<p>I’m a fan of writing in cursive; it’s much faster and looks better. I don’t think it’s that important that people know how to write in cursive, but it’s essential for them to be able to read it. I can only imagine that one day, kids will come home from school complaining that their teacher wouldn’t accept an assignment, because it was submitted in cursive…</p>
<p>My son got a wedding invitation this week, done in a lovely silver ink in a nice script font… about which he said “could they have made this any more difficult to read?” I thought he was talking about the ink; it turned out he was talking about the font!</p>
<p>The ability to write manually (sans technology) is a very important skill, at least in my opinion. I don’t think it bodes well that kids are going straight to the keyboard, and bypassing pen/pencil and paper. It will hobble them at sometime the future when they are unable to read a document written in legible cursive, or to write a potentially important message in the absence of an electronic tool. I can see it now—in a quarter century or so, there will be a professional field of Manual Writing Decoders, whose job it is to decifer twentieth century documents and manuscripts written in cursive. The average adult will know neither how to read nor write in cursive.</p>
<p>And in this magical world, no one has ever heard of printing? /laugh</p>
<p>Cursive is worthless.</p>
<p>If nothing else, it’s good for developing fine motor skills. They can always decide for themselves later if they want to use cursive, printing, or some handy combination of the two.</p>
<p>When my son was in about 4th grade I helped him do an easy cross stitch project to help his fine motor development. He wasn’t old enough yet to think it “girl’s work” and was pleased to hang the result on his wall.</p>
<p>Kids today spend so much time at the computer, from such an early age. Again, I’m not a child development specialist, but I feel they are missing out on tactile information that needs to come from the fingers to the brain, not just from the eyes to the brain.</p>
<p>My daughter had a teacher who taught her 7th graders to crochet (this was before knitting had its resurgence) during their lunch period b/c she thought it was good for them to use their brains/hands in a different way.</p>
<p>My 2cents. And didn’t typewriters used to have a cent key? Now where did THAT go?</p>
<p>From an early age, I was taught cursive handwriting solely. Still to this day, I use the cursive form. To my surprise, I receive so many kind compliments today of my beautiful handwriting whilst they still use print. Print was a manifestation of the 50s and 60s. Before these times, cursive was the sole form of handwriting.</p>
<p>I was taught to write in cursive in 3rd grade. Funny thing is 9 years later I still do. Cursive wasn’t really stressed while I was in school… we just did it in 3rd grade, and after that it was whatever. </p>
<p>I can’t even write in print (and I’m very serious about this) If I try to write in print it’s kinda of a struggle. When I write in cursive I write faster and it’s really easy.</p>
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<p>BRAVO Overseas, everyone should have a teacher like you!!! </p>
<p>Kids should also connect with their inner gardener, their inner logician, their inner scientist, their inner dancer, their inner poet…!</p>
<p>I remember LOVING making beautiful script. It is art. (Didn’t everyone practice their signature 20,000 times in the 4th grade era?!) I also loved doing pen-&-ink calligraphy at about the same age, 10-12. To this day my handwriting has traces of calligraphy forms.</p>
<p>My son just finished 3rd grade. For a special project, three moms in the class taught all the kids to knit. He was so excited to learn knitting (now he’s the only one in our family who can knit!) They made an afghan as a surprise gift for their teacher. Two nights ago we had friends in from Boston over for dinner. He proudly wrote out place cards for everyone-- in cursive.</p>
<p>One of my prized family heirlooms is this incredible autograph album that belonged to my great-grandmother. (She would have been a young girl in the late 1800’s.) Kids would write a verse or two about friendship and sign with flourishes worthy of being engraved in silver. The Cathloic school handwriting instruction, incredible though it is, has nothing on prarie one-room school houses! These kids would have been about 10 or 12 when they signed the book; the beauty is breathtaking.</p>
<p>I was a computer-before-writing kid, and while my handwriting wasn’t fantastic when I was a kid, it’s above average compaired to most people I know at my college. I learned print and cursive, but I only use cursive. It’s much faster and nicer looking, and it takes up extra space on essay exams! ;)<br>
I actually know several people that never learned cursive, or have forgoten how to do it. :(</p>
<p>I cannot write cursive. Most of my friends either cannot either, or know it simply as knowledge, but not a tool – given three minutes they can write one sentence in cursive, when print is about five times faster. I don’t understand why some people believe the lost art must be instilled into the new generation. After all, the more “fit” ways of life are becoming prevalent.</p>
<p>I am a switch hitter but I often use a hybrid common to older architects: all caps slanted, then joined like cursive printing. I am pretty darned fast with it too–after all those years of printing all the notes on working drawings.</p>
<p>Newer architects wouldn’t have a clue about stylized printing. Nothin’ but CAD for them.</p>
<p>My mother has the most beautiful and distinctive Sacred Heart cursive. I always loved it but didn’t have the discipline to copy it.</p>
<p>Heh, I’ve been writing cursive all my life, since 3/4th grade; I went to a private school that made cursive mandatory for all assignments. An assignment in manuscript would get a zero, and be thrown into the circular filing cabinet. I can see why teachers would forego teaching this writing form, it takes forever for the kids to master it.</p>
<p>My husband is an engineer. When I met him I noticed his wonderful perfect printing. All the cursive he was interested in doing was his signature and after we married I signed all his checks so he gave that up too. :D. I can’t print nicely to save my soul. It’s neat and easy to read, but it doesn’t hold a candle to what my husband does. I am a way faster and neater cursive writer. Our son has abysmal handwriting. He was taught by a lefty and she formed her letters from the bottom up and as a result all the kids in his class have pretty lousy cursive writing. In the interest of protecting their eyesight the teachers allowed my son to submit his papers typed in the 5th grade and from then on he never used cursive if he could help it. He is also a product of a Catholic education. I use cursive for everything, I avoid printing at all costs, so there are some of us who would rather not print.</p>
<p>My mother has the most amazingly beautiful perfect handwriting. It is also Sacred Heart training. She is also a lefty so some southpaws can write nicely. I am the only one in the family who can forge her signature. Not that I’d ever do that. ;)</p>
<p>When he took a Hs entrance exam coming out of 8th grade into 9th grade he failed it. When we inquired as to why we found out that he had printed his essay instead of following directions which asked for him to use cursive writing. It was marked zero for not following directions. When I aswked him why he did not use script he said he did not know how.</p>
<p>They stop requesting script in school shortly after it is taught in 2nd grade!</p>
<p>we asked them for partial credi since it was a fine essay, but to no avail( this was a parochial school he was applying to that had Zero tolerance…literally.)</p>
<p>My older son (18) is Dysgraphic – his handwriting is awful – totally illegible. He types practically everything he does. He never learned cursive properly, his printing is barely readable. He signs his name. That’s about it.</p>
<p>My younger son (15) has no LDs… but he still can’t write cursive. It was taught in 3rd grade, but never reinforced. He types as much as possible, when he takes notes in school he prints… his handwriting is immature – it still looks like an elementary school kid’s. </p>
<p>We’ve created a generation of typists, who have no idea how to hold a pen.</p>
<p>As for myself, I’m a great typist… my writing is sort of a hybrid of print & script. and very inconsistent at that.</p>