Cursive Writing
Philly’s Cursive Writing Problem and Why it’s Worse Than You Think
A student unable read his name in cursive and another student unable to author his signature represents a large problem in Philadelphia often ignored.

By Christopher “Flood the Drummer®” Norris          

6.2.15: Philadelphia – (Politics): Nearly a dozen young Philadelphia students at City Hall last week, mostly male, lined up in front of the Philadelphia Police Commissioner to get his autograph after he finished listening and responding to a handful of young people’s concerns and inquiries related to police brutality and improving community relations.
One student, after getting the back of his sign autographed, looked at me and said “What does it say?” The Commissioner’s message, as it was to all the students, was their name; “Best Wishes”; and his signature. I pointed to the kid’s name on the paper and asked him: “Do you know what this says?”

“No,” he replied.

“It’s your name,” I said.

The student then smiled and ran off to join his peers, but I was stuck in a daze. I couldn’t process that a student, who was at least in the 3rd grade, couldn’t read his own name in cursive.

My one experience, however, doesn’t compare to the years of illiteracy that Mrs. Lorraine Troy, a resident of the Overbrook section of the City, has witnessed in her more than a decade of volunteerism with a diversionary program ran out of Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

At the conclusion of the Youth Aid panels, said Mrs. Troy, students – the majority of who are considered behavior problems – are asked to sign contracts.

A teenage boy, she said, was not only unable to sign his name, he could barely read the contract, which included words like required, fulfilled, obligated and referral. The young people’s cursive is so bad that Mrs. Troy often has to trace out their names and let them practice several times before signing the contract.

“When it first happened… I didn’t understand,” said Mrs. Troy, who said these illiterate students range from 8-17. “I contacted the Board of Education but never got a response,” she added.

Mrs. Troy, the founder of Choice Mentoring, a nonprofit focused on producing events that increases children’s self-esteem, manners, sense of self and awareness of society’s diverse offerings in employment and entrepreneurship, has long expressed a concern about this issue and is “so excited” that members of Philadelphia City Council are picking up on the problem.

City Councilwomen Blondell Reynolds-Brown and Janie Blackwell want the instruction of cursive writing to be made mandatory, according to an article published by the Philadelphia Daily News last Wednesday.

“You need to sign your name to do anything as an adult,” said Mrs. Troy, who conceded that while students’ inability to read and write is a problem, an even bigger problem is the School District of Philadelphia’s lack of transparency as it relates to matters of funding, a concern expressed last week by City Council President, Mr. Darrell Clarke.

City Councilman Clarke last week sent a letter to the school district requesting a detailed breakdown on how it spent the $372 million in new funding approved by Council in the last three years, report the Philadelphia Daily News.

Councilman Clarke said the district’s response was basically nothing.

“We don’t have access to any information to know what we’re funding out how to measure outcomes, said Mrs. Troy, a lifelong Philadelphian, who while concerned about the district’ financial stability, said Philly has a problem money can’t fix. “Environment is important…we need more parent participation,” she added, before conceding that many parents struggle in the same academic areas as their children.

How we get more parents to care, said Mrs. Troy, is the million dollar question. But until more parents are fully vested in their child’s education, she implied, the future of Philly education looks bleak.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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