Educator Weston Kincade, English teacher at the Akron Digital Academy, weighs in on the cursive writing debate to offer his opinion on why such instruction is not needed in the classrooms of today's society.

To Kincade, cursive writing instruction is outdated and therefore a waste of time and the evolution of similar outdated methods of instruction over time.

"The technological revolution that started in the 1970s and '80s brought many new types of written communication: email, texting, instant messages, and even electronic books. This changed society immensely, and in doing so sometimes outdated skills fall by the wayside. Look at the abacus as a prime example. With the invention of the calculator the abacus quickly became archaic," he said, in an article on Cleveland.com.

Kincade understands the counter-argument, that cursive writing has its place in history and creates a writing that is unique and individual, "like a literary fingerprint."

"However when you look at cursive as a tool and consider whether such skills are necessary in modern society, cursive is simply one form of communication. The world is full of different languages, some old some new, but all of them are constantly changing -- much like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs," he said, according to the article. And ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, he said, are taught to specialists only, which is likely to be the direction that cursive instruction will go in. This should be embraced, he argues.

Read the full article here and comment below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

05/11/2015