Cursive

Not sure if that is readable. I can read it but it is my handwriting. Although there are times when I write things out and I have no idea what it says. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I have arthritis and it makes my handwriting unreadable when I write more than about a half a page. So actually the above was the extent to what I can write and have it be legible.

So should cursive writing go away? Should we not even bother teaching it to children?

I understand that there are only so many hours per day to teach kids and that spending them time to teach something that they don’t really need in life is a waste of time. But there is something so beautiful about cursive writing. Something so elegant and personal about a letter written by hand. There is something artistic about handwriting that is done well.

My great great grandfather was a captain in the Civil War (for the side that won) and he kept a diary of his experiences. Since this was in the 1800’s, it was written by hand. He had the most elegant and absolutely perfect handwriting I have ever seen. It was like the examples of cursive writing that was above the printed letters in my classroom when I was in first grade. Every letter perfectly formed and spaced evenly in relation to all the other letters. The diary wouldn’t be nearly as interesting to read if it was typed on a typewriter or computer or, heaven forbid, been a series of text messages or tweets. When reading it, the handwriting makes me imagine him sitting by the fire carefully dipping his fountain pen in the ink and carefully noting the events of the day, which included the day he met President Lincoln. Because it was handwritten so beautifully, it made that event that much more profound. It wouldn’t have the same effect if it had been a tweet: “OMG! Just met Pres Abe!”

As I said, I fully understand maximizing the time children have to learn each day. But do we really have to sacrifice the artistry of cursive writing in order to do that? Do we have to give up the joy of developing our own personal handwriting that so much defines for the reader who we are? Shouldn’t we cherish this art form?

I really would hate to see it happen but I do think that cursive writing will eventually fade away.  It already has in the schools in Hawaii and Indiana, who have removed it from the curriculum. Forty-two other states no longer mandate teaching it. So it is dying. Slowly but surely. Which is just sad.