But most don’t know how and so students learn how to seek and punch from a very young age.  I don’t think it matters much about typing because you never hear someone young complain that they wish they could type, and you never see anyone NOT use their devices because they can’t type.  

         So, what is really needed is an educational campaign aimed at the older folks among us who think that because they learned how to write, their children and grandchildren should be able to do that as well.  But there are just some skills that no longer should be taught in school. They have run their usefulness out.