7-Year-Old Reprimanded By Teacher For Writing Her Name In Cursive

A seven-year-old girl came home with a not-so-nice message on her class assignment: “Stop writing your name in cursive. You have had several warnings.” Come again? Since when is it wrong to sign your name in cursive? Also, it looks like the teacher started to write her little note in cursive, which is hilarious.

When her mother took the time to teach her how to write in cursive, I seriously doubt she thought she’d be setting her daughter up to be reprimanded in school. Who knows what the issue is here: maybe the school doesn’t want students learning cursive until they are formally taught. Maybe the school doesn’t have it in their curriculum at all anymore. Maybe the student has yet to master print. Who knows? The note specifically says “stop writing your name in cursive” which leads me to believe she’s printing the rest of the assignment. She’s probably just proud of the new skill her mom taught her.

It’s ridiculous to reprimand a student for learning faster than others. It’s appropriate to sign your name in cursive. She knows how. Why stop her? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that teachers don’t like to be disobeyed. Fine. But preventing children from writing their names in cursive is a dumb rule. Sometimes dumb rules need to be broken.

There is actually such thing as a “cursive debate.” There are some people who think it’s totally necessary, and some who think it’s a total waste of time and that time should be spent focusing on other subjects. We’ve started using computers and stopped using pens and for that reason many people don’t think it’s a practical skill anymore. I think they’re wrong. Kids should know how to read any document written in English. Learning cursive ensures that they will.

Is it crazy to believe that when kids get around to learning about the Constitution they should be able to read it? Why are we so quick to dismiss the importance of the written word? I don’t use long division EVER – but I’m certainly glad it’s something I know how to do. Come to think of it, there’s a lot I learned in elementary school, high school, and even college that only serves me when I’m watching Jeopardy. So what. Knowledge is power, people.

If my kids don’t learn cursive in school – I’ll be teaching them, thank you very much. But I certainly hope New York schools still cover it, because my cursive sucks.