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

You need to be a member of History 360 to add comments!

Join History 360

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies

  • Great topic choice and well written summary Katie! Be sure to define ASL the first time you mention it. You eventually do but not until the end of the paragraph where you talks about it. Assume your audience doesn't know.

    Also be sure to comment back more frequently.

  • I do personally think that teaching ASL in schools would be much more beneficial and useful than teaching cursive. In the digital age cursive is a lost skill that is no longer necessary to communicate. But, ASL will always be useful to better communicate with those that are hearing impaired. I would 100% be willing to learn ASL in the future. 

  • I totally agree with you. I think teaching ASL instead of cursive will be more useful, specially when you can comunicate with deaf poeple. As you sead, cursive would improve reading and writing skills but as long as students spend enough time to learn it and practise it regullary, otherwise they may forget it. I would totally be willing to learn ASL as I think it is a very useful skill to know. 

  • Replacing cursive with ASL is a great idea because it is a good way to have kids have more ways to communicate. Lots of kids don't understand cursive at all so having everyone use print is easier to read and I find it takes longer to write cursive.

  • Personally I think schools should teach more ASL because ASL is a type of communication/language you can learn to commmunicate with a classmate that is deaf. It would also look very good on a resume that you know ASL which could posssible count as a new language, as on the other hand cursive is more of a formal type of writtin. 

  • I think schools should teach both. I've had lots of typing classes in elementary school which came very easy for me and they should've offered cursive. Then in Hs or Ms they should offer Asl. I think both are an important thing in todays soicety and should be taught.

  • I think they should stop teaching cursive and start teaching ASL because some of your classmates might be deaf you can talk to them with ASL. It also might benefit us out side of school too like if you go to a food place and your waiter is deaf. 

  • I think that they should still teach a little bit of cursive in school, but I think they should be required to take ASL. Now days not many people use cursive unless you are signing things. I think that more people encounter deaf perople that ASL should be a nessesity.

  • I think that ASL should take the place of cursive. I learned cursive a couple of years ago and use it once or twice every single year. I also think ASL would be more useful because we would be able to help people who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

  • I beleive ASL should take the place of cursive in school because the only purpose of cursive is really just for you signature. I beleive its better anyways to learn ASL because of knowing how to talk to deaf people and its not a bad skill to have. I would more than willing to learn ASL just so I know how to use it and be able to talk to any deaf people.

This reply was deleted.
eXTReMe Tracker