Writing vs. Printing
December 16th, 2009
It came to my attention not too long ago that the art—and yes I’m calling it an art—of cursive writing is dwindling fast.
This is an outrage, I cry!
There are many reasons put forth, I have no doubt. I’ve heard that it is felt that there are too many pressures on students and this is yet one more. It is a skill that is no longer necessary with the onslaught of computers and texting and keyboards and blah, blah, blah.
Excuses, excuses.
Cursive writing is a skill that should not, cannot, must not be lost, certainly not to entire generations to come.
If nothing else the act of cursive writing lends speed to ones communication. This was in fact the very reason that the lack of cursive training came to my attention. I was scribbling out a check at a grocery store and looked up to see the young cashier staring at me in something like fascination. When I looked askance, she commented that she’d never learned how to write in cursive and couldn’t believe how fast I could write.
And here I had no idea that cursive writing was not just a normal part and parcel of elementary education. I clearly remember practicing those first rudimentary swoops and swirls and strange shapes that I wasn’t entirely certain would ever resemble actual letters. We were living in Alaska at the time and I had a particularly clever teacher who made the repetition fun by having us create a drawing from our cursive capital letters. I still recall I had the letter F and I made it into a sailboat. And though drawing has never been my strongest suit (though oh, I wish it were) I’ve never forgotten that small awkward sail boat made from the letter F. Cursive was more than just writing, it was very near magical. And learning it felt like an accomplishment that never quite left me.
What do you think?