One Hand on the Pen, Two Hands on the Wheel

I have a couple things on my mind this week which I think are worth mentioning. At first glance, they may seem separate. However, if you bear with me, I think you’ll see how they are connected.

The two items I’m referring to are the recent news that some school districts have decided to no longer teach cursive writing as part of their elementary curriculum and the second is several news reports indicating that the number of serious accidents involving drivers leaving the scene has increased in the metro area.

A recent story in the online version of the Indianapolis Star Tribune reported that starting with the fall semester; students will no longer be required to learn cursive writing skills as part of the third grade curriculum. Instead, state officials have said students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use.

Overlooking the issue of whether or not the state should be mandating such rules to the local districts, is this a good development for the students of Indiana and what does it portend for our society at large?

You can probably imagine I don’t believe the answer to those questions is “good things.”

According to the article, the state of Indiana considers this a positive development because it brings them in line with the Common Core standards which do not stress teaching cursive writing at all and are being adopted by most states. Beware Missouri!  

I’m surprised Indiana's educational bureaucrats did not trot out some Education Ph.D. person to tell us how this will “broaden the student’s core competencies.”

I tend to believe that one of the things our schools should prepare students to do is live in the real world where things like cursive writing are still very much part of our daily and business lives.

Indiana resident and Assistant Vigo County School Superintendent Karen Goeller stated that her district will continue the training because, “Research has shown that handwriting does make a difference in the perception of a student’s knowledge and ideas.”

Or, as one comment to the article pointed out, cursive writing teaches neatness, pride of ownership, discipline, motor skills and works well when the power is off.

As to the issue of drivers leaving the scene of serious accidents, I do believe we are seeing a trend in our community. As an example, on June 8 in St. Louis County, a motorcyclist was struck and injured by the driver of a car which did not stop at the accident scene. And on July 5, less than a month later, a pedestrian was struck and killed in St. Louis city by a vehicle driver who also did not stop.

Some could say that it’s possible to strike something while driving and not know you’ve hit anything. But how can you strike a motorcycle or person hard enough to cause serious injury and not know it? 

My concern is that we’re seeing one more example of our culture’s failure to enforce personal responsibility and care for fellow man. Regardless of any opinions you may have about seeming Judeo-Christian values in play, I think we could agree that our society is becoming averse to fulfilling the rolls that we all need to accept in order to make our daily lives manageable.

So how does turning our backs on cursive writing and an increase in fleeing felons relate to one another?

It’s all about building better humans, folks. We, and through us, our schools, should be teaching the skills that make our children become adults who embrace discipline, knowledge and ideas about how to care for and about each other.

When we don’t do that, either in our homes or in our schools, it can result in the loss of personal communication skills and the loss of compassion for others.

Either loss is one I believe we cannot afford.