Cursive writing is fading skill, but so what?

[Roon]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Charleston resident Kelli Davis was in for a surprise when her daughter brought home some routine paperwork at the start of school this fall. Davis signed the form and then handed it to her daughter for the eighth-grader's signature.

"I just assumed she knew how to do it, but I have a piece of paper with her signature on it and it looks like a little kid's signature," Davis said.

Her daughter was apologetic, but explained that she hadn't been required to make the graceful loops and joined letters of cursive writing in years. That prompted a call to the school and another surprise.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32925695/ns/us_news-education/

[rockymountaindem]

1. I'm getting to the point where it's a point of pride for me to make all my notes in cursive

Especially because some people my age (22) seem to think it's an arcane skill. In my senior year of college 2 years ago three girls were sitting behind me saying "remember when we had to write in cursive all the time?" I turned around with my binder open and said "like this?" You would have thought there was a picture of a unicorn in there, they were so surprised.

[rcrush]

2. I learned cursive in elementary school but it was never enforced during high school and after

The only time I use cursive is if I have to sign my name but I just scribble some lines pass it off as my signature.

[Chan790]

3. I say "Good Riddance" to it.

I haven't used it in years, I don't even use it to sign my name. I draw a neat little signet picture. More secure and unique.

[LeftyMom]

4. As long as students can write legibly at a reasonable pace, I really don't care what it looks like.

I'd be quite happy if more effort went into teaching students how to write with reasonable structure and content. The writing I see produced by young people these days is frequently just embarrassingly bad, and I find out that they're getting good grades and positive feedback. I really think their teachers don't want to put the effort in, and figure somebody else will make sure Little Timmy learns to write something worth reading.

[WinkyDink]

17. Ah, there's the rub: I used to have students ask for "extra time" because, as seniors, they were

frickin' PRINTING. Like elementary-school children.

[suninvited]

5. I was so excited to enter the third grade

because that meant I got to start writing in cursive and I had been practicing all summer! The first paper I got to hand in was in perfect cursive. The teacher told me I wasnt allowed to write in cursive until the whole class had learned it. What a let down.

[jakeXT]

6. A friend of mine wrote in capital letters in university, I think it was a smart move

because you could read it easier than mine in cursive.

I tried to write in capital letters, but I wasn't fast enough.

[Drunken Irishman]

14. That does sound tedious.

One thing that does suck is cursive can be hard to read if it's jumbled together. Unlike most penmanship, it has to be really good or it's extremely difficult to read.

[hunter]

7. No matter how hard I tried I never could.

I had teachers from 5th grade through high school who tortured me for that. I hated the teachers who required cursive on exams because I knew the answers but couldn't finish on time.

Typewriters and computers made writing fun, but my usual chicken scratch writing is legible and quick even though it takes up a lot of room. In college I'd always have to use two or three blue books for a single book exam.

[fizzgig]

8. i think it's unfortunate that penmanship is a dying art

i hated learning cursive, but it's second nature for me now. i did some handwritten reports for my supervisor a couple of months ago and he was shocked that i write in cursive.

[MrsBrady]

9. This headline would have made my grandmother livid.

She was an expert in cursive, taught it to all her third graders, and her writing looked just like the text book.

Are teachers really accepting homework from students that look that bad?

[Ikonoklast]

10. It must only be done with a sharpened quill and ink from an ink well.

Cursive writing done with an 'automatic' or 'ball-point' ink pen is not acceptable.

[susanr516]

11. I like writing in cursive

imo, it's much faster than printing. However, it's a dying art. None of my children write in cursive other than their signatures. I enjoy cursive because I think it shows so much more of your personality than printing.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Cursive writing is much more expressive of one's personality

than is printing. I took a course in graphoanalysis several years ago and it's really amazing how much can be gathered from cursive writing as opposed to print.

I've always looked on cursive writing as an art form. The vain side of me likes it when people say, "Oh, you have such beautiful handwriting."

[Drunken Irishman]

13. I've always been bad at cursive.

I can read it and I guess kind of write it, but yeah, not nearly as well as my mother.

My mother's cursive is amazing. Mine looks sloppy and rushed. I hate signing things because of it.

We were taught in elementary school, but that was it. Never enforced throughout the rest of my school.

[XemaSab]

15. The other day a girl next to me in class said "you have beautiful writing"

I was sort of shocked because most people say my writing is horrible.

Maybe I should write in cursive more often. :)

[elocs]

16. The only cursive I've written in decades is my signature and that's not entirely cursive,

but a mix of print and cursive. The purpose of writing is to communicate and if you cannot write cursive well or legibly, or you find it tedious and time-consuming, then what is the point?

I can remember maybe 17 years ago when I officially changed my signature from the way I learned to perfectly form the cursive letters the way I was taught in grade school to reflect the way I really wrote at the time and to reflect who I was at the time rather than how I learned to write cursive.

Other than my signature I personally have no use for cursive.

[WinkyDink]

18. More's the pity.

Sorry, but printing is a step backwards.

[elocs]

19. Sorry, no. The point of writing is communicating, and my cursive fails at that.

Noncommunication is a step backwards.