Sign of the Times

There is an interesting article up on msn today about the inevitable change in the way that children are taught in today's digital world. It involves the gradual decline in the use of cursive writing, and the teaching of it, in school systems today. There is a revealing history of penmanship and the way in which it has metamorphosized over the last few generations. This metamorphosis has now culminated in a debate over whether cursive should even be taught to school age children anymore, as there is more urgency for them to learn about technology through the use of computers.

This becomes an issue of priority now for school systems; which is more important, children learning to write in cursive, or having hands-on experience with computers? Well, seeing as how writing in cursive is a skill that has been obsolete for at least the last 20+ years or so since I learned it, coupled with the fact that I learn something new about computers on a weekly basis, my opinion is that computers should take precedence. Learning to write in cursive was always more of a novelty than anything else, and that time could be allotted more usefully in school systems around the country. The opportunities in life for one to utilize their ability to write in cursive are far less frequent than for displaying prowess in and around computers.

Learning to write is still undoubtedly one of the most valuable skills a person will ever know, but is the style in which they write so terribly important? As senior associate at the International Center for Leadership and Education James Miles says in the article, "The Old English writing of calligraphy was a way of writing at one point. We got away from that to a more expedient way and I think this is just a progression."

I could not agree more, especially in an ever-changing digital age where technology is rapidly replacing skills that were once deemed important, and showing us that they were not.