Ten years ago, a phonics guru told me that a reading program without cursive is inferior.

He said that mastering cursive accelerates the learning of the letters, which is the critical first step for phonics.

Since that time I've become fascinated by the education establishment's weird hostility to cursive. After all, what is cursive getting in the way of? Not much is being taught in our schools.

I believe that cursive is much more valuable than the education professors typically acknowledge. Beautiful writing requires discipline, precision, practice, and attention to detail. These are things that the modern school tends to scorn. Foolishly enough.

I would like to suggest that the hostility to cursive is irrational and counterproductive. Endless mush and slush is not a way to create educated students nor mature character.

This article discusses the phenomenon,"K-12: Why do they hate cursing so much?"

"K-12: Why do they hate cursive so much?"

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/bprice/200329

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PS: My book "Saving K-12" remains the best short summary

of what went wrong in our public schools.