CURSIVE: Teach write from wrong

I am writing this letter in response to the article Friday, Feb. 8th, entitled, “The Write Stuff.” I must admit, I was surprised, then proud. I was surprised that this was even an issue as my 5th grader, a student at Borah Elementary, has beautiful cursive handwriting and I remember when she learned it in 3rd grade, at Borah. So I asked her, “Can the majority of the kids in your class read and write cursive?” Her response, “yeah?!” (Complete with that preteen look of “duh, that’s a silly question.”)

So, I told her about the article. She did mention that there were a couple of kids who struggle writing cursive, and while the class wasn’t expected to write cursive all the time, their teacher (Ms. Domy) often wrote cursive on the board and they could all read it.

That is when I felt proud. Proud of the fact that my child has some great teachers who not only work hard at teaching math, reading, writing, ect, but who also take the time to teach cursive. Thank you Borah teachers, especially 3rd grade teachers Ms. Cooper, Ms. Cutler, and Ms. Adam (now teaching 5th).

While I understand that technology is resulting in less writing with paper and pencil, it is still a basic skill necessary for being a contributing member of society. And I find it sad the number of times I get an email or Facebook message and I have to decipher what the sender is trying to communicate.

CHRISTINA HEATER

Coeur d’Alene