Cursive Writing

Olivia

Olivia

Well-known Member
Location
Hawaii
I have really never understood why so many schools no longer teach cursive writing. And recently I've heard that there are several U.S. states that are mandating that cursive writing be taught.

The other day I watched a program where a son was writing a note to his mother and he wrote in print. It seemed so slow and laborious (and not very attractive at all). I just don't understand it. Is it because everything now is written on computers and so handwriting is no longer needed except when absolutely necessary? In my opinion, cursive writing can be really beautiful. I don't feel the same about handwritten print.

There are now some U.S States mandating that cursive writing be taught in schools.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7fc0b8e3d9cc
 

Olivia said:
I have really never understood why so many schools no longer teach cursive writing. And recently I've heard that there are several U.S. states that are mandating that cursive writing be taught.

The other day I watched a program where a son was writing a note to his mother and he wrote in print. It seemed so slow and laborious (and not very attractive at all). I just don't understand it. Is it because everything now is written on computers and so handwriting is no longer needed except when absolutely necessary? In my opinion, cursive writing can be really beautiful. I don't feel the same about handwritten print.

There are now some U.S States mandating that cursive writing be taught in schools.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7fc0b8e3d9cc
Click to expand...

I seldom write anymore. That is with a pen on paper. Mostly it's on the computer. And when I do write on paper it's often a mix of print and cursive. My cursive never has been that good. And now that I am old and my hands aren't as steady as they used to be it looks like a chicken got ink on it's feet and walked across the paper.
 
I wonder, has cursive been dropped in the rest of the western world as well? Or only in the U.S.?
 

I think it would be a shame that this kind of skill is being lost. To me, it is similar to an art, like calligraphy for instance. Of course, calligraphy has been going by the wayside by signs made through technology. Manual sign makers have been one of the casualties. Just a sign of the times, I guess (pun intended--haha).
 
Trade said:
I seldom write anymore. That is with a pen on paper. Mostly it's on the computer. And when I do write on paper it's often a mix of print and cursive. My cursive never has been that good. And now that I am old and my hands aren't as steady as they used to be it looks like a chicken got ink on it's feet and walked across the paper.
Click to expand...

LOL

I have good cursive handwriting when I take the time to write with focus. But when it comes to having to write quickly as in taking notes at work in in a class, I can't even read my own writing. But I guess now lectures are probably recorded on smart phones. But when it comes to taking notes in a meeting that have to be turned into minutes, using a recording can get to be quite a job.
 
I guess I'm resistant to change, but logically there's no reason to learn cursive. It would be handy to know how to sign your name, though. How would that work on legal documents, checks, etc. if you don't have a "signature?"

And of course all those handwriting analysts will be out of a job. :D
 
At first, I thought cursive not being taught in school was horrible. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I wrote more than a sentence in cursive. And most cursive writing can be "decoded" and read only by the author, since our penmanship is so lousy. I'm a Civil War Nut and have read lots of soldiers' letters. Most of them are examples of calligraphy, not like today. Is cursive that essential, today? I dunno.
 
I agree with fuzzy when I first heard that cursive writing was being abandoned I thought it was horrible.

Now that I've given it some thought and adjusted to the idea I don't see it as a big deal.

Times change and we need to change with them. There must be many more important things for kids to learn these days than cursive writing.

Out with the old
scriptorium.jpg


and in with the new.
9404260_orig.jpg
 
Maybe I'm just nostalgic because I remember how much I loved learning cursive writing in school at a desk with that round hole where the ink bottle went. Yup, just another old dinosaur cursing the world that has less and less of the personal touch anymore. To me, it's not just writing to communicate, but just a beautiful skill to have and to express oneself in the most personal way.
 
If writing cursive is not taught, then reading cursive will be lost as well. Then there will come a day when many/all will no longer be able to read the constitution , bill of rights etc. That would make the time ripe for changing either, & or all. Perhaps to fit an agenda?
 
I have the second-worst handwriting in America (after my late husband who definitely had the worst...). Actually the handwriting I do with left hand backwards looks better than what I do with my right hand forward. I was the despair of my grade-school teachers. Outside of my signature, I seldom use cursive.

My granddaughter came to me when she was about six and said, "Meemaw, could you teach me curtsey?" So, I showed her how to curtsey. "NO!!! I want you to show me CURTSEY!!!" "Well, honey, that is how you curtsey." "NOOOOOO! It's like letters but it has curves!" OH, cursive! I told her that I was the last person in the world she wanted to teach her cursive.
 
rgp said:
If writing cursive is not taught, then reading cursive will be lost as well. Then there will come a day when many/all will no longer be able to read the constitution , bill of rights etc. That would make the time ripe for changing either, & or all. Perhaps to fit an agenda?
Click to expand...
I can't read hieroglyphics either. I would need a translation in plain text to be able to read an Ancient Egyptian story.

The same with historic documents. There are plenty of plain text versions of important documents such as the Magna Carta and the US Constitution to allow people to study them more easily. I wouldn't worry about kids not learning cursive script or copper plate. I would worry if they were not being taught analysis and critical thinking skills. These skills inoculate them against the things you fear.
 
I totally agree and I love writing. My Grand kids live outside of Washington DC and they are being taught cursive.
Olivia said:
Maybe I'm just nostalgic because I remember how much I loved learning cursive writing in school at a desk with that round hole where the ink bottle went. Yup, just another old dinosaur cursing the world that has less and less of the personal touch anymore. To me, it's not just writing to communicate, but just a beautiful skill to have and to express oneself in the most personal way.
Click to expand...
 
I was educated in Catholic schools,they used the Palmer method,you started making swirls and proceeded to the letters,very fancy,I can always pick out the handwriting of someone who learned that way.
We had nuns,you had better learn cursive and do it with your right hand or here comes the ruler.
We had a penmanship category on our report cards.
I know in my grandsons school they start with tablets in kindergarten,my son said they don't even use the blackboard.
 
I agree with you Warrigal. Educational subject matter seems to fall into two general categories - that which "needs to" be taught as basic adult survival skills and that which is "nice to" teach as enrichment. Our world has become so complex that any classroom time spent on the "nice to" supplants teaching of the "need to". Being able to write in cursive is nice, but I don't believe it is essential.

Many of my most valuable classes in school were single-semester electives. There I learned to use a family budget and stay out of trouble making simple financial contracts. Only there did I learn about effectively managing my personal health and wellness. And it was there that I was taught to read a newspaper article and see beyond the hype and spin and do my own research. None of these were part of the core curriculum and I don't believe this type of material is being taught seriously in most schools even today.

If an 18 year old old can graduate high school and not stumble into a world for which he is ill-prepared, making poor choices and finding himself in jam after jam, then really I don't care if he can write in cursive or not. JMO
 
Cursive is that elusive charm you spot when you receive a postcard with a message written in beautiful cursive.

Print just doesn't cut it.

You can always tell an artistic person because they write beautiful cursive with their own personal flair.

I remember starting out in school learning to print the letters.

Then we were taught to join the letters with a line to each letter. That then became cursive.

Official documents look so much better when presented in cursive. They look, well, official.
 
C'est Moi said:
I guess I'm resistant to change, but logically there's no reason to learn cursive. It would be handy to know how to sign your name, though. How would that work on legal documents, checks, etc. if you don't have a "signature?"
Click to expand...

A few moments ago, I E signed about two dozen real-estate documents by clicking on the highlighted areas
 
When writing a letter, or generally anything, I start out really really good.
One can easily read it
And it’s proportional

At least that first sentence

Then

Thinking I’ve got this cursive thing licked,
while deep in thought on what I’m writing,
and not how I’m writing,
things rapidly go south.

And if it’s that really really fancy stationary paper, where there are no lines?
My sentences physically go south, as in downhill

Then I have to over correct
Creating heaving paragraph cleavage
Slaloming down the page

It is then,

after pulling away to examine my little unique creation,
I neatly and properly fold my letter twice,
slip it into the fancy envelope,
lick it sealed,
take it to the post office

……and toss it into their paper recycle bin

Then go back home and email whoever it was that I errantly thought required fancy paper

There’s a reason it’s called cursive

Nothing has changed since fourth grade
 
Gary O' said:
A few moments ago, I E signed about two dozen real-estate documents by clicking on the highlighted areas
Click to expand...

Yep. The last few years I was working, even documents filed in the courts were not hand signed anymore. We just filed and signed documents electronically. It made life a heck of a lot easier, and prevented that last minute dash to the courthouse. We also served documents on other counsel electronically, which saved having to make 5,243 copies of everything and saved a fortune in paper and postage.

And hardly anybody actually writes checks anymore. I haven't written a paper check in years.
 

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