Thank you all for your input! I'm just furious because I still have a young child in school. Those who could care less probably don't have any kids in school. It's just how things were always taught and what we know now is something our children will not know in the future! Hence the dumbing down America!
If cursive is no longer taught in schools, something else will be taught in its place. Kids aren’t going to be “dumbed down.”
The “dumb” thing to do would be to continue to teach the same things year after year without evaluating the curriculum to see what is actually important for kids to learn. Fifty or so years ago children were taught short-hand and were taught nothing on computers. Obvious reasons for that, but do you think that would be the proper way to educate children today? Of course not. The intelligent thing to do is to adapt. I was taught cursive in 1994, and now in 2014 like most people I know my age, no longer use any cursive. The real question is learning cursive writing in 2014, going to be a necessary skill in 2034? Things change. When I was taught, we didn’t even have a computer and just a single landline telephone. Now I have a smart phone, and kids younger and younger are getting them as well.
I don’t have any children yet, but if I did, I would want them to receive an education that was going to prepare them for their future, which shouldn’t be the same education I received. A lot of things I learned are no longer relevant or useful. I would rather my children be able to teach me things, similar to how I taught my parents how to use a computer. Education should be forward thinking.