Cursive: Is It Dead?

So, Stephen's niece is in 3rd grade, and she's starting to learn cursive. I was talking with Stephen about it, and he basically said what I've been thinking: why the hell do we teach kids cursive? I've had quite a few professors who have refused to take up tests if the student wrote in cursive, and most people know how to type nowadays, so legibility issues are a thing of the past.


So: why cursive? I only use it for notes, and only then in classes that are lecture-intensive; it's much quicker for me to hand-write in cursive... except for when I have no clue what I wrote when I'm studying.

How ya doing, buddy?

If I had to hand something in, I'd go script but it's pretty much cursive all the time otherwise. I grew up in Jamaica until the 9th grade though and you pretty much have to stop using script completely once you hit 5th or 6th grade or teachers won't grade your work. I was just used to doing everything in cursive.

Chicks dig my handwriting.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I sign my name in cursive, and use it to write checks (which themselves are becoming obsolete). It does seem pointless to teach kids cursive, but it's one of those things that's just ingrained in society, I guess.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I personally, think; that maybe. the time wasting on teached kids "cursive" could, be better spent on teached the kids better, grammar and writing. skills.

know what i mean?

All the cursive in the world isn't worth shit if you can't, fucking form a proper sentance in - the first place.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

They still teach cursive in primary school in the off-chance that someone will want to be a doctor when they grow up.

"Here, I've prescribed this, take it to the pharmacist"
"Als...a...four...flaeggxeapo... squiggly line?"

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Tokubetsu

If I had to hand something in, I'd go script but it's pretty much cursive all the time otherwise. I grew up in Jamaica until the 9th grade though and you pretty much have to stop using script completely once you hit 5th or 6th grade or teachers won't grade your work. I was just used to doing everything in cursive.

My elementary school teachers used to say that's how things were in middle and high school, but not a word of it rang true. Teachers had a hard enough time trying to read students' printing let alone cursive.

The only time I remember needing cursive was the paragraph on the SAT that I had to copy stating that I wasn't cheating. It was pretty obvious that most of the people in the room didn't really remember how to write in cursive, and the proctor had to write out several of the letters on the board. Pretty useless to learn.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I write naturally with cursive letters, though I modify some letters which suits me best. I can write scripts, but eventually the scripts will turn back into cursive.

The education system here still obliges children to write in cursive, then give them the choice to adopt the style they prefer after they enter high school. They claim it's to form the children's writing skills and characteristics, though I don't see it at all.

FELIPE NO

I always found cursive a pain in the ass to write. When you say 'script' I assume you mean individual and unconnected letters, which is how I always naturally wrote. That said, I find it difficult to write anything by hand at all.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Back in my salad days we had, as one of the requirements in English class, something called a "formal theme" composition. We were supposed to write an essay, and transfer it to a "formal theme book". It had to be in cursive ink, and any erasures or white-out marks are severely punished.

That sort of stuff makes little sense, the more I think about it. Other than fostering obsession-compulsion, it's practically the triumph of form over substance. Ehh, at least left-handed people weren't penalized for nonconformity, as they were a generation ago, thank God for small favors.

Cursive is a relic of the past. The only thing keeping it in the curriculum is inertia. It's harder to read compared to print, and I'm not sure if there's really much of a speed differential to it. I find myself preferring print because writing in cursive on the right side of your notebook, with your left hand, can create a fair bit of ink stains.

Much like the QWERTY keyboard layout which results in inferior typing speeds compared to DVORAK, we don't change because by Godfrey, that's how we've always done things in the past!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I learnt to write with what you guys call cursive before school. The thing is, because my mom taught it to me, I learnt the standard that was used in the 60s. It was a disappointment to learn in the first grade that they'd simplified all the capital letters to look less like calligraphy. Writing didn't feel cool anymore.

I still use cursive but I've adapted it into my style of writing with separate letters. They're not all separate. Certain groups of letters are easiest and fastest to write without lifting the pen inbetween. Plus it looks more fluent.

More recently, I learnt the cursive again, but in an interestingly different way when I began studying Russian. They still pretty much use cursive there when they're writing by hand, and if you don't practice writing it also yourself, you will never be able to make out the writings of another person.

From what I understand, it's not taught at school here anymore. Children's handwritings have become unreadable, say the teachers. I guess it kept some sort of control in the whole thing by adding a standard which strived for fast reading by a trained eye (the teacher).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Zergrinch

Back in my salad days

I've never heard that term before.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Fail at English colloquialisms.

Also, I hate how captial F's look in cursive. Hate 'em. So, because my last name starts with an F, I lowercase it in my signature.


And capitalize the E at the end of it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I find cursive much more efficient. I write in one long, steady flow. I will write in print when I think someone is pretty dense and has a hard time READING, or when it's something that must be legible (like a mailing address).

I think if you're going to take the time to hand-write something, might as well make it pleasant to read.

Letters, notes, and journal entries or whatever are always, always, always in cursive. I don't even think about it. I dislike print visually - it looks so disjointed.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by wvlfpvp

Also, I hate how captial F's look in cursive. Hate 'em.

At least they've finally changed the proper way to write Qs. Used to look too much like a "2"... One reason why I never used my middle name in signatures.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quincy?

How ya doing, buddy?

When writing for myself, I tend to use a mess of a mix between cursive and script, but when I'm going to be submitting something I have no choice but to write in script. The main reason being that I know for a fact that my most speedy way of writing is a complete mess, so it would amount to handing someone a piece written in a non-existent alphabet to ask someone to read it.

Additional Spam:
Qevin?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I seem to have developed a mix rather like Rychord's. It takes me longer to write entirely in script or in cursive, I assume because I've just become used to my own particular style. It doesn't matter which way I write anyway, because my writing is so small usually I'm the only one who can really understand what it says without using a magnifying glass. I have tried to alter the size but it just peters down again like I'm writing inside an invisible diminuendo.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

Quincy?

Qrrbrrbbblll

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by DieSeLFueLeD

I think cursive can help kids write faster if they combine it with their own natural writing style. I wouldn't have my current cool form of writing without it.

I can pretty much transcribe word for word of someone speaking at a moderate speed using cursive, while I'm probably a quarter of that speed or slower when trying to write in ... 'non-cursive' (what is the word for not writing in cursive?). My writing is so illegible though that I usually need to transfer my notes to a computer within one day else I won't be able to read them.

If I am turning something in and striving for neatness though I would probably go with non-cursive, as me trying to write neatly in cursive seems to take more time than writing normally.

With classrooms allowing the use of computers and even in some cases allowing the recording of the audio of a lecture the necessity to take fast notes by hand may be a thing of the past. It probably does help add some sort of structure to the human brain though, or at least help someway in the minds development so I feel it should still be taught in schools.

Just be glad you don't live in China and need to learn tens of thousands of characters in school.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Non-cursive = print

Around 7th grade I had the best cursive form out of most of my classmates, nowadays I would struggle just to write this sentence. I created a bastard amalgam of the two, somewhat, for my own writing like everybody else.
Whenever I see somebody else writing cursive, it takes an effort to decode what they've written.

The only benefit I see in cursive is that it encourages better penmanship. Just like practicing throwing a football can improve your skills at throwing a baseball. Two different things, but same idea. Being skilled at both improves your overall skill.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I always referred to non-cursive as either printing or manuscript. I dunno why.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Printing your letters when you write is really slow and it makes whatever you've written look like it was written by a child, or a retard, or both. I would certainly never consider employing anyone who couldn't manage legible, joined up writing.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

As someone who took mechanical drafting for years in high school, I print everything. I don't think I write any more slowly than anyone else, and it's nigh impossible to mistake what I've written because it's laid out so very clearly. I barely even remember how to write in cursive because the only time I ever use it is when I sign something.

FELIPE NO

I love cursive! I know three scripts, my favorite is still ye olde Spencerian. My usual handwriting, though, is like many of the people here: a personal bastardization of print and cursive. Cursive is handy for writing formal things, and letters to my grandparents, and making signs.... and it's so pretty. ^_^

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I have a theory about cursive. I think that the only reason that the style persists is signatures. In that case, we should only have to learn the letters that we'll use. Even then, signatures modify letters all the time and it doesn't end up looking like cursive any more after that. So it is essentially useless.

Jam it back in, in the dark.