Poll of the Day: Should Kids Still Have to Learn Cursive?

Cursive, once a mandatory skill for nearly all children in elementary school, may soon be phased out of education altogether in Michigan, which is one of 44 states that has adopted the Common Core State Academic Standards so far. The standards barely mention handwriting and focus instead on technology and keyboard skills in the classroom.

Detroit News columnist Marney Rich Keenan laments the loss of handwriting, commenting in a recent column:

"Apparently, with the ubiquitous keyboard at our very fingertips, handwriting skills are now deemed irrelevant to the real world. Never mind that in the 1700s and 1800s, before the advent of the typewriter, professional penmanship was actually a noble career. Cursive writing is now becoming a dinosaur; hieroglyphics to the coming generations."

Others believe cursive is an outdated skill that is no longer necessary.

"Curriculum should be evolutionary. It should evolve according to what the needs of society are," said Jill Fox, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Houston-Victoria, in a recent Victoria Advocate article. "And as we're seeing more and more of what we do go online, there is less and less that needs to be handwritten."

Do you think kids should still have to learn cursive, or is cursive unnecessary and simply a thing of the past? Vote above and comment below!

Do you have a poll question you want to ask? Leave a comment on this article or email your name and question to jen.anesi@patch.com.