Another problem with not learning cursive... (public schools, illiterate, teachers, law)

[Moby Hick]

They made me learn cursive in grade school but I haven't used it for anything but signing my name since 1985 when a high school teacher said I could print because she could not read my cursive. It's never been a problem since.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

I don't think I have written and sent a letter in cursive for 15 years -- and probably not received one. It is a lost art. But I am working to preserve my parents' war letters from WW2. There are several hundred letters, all in cursive. They both had good handwriting and since I read it for years as a kid, I was familiar with their writing. I have Civil War letters from a Union soldier in cursive with iron gall ink that is more difficult to read. The worst is cursive writing in pencil on postcards sent 120 years ago. Pencil fades quickly in light after a century.

You don't add hand-written notes to Xmas cards or other greeting cards? I do. Does that mark me as a dinosaur?

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

You don't add hand-written notes to Xmas cards or other greeting cards? I do. Does that mark me as a dinosaur?

Not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs didn't really have the ability to hold a pen You may be getting old, though. I know I am. Plus, there's always Grandma's ghost asking "have you sent your Christmas cards?" or "Have you sent your thank you cards yet?".

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs didn't really have the ability to hold a pen You may be getting old, though. I know I am. Plus, there's always Grandma's ghost asking "have you sent your Christmas cards?" or "Have you sent your thank you cards yet?".

What, do people only send e-cards now (if they send anything at all)? Hallmark (etc) is still cranking out greeting cards for all occasions, and the card market is still flooded with infinite variety at Xmas.

?

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

You don't add hand-written notes to Xmas cards or other greeting cards? I do. Does that mark me as a dinosaur?

I do. I just print it.

[2Loud]

This is made-up panic porn. We don't use an "f" looking letter for a medial "S" any longer either. Oh! ... the humanity!

I haven't written in cursive in 40 years. It's made zero difference in my life in not doing so.

I took a drafting class in high school and never looked back. Have written in all caps all this time. Anyone can read it. A squiggle and a line are enough for any signature, whether electronic or hand-signing documents.

The inability to read cursive will make zero difference in anyone's life. Today you can read literally any language by just holding your cell phone's camera up to a foreign language document — translation on the fly. Technology has already conquered it.

In my office, I can't think of a time in the last few years when I hand-wrote anything in my daily work. Don't have a pencil, paper, printer, or copier. It's all digital. Including signatures. Heck, I can't speak or read Korean but my co-workers are in Korea. What they type is translated on the fly. Same with my English the other way.

This too will be the same with Cursive. It will go the way of using "f" looking letters for a medial "s" in documents. Language and writing is an ever-evolving forms of communication. Technology will blur that line as it evolves. Cursive is certainly not the pinnacle of the written language.

[rabbit33]

"And this 'Santa Claus', he travels in a sleigh drawn by reindeer?"

"How do they hold the pencil?"

- The Book of Leviathan, Peter Blegvad

[Cida]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Why was cursive taught in middle school? What era was this in? It used to be part of gradeschool education.

I was just thinking about the implications of generations growing up not being able to read cursive, OP. Among other things, it means they wouldn't be able to read a handwritten note on, say, a birthday or Christmas card, or a thank-you note written by someone from an older generation in the family. Cursive now is like a secret code only people above a certain age can decipher.

Me, too. I don't remember any cursive, certainly not "drilling," after the first few years.

If you read the article, it mentions just what you refer to, the inability to deal with things like personal notes.

[E-Twist]

It's a lot faster than printing, and there are times when a person needs to leave a message. Maybe be that explains why people will hit a car in a parking lot and just leave. They can only use a phone and computer for leaving messages. They have no paper or pen/pencil, don't know how to write, and have no email address to send one to. They are just flummoxed!

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by Sherifftruman

As mentioned, reading cursive and being taught how to skillfully write it are two different things. I was never taught to write an ‘s’ as a fancy looking ‘f’ with an extra line but I managed to be able to read the founding documents on the wall of my high school just fine.

People are overstating the difficulty. Unless we're talking about reading poorly-written cursive, but that's not a failure on the reader's part, IMHO.