Handwriting: Importance of Cursive Part 3

DOES TEACHING YOUR KIDS CURSIVE WRITING MAKE THEM BETTER STUDENTS AND PEOPLE? ABSOLUTELY…HERE’S WHY… (Part 3)

There is an upper stream of very competitive kids who are not taking the shortcuts many of our schools are instituting. For example, there are many ambitious newcomers and some who are considered ‘old school’ or traditional who have insisted their children take the more disciplined route and who can be seen in coffee houses all over the city with pen in hand working in study groups and using cursive writing. These children will become the doctors, lawyers and upper management. They are not late and don’t say “Hellooh, I had a hair appointment.” The bigger issue of education relates to the children with less discipline who have “lower case” ‘reading/writing/and ‘rithmatic’ skills and whose parents have glib answers to the shortcomings of today’s education in schools and who have facile explanations why their children are only achieving a Grade ‘C’ average.

With the Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z all having to interact and get along, it seems the characteristics above have swung the proverbial pendulum far from the middle. I believe what we’re to see in the next number of years will move that now-wildly-swinging pendulum to more of a balance.

The start-point to find a balance for that pendulum is to reinstitute cursive writing in schools and to teach the children to make longer upper loops, thereby fostering an interest far-reaching ideas, values and philosophies. This will give them a stronger focus they can apply other learning, and will provide a short respite from their many technological diversions. A longer, stronger attention span will, no doubt be an added benefit.

Handwriting: Generation Y

DOES TEACHING YOUR KIDS CURSIVE WRITING MAKE THEM BETTER STUDENTS AND PEOPLE? ABSOLUTELY…HERE’S WHY… - Part 2

Examples that illustrate the personality of the dominant middle-zone person: Upon visiting a restaurant where both server and hostess were Generation Y, upon mistakes being made in seating and food order, the Generation Y response was “Whatever” and “Nobody told me.” The hoped-for mature, professional response “We’ll remedy that right away; this shouldn’t have happened” was gone.

In another example, a Generation Y’er was late for work and, when questioned, responded “Hellohhh! I had a hair appointment.” On yet another occasion relating to absenteeism, on being asked why they had reported for work three days out of five, the Generation Y’er retorted, “Well, do you want a good happy employee for three days, or a bad one for five days?”

A boomer told me this story: On observing two Generation Y people standing right in front of each other who were texting back and forth, she approached the pair and said “I might seem a nosy older woman, but why are you two texting one another when you’re standing together?” They replied, “Because we don’t, like, want anyone to, like, overhear our conversation.”

Get the idea? All of the above may very well explain, in part, why many from Generation Y prefer to live at home with their parents well into their twenties (no, Martha, it’s not because of the economy). While I appreciate that not all Generation Y folks fit the examples and descriptions above, many of you reading this, I’m sure, will be able to relate on some level with stories of your own.

So, what does all this have to do with handwritten script? The middle zone (lower-case letter area) is the area of the ‘immediate’, as I explained. Those with a dominant middle zone (termed the mundane area, represented by lower-case letters) and very short upper zone (termed the abstract area, represented by upper loops) want everything NOW. Many boomers were taught they needed to plan and save and then buy that house, that fridge, that car. Generation Y (and soon Generation Z) of the large middle zone feels they want it now and can merely put it on their charge cards, not likely thinking of the consequences until the bills come in.

We are, whether we realize it or not, in the middle of a quiet revolution and its new opportunities. The technical mind-set and different brain wiring of Generation Y and Z make it appear rational for the schools to put less emphasis on cursive writing. But is this really what we want to do?

Although Generation Y and Z have this technical mind-set, it is also crucial to re-institute the now-absent sense of responsibility and consideration of others. It appears that Generation Y and Z have a free pass on these qualities, resulting in the “Whatever” attitude we witness all too often. This consideration of others should not go out the window with cursive writing and other basic skills.