Cursive Writing, a Thing of the Past

I never gave writing a second thought until a friend of mine posted on his Facebook wall: “Some school districts opting not to teach students to write in cursive.” After a few moments of thinking about the potential consequences of this change, I asked myself exactly what the issue was. In the year 2011 does anyone ever write, or print, anymore? Do kids pass notes in class or do they text them?

After some more thought I started to think about all of the important documents that these future adults will not be able to read that are written in cursive. We all know the Constitution of the United States has been transcribed into print in thousands of various educational text books that these students will read, but does giving the opportunity of our youth the ability to read it as it was originally written important? Another question I came up with was what about the "John Hancock signature" that everyone must develop. Will future signatures be in print because someone was never taught how to sign their name?

I am interested in what our students have learned right here in Maryland. If you have a child in school have you noticed our education system having less of a focus on penmanship and more of a focus on keyboard skills? Have any of the schools that your children attend already removed cursive writing from their curriculum?