Wednesday, June 30, 2021

GET ME REWRITE: Some sponsors of Wisconsin bill requiring cursive writing be taught in schools are in need of remedial classes




State Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt and state Sen. Joan Ballweg, along with senators Alberta Darling, Stephen Nass, Howard Marklein, Lena Taylor and Van Wanggaard, reintroduced the bill, which is similar to AB 459. That bill passed the state Assembly in 2019 before stalling in the state Senate during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Co-sponsoring the bill are state representatives David Armstrong, Rachel Cabral-Guevara, Barbara Dittrich, James Edming, Gae Magnafici, Clint Moses, David Murphy, Jeffrey Mursau, Donna Rozar, Ron Tusler, Michael Schraa and Daniel Knodl. 
If passed, the bill would require that cursive writing be incorporated into the state's model academic standards for English language arts. Specifically, it would require elementary students to be able to write legibly in cursive by the end of fifth grade

Some of the sponsors' signature can be found below.  Looks like we have a number of candidates for remedial classes.




Wisconsin Public Radio


1/20/2020 update, "The Wisconsin State Legislature tackles the big issues:  Cursive writing",l starts here.

The GOP goofballs of the committee, all white guys

Assembly committee backs mandatory cursive education for Wisconsin students.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 1/23/2020)
Which means that 2 Republicans didn't bother to show up. On a 7-5 vote — with all Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed — the Assembly’s State Affairs Committee backed a bill that would require elementary students be taught how to write in cursive.

The diverse Democratic members
All you need to know

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'goofball' occurred in 1950.

Other coinages from the same year include:
  1. brainwashing
  2. closed-door
  3. deep fryer
  4. dry heaves
  5. dystopia


10/8/2019 update, "Wisconsin legislature tries to take it a step further by making cursive instruction mandatory", starts here.

Source:  Wisconsin State Legislature (highlights added)

'Beyond nostalgia': Lawmakers seek to make cursive instruction mandatory for students.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 10/8/2019)
Thiesfeldt, chairman of the Assembly’s Education Committee, said research suggests taking notes by hand, as opposed to typing, can lead to better comprehension and understanding of material, and cursive has long been billed as a faster method of note-taking compared to print handwriting. 
The use of cursive also requires a higher level of hand-eye coordination, which can be particularly helpful for younger children, he said. 
“It’s not just a nostalgic sort of skill that we want to maintain it just because people used to do it,” said Thiesfeldt, adding he’s had staffers in his office that have had difficulties reading his notes written in cursive. 

Sponsors, mapped.


Original 1/1/2019 post, "2018 in review:  Ohio state legislature offers encouragement to students to learn cursive", starts here.

Source:  Wikipedia

More cursive in schools: Kasich approves new lessons to encourage penmanship.  (Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/20/2018)
More than a dozen other states are reinstating cursive lessons in schools. Many states stopped teaching the writing style after adopting national Common Core curriculum standards, which did not require students to learn the handwriting style. 
Cursive proponents say it's about more than signing checks. The writing helps develop fine motor skills. Reading cursive is key to comprehending the nation's historical documents, such as the U.S. Constitution.
I used to go through a book of 25 checks in a month.  Now it takes me 2 years.

The original bill made learning cursive a requirement.
From 4/13/2015 letter to the editor in response to Columbus Dispatch article, "Bill would make teaching cursive a must'.
I loved the fourth-grade teacher who taught me cursive writing, and always wished to please her. I can remember making sure the top of the “f” reached the top line on my paper and the bottom of the “f” touched the bottom of the paper. 
Cursive taught me that I could have my own signature in writing and it would be different from anybody else’s.

The Palmer Method of Business Writing 

No comments: