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I went to a catholic school that nuns taught at . They were also ones that taught the use of fountain pens I'm talking non ball point . I still use them and I still write cursive . They also taught short hand , typing and other office skills . I'm grateful that those nuns took the time to teach me that because I would have never gotten my job with the ADAs office . Yes speed is of essence and I don't see how you can write with any speed without learning cursive writing .If you don't know cursive how can you sign a will ? , they require a signature .
Cursive writing is like calligraphy. Most people can read it just fine, even though they may not know how to write it. My kid's school taught them to read it and sign their name. Done.
Perhaps that is a problem of the wealthy class? I rarely if ever find myself in the position of paying individuals for anything, especially when I have no cash. I don't buy big ticket items on Craigslist or at garage sales, and I neither borrow or lend money, nor do I ask others to purchase items for me.
I'm not exactly wealthy. I don't write a check directly to an individual on a regular basis. I was just saying that while checks aren't used as much has in the past, I'm surprised that so many people (at least in this thread) don't seem to use them at all.
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Plus, being a guy, it's not like I would carry around a check with me anyway.
The most important reason of all is that cursive hooks up the brain, the eyes, and the muscles of the arm and hand in completely unique ways that are singular to only the person who is writing. This complicated process creates a very special kind of small muscle function and coordination that helps everyone in so many ways they can't be counted. Our hands are extensions of our eyes. The more the pair are developed, the better a human can communicate with another human.
A notebook or a piece of paper needs no batteries for communication. Neither does a pencil or a pen.
Cursive writing was invented for one purpose- speed. Writing a letter in cursive is nearly as fast as writing on a keyboard, when the time used in composing is taken into account.
Paper communication is much more personal and carries more authority, weight, and emotional impact than the electronic word. It encourages the use of better spoken language as well, because it has greater impact.
Cursive writing helps eye-hand coordination, helps develop the fluid flow of thoughts, and will last in time far longer than the electronic word.
Think of the billions of electronic documents that were composed and are stored on obsolete computers that don't work now. Even if the computer works, there is no longer any way to get the documents out of the computer and on to a printed page.
The thoughts in all those words aren't obsolete. Only the machine is. If they were written in cursive, on paper, those thoughts could be read 100, 200, or 300 years from now and would still have the same impact on a human mind as when the ink that wrote them was still wet.
I use my computer daily, but I also keep a journal, and have, ever since 1990. I write in cursive, and I still possess most of my journals, though a few have been now lost to time. I began journaling a year before I first used a computer. I'm now using my 4th computer, and everything I wrote on 3 of them is now lost to me or anyone else, except for this one. In time, this one, too, will be obsolete and unaccessible.
I'm now on journal #70. All of them take up a couple of shelves in a portable book case. If I remember some event I want to revisit, all I have to do is remember the year it happened, and I can go back and re-read what I wrote in a few minutes. Anyone can read them.
Long after I'm gone, anyone could still read them. All a person would need is a sunny window to read them. If I could write this message longhand, I would. It's a more pleasurable exercise by far than wriggling my fingertips.
If I was to try to print the 870,000 words I've written over those years, I would have given up journaling long ago. It's simply too slow, and printing does not allow the fast flow of thought to page like cursive does.
Cursive conveys emotion like no other means, too. Everyone who writes cursively displays their emotional state very clearly in their handwriting. Every person's handwriting is as unique to them as their fingerprints too.
Printing masks these emotions, as a printed letter is either A or a. A cursive A can be written legibly in a hundred different ways and still look like an A.
All these reasons and more are why cursive should come back into our education system. Artificial intelligence is a big deal these days, and is growing bigger every day. Cursive handwriting is so human no artificial intelligence will ever look like it.
My school district went through five different styles of handwriting while I was an elementary school teacher (30 plus years), Palmer, Zaner-Bloser, Ball & Stick, D'Nealian (Modern Manuscript), and Handwriting Without Tears.
Don't know why it never occurred to me that there was more than one style. Turns out I was taught D'Nealian.
The most important reason of all is that cursive hooks up the brain, the eyes, and the muscles of the arm and hand in completely unique ways that are singular to only the person who is writing. This complicated process creates a very special kind of small muscle function and coordination that helps everyone in so many ways they can't be counted. Our hands are extensions of our eyes. The more the pair are developed, the better a human can communicate with another human.
A notebook or a piece of paper needs no batteries for communication. Neither does a pencil or a pen.
Cursive writing was invented for one purpose- speed. Writing a letter in cursive is nearly as fast as writing on a keyboard, when the time used in composing is taken into account.
Paper communication is much more personal and carries more authority, weight, and emotional impact than the electronic word. It encourages the use of better spoken language as well, because it has greater impact.
Cursive writing helps eye-hand coordination, helps develop the fluid flow of thoughts, and will last in time far longer than the electronic word.
Think of the billions of electronic documents that were composed and are stored on obsolete computers that don't work now. Even if the computer works, there is no longer any way to get the documents out of the computer and on to a printed page.
I would also note the computer has a wonderful recording of my grandmother singing "Take me out to the ball game" in the 1940s. Past through multiple generations of technology to end up a computer file.
The thoughts in all those words aren't obsolete. Only the machine is. If they were written in cursive, on paper, those thoughts could be read 100, 200, or 300 years from now and would still have the same impact on a human mind as when the ink that wrote them was still wet.
I use my computer daily, but I also keep a journal, and have, ever since 1990. I write in cursive, and I still possess most of my journals, though a few have been now lost to time. I began journaling a year before I first used a computer. I'm now using my 4th computer, and everything I wrote on 3 of them is now lost to me or anyone else, except for this one. In time, this one, too, will be obsolete and unaccessible.
I'm now on journal #70. All of them take up a couple of shelves in a portable book case. If I remember some event I want to revisit, all I have to do is remember the year it happened, and I can go back and re-read what I wrote in a few minutes. Anyone can read them.
Long after I'm gone, anyone could still read them. All a person would need is a sunny window to read them. If I could write this message longhand, I would. It's a more pleasurable exercise by far than wriggling my fingertips.
If I was to try to print the 870,000 words I've written over those years, I would have given up journaling long ago. It's simply too slow, and printing does not allow the fast flow of thought to page like cursive does.
Cursive conveys emotion like no other means, too. Everyone who writes cursively displays their emotional state very clearly in their handwriting. Every person's handwriting is as unique to them as their fingerprints too.
Printing masks these emotions, as a printed letter is either A or a. A cursive A can be written legibly in a hundred different ways and still look like an A.
All these reasons and more are why cursive should come back into our education system. Artificial intelligence is a big deal these days, and is growing bigger every day. Cursive handwriting is so human no artificial intelligence will ever look like it.
Sorry but that is all pretty much untrue. I have computer records that date back well over 30 years. If one wishes to it is relatively simple to recover older records. If one was reasonably careful there is no need. I have copies of hard drives from the 80s. I have lost a few things over the years but mainly due to carelessness. With the present technology and a little skill the records can go on as long as anyone cares. And they remain reasonably accessible and searchable...a task that becomes very difficult with written records after a few generations.
I am at the moment moving my mothers journal from the 40s and 50s to a computer format. I am preserving both her beautiful cursive writing and doing a text version that can be searched. Once up it will go to the whole family as a piece of family history.
I would also note our compter archive has a wonderful recording of my grandmother singing "Take me out to the ballgame" in the 1940s. Passed through multiple generations of recording devices int ended up a compter file.
This sounds like me. I had terrible handwriting. I like to think it was genetic because my parents did as well. In 3rd grade, my teacher in trying to motivate me to write better, gave a few of us overall high performers with poor handwriting "C"s as grades, thinking that would get it to improve. The reality was there was a ceiling to my performance in that space and it was much lower than the teacher wanted. My parents were pissed and I was crushed.
Fast forward 5 years, my cursive was so bad that my 8th grade english teacher forced me to start printing because she couldnt read my writing. From that point on I never wrote in cursive again.
Fast forward to senior year of college and it was time to take the GRE (both the general one and the Physics one). Each one had a multi-sentence statement which required me to copy in cursive in a small box. It was the most difficult part of the general GRE. [The Physics GRE was by far the most difficult test I ever took, but 20 questions correct out of a 100 earned me a 700.]
No one should be graded for their handwriting. Period.
Parents can teach it to their kids. I know some who do.
We were taught in public school back in the '50s but we were also required to take typing in 7th grade. BOYS and GIRLS had to take typing and all our papers in high school had to be typed. There were no computers, just typewriters.
It doesn't have to be taught as strictly as it was to us back then. Just learn to do it and learn to read it. It's not some mystery language.
Cursive writing is like calligraphy. Most people can read it just fine, even though they may not know how to write it. My kid's school taught them to read it and sign their name. Done.
Beat me to it!
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