How do you feel about the death of cursive handwriting?

[Doc4]

Put these two things in front of the average highschool student nowadays, and you will be met with a blank stare ... and specifically, a stare blanker than the normal blankness of the teenager's "resting dopeface".

I'll suggest that one ought to still be able to read an analogue watch face in today's world, and don't see that changing anytime soon. On the other hand, I also suggest that the skill of knowing how to use a slide-rule is something that we don't need to really focus on anymore.

Cursive, I'd suggest, falls somewhere in between.

 

[oc_in_fw]

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Put these two things in front of the average highschool student nowadays, and you will be met with a blank stare ... and specifically, a stare blanker than the normal blankness of the teenager's "resting dopeface".

I'll suggest that one ought to still be able to read an analogue watch face in today's world, and don't see that changing anytime soon. On the other hand, I also suggest that the skill of knowing how to use a slide-rule is something that we don't need to really focus on anymore.

Cursive, I'd suggest, falls somewhere in between.

Looks like my K&E Log-log Duplex Decitrig

 

[Bob L.]

View attachment 1067314
View attachment 1067315

Put these two things in front of the average highschool student nowadays, and you will be met with a blank stare ... and specifically, a stare blanker than the normal blankness of the teenager's "resting dopeface".

I'll suggest that one ought to still be able to read an analogue watch face in today's world, and don't see that changing anytime soon. On the other hand, I also suggest that the skill of knowing how to use a slide-rule is something that we don't need to really focus on anymore.

Cursive, I'd suggest, falls somewhere in between.

The slide rule has been relegated to the same pit as the abacus. My students love to watch me demonstrate the arcane mysteries of the slide rule. Come to think of it, so do most of my fellow teachers. Round / analog watch faces are still prevalent. When a kid asks me if they can pull out their phone I point to the wall clock and ask someone to explain how it works. Got to admit, I love my entertainments!

 

[The Knize]

One of them has an insight that is missing from the other four.

Do you mean the potential distraction of surfing the net rather than actually taking notes?

FWIW, I find it hard to take notes on a lecture on a laptop, although I compose, edit, etc. on a computer all day long. I am not sure why that is. I am not a great note taker, period.

 

[AshleyC]

I was military for many years. Professionally, you just don't use cursive on DA Form...whatever...to record the data you used to fire three 155mm guns at a target 14 miles away.

You print it.

A couple years back I tried to get back into cursive writing. It was kind of an ordeal. I had to concentrate on what I was doing. I got into fountain pens. Ink.

But...why? I don't write people letters. I call or text or email them. If George Washington could text or email the Continental Congress, do you think HE would bother with quill, ink, and parchment? Heck no.

The times, they are a changing.

 

[back_to_shaving]

I love cursive writing and calligraphy in general especially nastaliq.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Rare picture of Abraham Lincoln texting out the Gettysburg Address

 

[Macbeth]

I've taught cursive writing to my high school seniors Advanced Placement classes for over 20 years.
I convinced the school to buy fountain pens for my students and I gave away many expensive ones with the help of some vendors . I had them practice in class how to develop their own signature. And supplied many inks from Noodlers.

Several of my students were accepted into high end colleges that told them that a handwritten letter of recommendation tipped the scales for them.

I taught them that men of distinction and quality carry fountain pens and write with them
So, I've done MY part because there are at least 3,000 cursive writers. And with fountain pens.

 

[Whilliam]

Sad to say, but years of working crossword puzzles has reduced my hand to printing ALL CAPS. (But at least I use a fountain pen.)

 

[Bob L.]

I've taught cursive writing to my high school seniors Advanced Placement classes for over 20 years.
I convinced the school to buy fountain pens for my students and I gave away many expensive ones with the help of some vendors . I had them practice in class how to develop their own signature. And supplied many inks from Noodlers.

Several of my students were accepted into high end colleges that told them that a handwritten letter of recommendation tipped the scales for them.

I taught them that men of distinction and quality carry fountain pens and write with them
So, I've done MY part because there are at least 3,000 cursive writers. And with fountain pens.

I've done the same with my middle school students. It's amazing how hard they will work for a fountain pen.

 

[Tedolph]

Well, it is making a come back-handwriting recognition softwear recognizes cursive much better than printing.

 

[MrSpeedy]

I've done the same with my middle school students. It's amazing how hard they will work for a fountain pen.

I teach middle school as well. We have a lot of lower SES/Title I kids. I'm not too worried about them writing in cursive when so many can't read at grade level. I would teach them how to send a proper, professional email.

 

[Bob L.]

I teach middle school as well. We have a lot of lower SES/Title I kids. I'm not too worried about them writing in cursive when so many can't read at grade level. I would teach them how to send a proper, professional email.

We've found that using a cursive script built off a "print" letter form works well with IEP'd, 404'd, SES'd, and Title 1 kids. Check out Getty-Dubay Cursive Italic. The letter forms are designed to emphasize clarity/readability. We teach these kids to create legible printing and then merge them into connecting the letters. Typing does not engage the brain in the same way hand-writing of any form does. Lots of articles and professional papers/studies on this...

JMNSHO

 

[George Kelley]

We have a dumber down education system.

 

[Bob L.]

In the mid-to-late 1970s the US education system started listening to parents who felt student self-esteem was being harmed by low grades. The solution... make it easier to score higher. As a country we fell down that long, slippery slope for over 40 years. We have been trying to climb back up for over the last 15 plus years. We have a huge way to go...

 

[chinmusic82]

It’s odd that even though English isn’t our first language, all of us were taught cursive in school and my son is now learning it in the first grade.

Good luck on your quest OP and others too.

 

[Tedolph]

We have a dumber down education system.

Well, if you insist on educating everyone to the same standard no matter how stupid they are with the same curriculum to avoid tracking what do you expect?

 

[Tedolph]

In the mid-to-late 1970s the US education system started listening to parents who felt student self-esteem was being harmed by low grades. The solution... make it easier to score higher. As a country we fell down that long, slippery slope for over 40 years. We have been trying to climb back up for over the last 15 plus years. We have a huge way to go...

Not quite. The good students always did well and didn't have "self esteem" problems. The problem was the poor students who did poorly. Somehow, the educational establishment convinced parents that this was not "fair" and so everybody had to be educated to the same low standard so that the morons would feel good about themselves.

It was a real downer when those moron students entered the job market. After all, they did so well in school!

 

[Bob L.]

Not quite. The good students always did well and didn't have "self esteem" problems. The problem was the poor students who did poorly. Somehow, the educational establishment convinced parents that this was not "fair" and so everybody had to be educated to the same low standard so that the morons would feel good about themselves.

It was a real downer when those moron students entered the job market. After all, they did so well in school!

You hit that nail square on the head. The drop in expectations was driven by parents and other adults who felt all kids should feel good about themselves and their actions all the time. This did not and still does not help kids in the long run. This includes the kids who did and are doing extremely well in school. Kids should be challenged to the point where there are no "easy A's". An "A" should mean that 92% of the population doesn't frequently see them. That's reality.

 

[Tedolph]

You hit that nail square on the head. The drop in expectations was driven by parents and other adults who felt all kids should feel good about themselves and their actions all the time. This did not and still does not help kids in the long run. This includes the kids who did and are doing extremely well in school. Kids should be challenged to the point where there are no "easy A's". An "A" should mean that 92% of the population doesn't frequently see them. That's reality.

Reality doesn't matter anymore. Probably hasn't for the past 20 years. That is why we are on the mess we are in right now.