Thanks to the N.C. General Assembly, the children of our state are going to leave elementary school thoroughly prepared — for life in 19th-century America, maybe.
A bill passed last week will require schools to teach cursive writing and multiplication tables by the end of fifth grade. There has been no indication that Gov. Pat McCrory might veto it, but he should.
Despite how commonplace calculators have become, one could make a solid argument for the importance of basic mathematical skills like mental multiplication.
Mandating training in cursive, however, is a waste of time and money. And unnecessary additional requirements are the last thing state education needs after all the cuts the legislature has already recommended.
In our modern world of keyboards and texting — where even email seems to be slowly losing relevance — cursive writing serves no purpose. Students quickly lose these penmanship skills in middle school because they are given no reason to maintain them.
The practical purposes of cursive are dwindling. Beyond the required pledge on the SAT, the only benefit students might gain from maintaining these skills is a better personal signature or the ability to forge another’s.
It might seem hypocritical to attack cursive training for not being directly practical while also supporting the liberal arts and other ventures that aren’t oriented toward technical skills — but there is a basic, fundamental difference between them.
Training in cursive consists of rote mechanical learning — without any of the critical thinking or intellectual stimulation that comes with other “impractical” educational practices.
Instead of taking even more time and money from classrooms all across the state, North Carolina should leave those resources to the educators themselves.
