Learning To Write/Writing To Learn - Inform Science.
Since cursive writing isn't emphasized after third grade, few students are getting enough practice or reinforcement to make cursive automatic. In other words, when the student no longer needs to think about how to write but can focus on what they want to say in their writing, the skill becomes automatic. How long this process takes may vary from child to child but it is certainly longer than the third grade. When kids aren't taught how to learn penmanship properly, they make it up, develop bad habits and handwriting never becomes fluid or routine. In many cases it becomes illegible. One of the results of the reduction in practice of cursive handwriting is that more and more students are printing. Many parents are unaware that their kids cannot write in cursive or in some cases cannot read cursive. Scenarios like the following are surprising many families.
Grandma writes a note in cursive on the birthday card she gives to her sixteen year old grandson. She is shocked to hear him say he can't read cursive so he doesn't know what she said.
Mom asks her thirteen year old daughter to sign her name on a savings account bank deposit slip. Her daughter prints her name on the signature line. When mom asks her to also write her name in cursive, her daughter replies that she doesn't know how to write in cursive. She always prints her signature.
