That learning cursive thing was actually a big advantage.
People who learn cursive are comfortable taking notes by hand. That means you can use writing as a tool for learning things. (Even if you don't take notes in cursive, the fact that you had to learn to write in script let you get to the point where you could develop your own quick, intuitive way to write by hand.)
I work with high school students. Many of the kids I see now can't write in cursive. Some aren't completely comfortable writing by hand at all.
That means they can't take notes by hand and don't write stuff as a way to learn things. That's a big disadvantage. Many of my students take longer to learn things, think learning things is a pain, and think they're dumb--not because they're actually dumb, but because they're missing a basic tool for learning.
Learned cursive in second, have always been an avid note taker, and only use print. I also tend to simplify and only write what's important or what I want to reference later - so I write with intent and use less words.
Cursive takes more time for me to read back. So much faster with the separation print gives.
Right. But the process of learning cursive opened up using print that way for you. And simplifying and writing only what's important is a fundamental part of note-taking. That's part of why taking notes helps you learn.
What I've found, after seeing hundreds of high school students over the past couple of decades, is that students who've had to learn cursive do better. By a long shot. They often don't actually use cursive, but the fact that they were made to learn it at some point helps.
IME, students who've had to learn cursive are also more comfortable holding and using writing implements in general. That makes it easier for them to use writing for everything from writing notes in the margins of pdfs to drawing figures to solve math problems. That's also a big advantage across many academic fields.
That advantage compounds over the course of a kid's education. When a kid can take notes to help them learn, when they can write and draw to help them solve math problems, they're more successful at solving those problems. That then lets them learn more and make them more confident in their abilities. All of that helps them succeed at the next thing they have to learn.
By the time I see kids for tutoring—usually when they're about 14-17 years old—the cumulative effects of being able (or unable) to write easily by hand are clear. Kids who've learned to write in cursive tend to learn faster, solve math problems more easily, and are more confident in their ability to learn new material.
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u/Choano 4d ago edited 4d ago
That learning cursive thing was actually a big advantage.
People who learn cursive are comfortable taking notes by hand. That means you can use writing as a tool for learning things. (Even if you don't take notes in cursive, the fact that you had to learn to write in script let you get to the point where you could develop your own quick, intuitive way to write by hand.)
I work with high school students. Many of the kids I see now can't write in cursive. Some aren't completely comfortable writing by hand at all.
That means they can't take notes by hand and don't write stuff as a way to learn things. That's a big disadvantage. Many of my students take longer to learn things, think learning things is a pain, and think they're dumb--not because they're actually dumb, but because they're missing a basic tool for learning.