Today I read a web posting that posed the question "Is cursive writing a dying art?" It mentioned that cursive used to be taught from 3rd thru 6th grade, and now it is often only taught in 3rd grade.
I remember that we used to do what seemed like page after page of practicing cursive letters in what seemed like every grade in grade school. It was always the same - the page would start out great and about halfway through you could tell that I was getting tired or bored. Those capital "s"s started getting skinny and laying down! I always hated getting those pages back and the whole last line was crossed out and I had to redo them. Of course,we could all write pretty well and legibly. We didn't have an option! We had to write. We also didn't have the option of using a computer or even a typewriter. Everything was handwritten, and everything was cursive.I think that it was sometime in high school when we didn't have to always write in cursive any more. Somewhere along in there I stopped writing cursive all together except for my signature. One of the questions in the article was whether kids today will even have their signatures in cursive... an interesting thought. Every now and then I try to write in cursive and it's hard! I have to take my time and concentrate really hard to remember some things... like the tricks of how to tie the different letters together, and what a capital Q looks like, and that an "m" has three, not only two bumps.
I have tried to make it a habit as of late to write some things in cursive - you know - try to hold onto the skills that I have before they all fade away. My wife is incredible - she has beautiful handwriting and her cursive is wonderful to read - a real work of art. I think that there may be a guy/girl factor in this whole thing, too. The letter on the left could have been written by me.What about all of you? Do you still write in cursive at all?
I haven't written in cursive except for the signature on checks and other things in a very long time. I always print in my journal
ReplyDeletePeople used to tell me that my cursive writing looked very nice. Now that you've mentioned it, I want to try it out and see if I still can do a good job of it.
This has got me remembering an incident in first grade when we were doing just regular printing lessons and my teacher hit me with the magic ruler because she said it looked sloppy. After that I did it well. She did get in trouble eventually for using that ruler though - a classmate claimed that her hand bled afterwards which never really happened.
Nope. don't write in cursive anymore. don't even write letters, i email.
ReplyDeleteI'm not 100% sure, but i think they call it "script" now. I don't think the term "cursive" is used anymore.
LaraAnn - Yeah - most ALL the girls in my class had nice cursive writing! The knuckle rapping with a ruler would definitely land a teacher in a LOT of hot water today...
ReplyDeleteJoe - last year after my birthday, I - on a whim - bought, wrote and sent thank you notes to all of my family members that gave me gifts. I think one of the best gifts I got that year was their reactions to those TY notes!
You ought to try it sometime. It was kind of fun, and made me express my appreciation with more than just a "thank you" at the birthday party.
I always had a very difficult time with cursive writing. As a Catholic school kid, this was very important to the nuns. All through high school I write in print. It's painful signing my own name, if I could I would print it! Looks so much cleaner. Even font choices that are cursive scream pretentious and fancy -- so not my style :)
ReplyDeleteAlly - Cursive's definitely not for everyone. I'm just amazed to hear that it's thought that it may phase out entirely! Just today I was blogging with someone who thinks that within 10 years we won't even need to type anymore... we'll just talk to our computers to make everything happen, including "writing".
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if that will ever be the case, but just the fact that it's considered to be an option is kind of scary...
love the blog! i do write in cursive. i am a writer of the type that gets way too excited over clean loose leaf paper and a package of mechanical pencils ;) i write almost everything in long hand before i type it. i like the idea of composing on the computer but i just can't do it. i did however make this comment without pencil or paper ;)
ReplyDeleteMy 10 year old has excellent handwriting. She's going into fifth grade now, so I guess that will be that soon. =^( I write in cursive occasionally, but write t's that look like L's etc. My mind and hand don't quite sync like they used to in school. Heck.. we had to write everything!! No paperless projects for us!!
ReplyDeleteRead this post while listening to Steve Miller Band. Instant fan.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I do try to write cursive by sending out cards through snail mail. It hurts my hand because I press too hard but I'll never stop.
Hi, Suze - Thanks for the comments and the "instant fan" status! :) I'm looking forward to checking out your blog, too.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you're keeping up the hand-written cards. After my birthday last year, I bought and wrote out "Thank You" notes to all of my family members thanking them for their gifts and thoughtfulness... it about blew them away! Felt SO good to do it, and kind of made me think that it was the LEAST I could do.
You guys are DAFT and lame-o. Writing with your hand feels great, so expressive. Get a reflex pen so you can lean on that muva, and figure it out ffsakes! What a crew of lame-o's. It is an underpinning for our alphabet and how we work our flowing minds with the letters.
ReplyDeleteIt is a known fact that taking notes by handwriting is better for assimilating learning materials for example when attending a lecture.
ReplyDeletePersonally I love to hand write notes and stuff, not that I'm any good at it, I write like a doctor if you know what I mean. ;) - I am 46 now so my generation (in Belgium) had to write with fountain pens at school and as a lefty (south-paw) that caused much frustration; lots of smudging, overly slanted letters... hectic.
Perhaps for those who don't like handwriting, take a look at some of the examples of previous winners and contestants of the World Handwriting competition. see: http://handwritingrepair.info/WHAC/index.html
as will see the two styles the judge are;
MANUSCRIPT
sample:http://handwritingrepair.info/WHAC/Winners2011/AdultPrint1.gif
and Cursive
sample:http://handwritingrepair.info/WHAC/Winners2011/AdultCursive1.gif
I think it's awesome when people write that way - respect.
I am within a year or 2 of your age, and here in the US we never used fountain pens in classrooms. I started kindergarten in 1971/72 and we started with pencils then moved onto ballpoint pens.
DeleteMy father is a southpaw and was born in 1942. He lamented the overhand style taught to get the (correct) slant the nuns insisted on. And the ink-stained hand.
One of the funniest things I've read in a long time because it is so fitting. I write just like the most recent example. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shannon...
ReplyDeleteYour comments were "write" on! *sorry* - it's late... :)
Greetings from 2023. Cursive aka handwriting aka connected writing is no longer taught at all in schools. "Printing" is only taught. The idea is that it more aligns with computer/printed forms of communication. (And printed forms like newspapers and magazines are becoming more obsolete.) Many things are no longer taught in schools. Many adults today cannot tell the time from a non-digital clock. Ask them what time it is when the big hand is on the 2 and the little hand is on the 3 and they will look at you like you are speaking a language from an alien planet in a galaxy never heard of before. If not just laugh outright and ask what do your hands have to do with it. Truly, the last century has been the fastest moving century ever. So much technology has been good, but the loss of so many skills is a huge cost.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY apprecate your last sentence and so agree that while many technology advances have been wonderful in so many ways, the loss of so many skills is REALLY a huge loss. It's really sad to realize that our society - and the world at large - will move away from so many of these things as we embrace "social media" and actually become less and less in touch with others. I guess that we can all look forward to being able to communicate with each other in a "code" that none of the younger generations will be able to understand! :)
ReplyDelete