Most people remember learning how to write in
cursive back in elementary school. The teacher would draw all the
squiggly-looking letters on the blackboard as we tried our best to mimic each
loop and line.
But now, children in Indiana's school systems will
no longer be required to learn to write in cursive, as Indiana's Department of Education will make
it optional for schools to teach this style of handwriting.
Instead, the department is focusing on students'
keyboard use. Indiana will enforce more typing programs because it makes more
sense in
our day and age, as computers become a larger part of our professional
lives.
“I’m really not on one end or the other,” said Ericka Hostetter, a mother of three. “I see the points of both sides, but to tell you the truth, I probably lean more toward the keyboard.”
While encouraging better typing skills is a must
for today's digital age, TIME's NewsFeed brings up
a valid point: How will Indiana children know how to sign their name?
"When you're born, someone signs your birth certificate. When you're married, you have to sign your marriage license. When you die, someone's going to sign your death certificate. All these things are important aspects of your life," said Doug Kennedy in an interview with WKRC.
"I think it's a shame, because as long as we have hands, handwriting is going to be important for some kind of human communication."
Indiana's Department of Education will begin
making cursive optional starting this fall.