Cursive or ASL: Which Should be Taught in School?

As of today, only 21 states require students to learn cursive in school. Some states being Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Texas, Virginia, and many more. Iowa does not require the teaching of cursive in school.

Why is there a big stigma on teaching cursive in school? There has been scientific studies that show learning cursive increases writing speed and improves the ability to read. Although people can improve, there can also be a possibility where the writing is not eligible because they wrote too fast. Teaching cursive is very time consuming for parents to help at home. Also, it takes away valuable learning time for main subjects. If you do not practice enough, you can easily forget how to write in cursive. The only thing that may improve because of cursive is your signature.

Just like learning cursive, learning ASL also takes time from the main subjects. Though it can take time, you can learn ASL while learning a subject to associate words with what you are learning. By learning ASL, we can communicate with a wide variety of people. We can communicate with deaf people, mute people, and children who do not know how to speak or write yet. ASL means American Sign Language. Therefore, some signs can be different in other languages. ASL can help improve hand-eye coordination and helps interpret body language better. The only downfall is that you have to consistently work on ASL to remember it.

In my opinion, I believe that schools should teach ASL instead of cursive. Then, we can all learn how to communicate with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. I remember a lot more ASL than I do cursive. I learned cursive in elementary school and I do not remember a thing. My signature is just a bunch of random squiggles that make sense if you squint your eyes.

Should ASL take the place of cursive in school?

Would you be willing to learn ASL?

Cursive Sites:

https://mycursive.com/the-14-states-that-require-cursive-writing-state-by-state/

https://www.aop.com/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-cursive#:~:text=%2D%20It%20can%20be%20time%2Dconsuming,than%20print%20and%20create%20confusion.

https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/top-10-reasons-to-learn-cursive/

ASL Sites:

https://www.berlitz.com/blog/benefits-learning-sign-language

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Replies

  • I dont think ASL should take the place of cursive because I see it as like learning a new language something that kids can wait to do tell indermidiate, school middle school, or highschool while learning cursive and how to read and write is a basic thing that should be taught early. I Would learn ASL just because its not bad to have to many skills.

  • I would personally love to learn ASL in school rather than cursive. I think I learned cursive too when I was little but can't remember a single time I've actually had to use it; on the other hand, I would use ASL in my day-to-day life if I could, just imagine how cool it would be to be able to make someone feel included by being able to communicate with them!!!

  • I would be more than willing to learn ASL because it means you can comunitcate with people who are deaf and can't hear or that are mute. I belive that it should replace cursive because we only use it when you are practicing or for your signature verses if you learn ASL you could get a lot more use out of it.

  • I dont think they should replace cursive with learning ASL.  If school were to want to teach kids ASL they should make it a class that you can join if you want and it isnt required. Becuase people use cursive for a lot of things and you need to know how to do cursive to sign your name and its nice to be able to read cursive. Becuase many older people use it. But I do get how ASL would be very useful to many kids. 

  • ASL should take the place of cursive because the only thing we really use cursive for is our signiture and most people just draw sqiggles. I would be willing to learn ASL if it was requiered or if I knew someone that was deaf.

  • I don't think I can make a decision on which is more important. I can see how both are helpful. I learned cursive in 6th grade and don't remember much at all. I just put my signature in print. I would be willing to learn basic ASL. I don't think I would put a bunch of time to learn all words.

  • ASL is much easier to read then cursive. that is why i think we should only be taught ASL.

  • I personally think ASL is more useful in schools. Everyone will comfront a person who is deaf or has specical needs. And it will be very useful in that case. Cursive is only useful for signatures.

  • I think that ASL would be more benifical then cursive, but yet everybody needs to learn some cursive so they can sign papers as they get older. I personally would not take ASL because I have no reason to take it, maybe sometime down the road I would need to learn it.

  • Kids should be taught asl in school rather than cursive. Teaching ASL is a lot more useful than cursive, you really don't need it for anything besides your signature, and that doesn't even have to be in cursive. I would also love to learn ASL in school and be able to communicate with those who can't hear or speak.

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