" … Some say it’s another casualty of technology and an outmoded form of communication. The increased pressure on public school educators to adopt the Common Core State Standards — which don’t require handwriting instruction — is another reason it’s been dropped from curriculums across the country." …
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/24/does-cursive-writing-still-have-cred/30625319/
Cursive who?
I type so much that even my print-writing legibility has eroded.
These days, about half the times I sign my name, it’s on a touch screen with my fingertip.
Cursive is only slightly more useful than Morse Code.
If you want to pretend to be a woman over 70, have at it.
I have to admit, we did “encourage” our kids to learn to write cursive during elementary school. None do now, but they can read their birthday cards.
I believe that students still need to learn to print legibly (what do you do in an emergency and there is no keyboard?), but I don’t think it’s worthwhile to spend curricular time on teaching students cursive script. The rationale for cursive (“short” script) was that it took less time than printing block letters in an employment context; it was a trade skill. Now, of course, clerks don’t use cursive; they type. The time formerly used to instruct students in cursive should be used to teach elementary students how to type quickly and efficiently (no hunt and peck or weird idiosyncratic systems).
Is it useful? Yes. But even when I was a kid, it wasn’t taught past 1st grade. Once you learned the letters, you had to get better at writing them.
Only if it is readable. Legibility, is the first function, imo.
Do people still use phrases like “have cred”?
I got "C"s in handwriting because my cursive wasn’t pretty (Catholic school) but I’ll admit I find cursive useful. If anything, it might become more useful as more professors ban laptops from classrooms and you have to take handwritten notes. I, personally, write WAY faster in cursive (though I know of course this isn’t universal).
The students that work under me on my project can’t decipher the handwritten notes or signatures on the old forms that we work with. Luckily, most are typed but important letters from patients, notes from doctors/nurses, etc are written and I’m the only one who can decipher them so they all get sent to me. It’s a bit sad to me because I think my students are missing something by not being able to read the “extra” notes.
I think it should be taught still. It’s important if you want to work with old documents (and yes, history is important). I don’t think as much time and effort should be dedicated to it as there was in my Catholic school (ie 6 years of “handwriting” grades)
I remember learning cursive throughout my elementary school years. The only use I have for it today is to sign my name.
Are you good at signing on a touch screen, @Hunt? It must be a learned skill. My touch screen signatures border on the illegible.
I taught both of my children cursive so they could read official historical documents and old family letters. Reading and writing cursive is important on a personal level too. How are you going to read love notes if you don’t know cursive?
The cursive written thank you note, the cursive love letter, the cursive invitation will become a mark of class. I will bet a cartridge pen and a dozen peacock blue ink refills that those who will retain cursive skills will be looked as as more educated and ‘classy’.
I was taught to only use black ink for social correspondence, but that might be regional, and I sure can’t find much about ink color on etiquette sites.
My elders barely were able to ensure I was taught cursive. My handwriting is wretched. It was a losing battle with my children. I do still send handwritten notes, in cursive, on a regular basis. My kids and my brothers block print their notes.
I am not quite 70 yet.
My grandmother had a typewriter back in the 60s or 70s that had a ball of cursive type. I thought that was so cool!
Are college students these day have difficulties in reading cursive writing? I learned English writing from overseas (several decades ago) and use cursive exclusively when I write on the board during during my lectures.
I think cursive is something that people should know. I’m only 17, but I ALWAYS write in cursive. I don’t even remember the last time when I just wrote non-cursive.
Writing in proper cursive adds a touch of class and sophistication to one’s writing. It’s a bit faster too.
I’ve had a lot of occasions to write handwritten thank you notes lately. I write all mine in cursive, despite the fact that I think most people actually prefer to read print these days, because my cursive is quite legible and my print is not. I have dysgraphia so I do what I can do. I’ve sent probably a half dozen notes the last year. I don’t think most 26 year olds do very much formal writing by hand anymore, but most of the people I socialize with are twice my age.
My sister is college aged and not only did she learn cursive in school, but when she was taught printing they added all kinds of wacky tails and curls to their print letters in “preparation” for learning cursive. I think maybe they went a little too far there.
I always lost points for neatness in school but didn’t really get specific “handwriting” grades like Romani. Cursive was taught in third grade and then expected to be used for every assignment until we transitioned to typed assignments in high school. We all had the cursive alphabet on a sticker on our desks so we could see the letters if we forgot how to write one. I didn’t think that was a bad thing, although today’s kids probably need typing skills much sooner than I learned them. We started having the choice to type sometimes in middle school but it was still mostly handwritten cursive. I can see why it might be difficult to devote the amount of attention it would take to master both typing and cursive at the same time on an elementary schooler’s workload or even middle school. But perhaps today’s kids are picking up touch typing recreationally anyway-- I did.
U don’t need to be able to write in cursive to read cursive. And for a highly literate person, learning the reading of cursive is trivial.
Does anyone * really* care if a thank you or love letter is written in cursive vs print, so long as it’s handwritten?
I really don’t see any point in cursive. I haven’t written anything other than my signature in cursive in years. I really don’t agree that it looks classy or sophisticated as some have said. Rather it just looks old fashioned and a bit eccentric. The purpose of writing something for someone other than yourself is communication. If you write in a way that is more difficult for them to read, that seems to defeat the purpose.
My daughter has beautiful cursive writing. A teacher couldn’t read it and asked what it was. I thought he was an idiot (for other reasons too) that he didn’t know what cursive writing was or looked like.
I do think it is sign of a good eduction. Others don’t have to agree, but I do think cursive is important. My daughter is left handed and I truly believe learning cursive was a great thing. Before she’d had terrible fine motor skills even after 3 years of OT/PT. Her second grade teacher just said “This is ridiculous. You will learn it.” and she did. After that, she started drawing and became quite an artist too.
Today at the deli the specials were in cursive on white boards on the walls. Sure, you could ask for a salad, but then you might miss the ‘special’ salad!
My Catholic school educated Mom had that beautiful “Palmer method” handwriting.They stopped teaching that in Catholic schools by the time I entered Kindergarten, but penmanship was still a big deal. My mother was frustrated with my childish scrawl (even in the higher grades) and gave me some tips to have my handwriting go much faster and look more mature.
My lefty daughter (Catholic school until 5th grade) writes entirely in cursive, but doesn’t have the beautiful handwriting of @twoinanddone 's daughter. Very few of her friends know cursive. My son (only Catholic school for Kindergarten) only prints. He learned cursive for a brief time in 2nd grade, but never really practiced it. He demonstrated to me that he can print almost as fast as I can write, so I gave up. It was kind of embarrassing for him when he printed his signature for his apartment lease, but not a huge deal.
So I agree that cursive isn’t a necessary skill in today’s world, but I do regret losing that beautiful Palmer method style handwriting. Or maybe it’s just the people who wrote that way.