# cursive literacy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305 "2016-09-07T23:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/61 "2016-09-09T22:52:55Z")
I’ve always wrote in mixed case. I never got the hang of writing capital letters in script. I print capital letters and write lowercase in script. My handwriting is not pretty but it is legible. I answered a lot of essay questions on tests and the teacher never indicated any problems reading it. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/62 "2016-09-09T23:42:33Z")
When I write slowly my cursive is much neater, but I can print faster. Once I started taking lots of notes I went back to printing. I work at a Montessori school, where students still learn to write cursive. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/63 "2016-09-10T00:19:43Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > Suuure. > > Maybe today’s kids when they grow up will be ok with typing on glass rather than needing to feel the keys to be able to press the right ones, but even then it’s still a keyboard. > > It’s criminal that schools don’t learn kids to touch type. It’s the most important skill to have in the information age. It’s not typing on glass that’s replacing it–it’s voice-to-text. I type around 80 wpm, but I can still text my wife afterschool plans fastest by clicking the little microphone button. And when I’m teaching kids composition skills using Chromebooks, I teach them both how to use the voice-to-text function, and how to take responsibility for fixing the inevitable errors. If a kid wants to learn the skill of speaking clearly and distinctly and watching for goofy computer mistakes, that’s awesome, and for some kids it allows them to get to the meat of composition faster than any other avenue. Other kids adore the pencil on paper approach, and still others like to keyboard. All three skills get some attention, but ultimately I want kids to focus on things like organization, powerful language, and clarity of thought. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/64 "2016-09-10T00:59:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s not typing on glass that’s replacing it–it’s voice-to-text. I type around 80 wpm, but I can still text my wife afterschool plans fastest by clicking the little microphone button. I’m _this close_ to getting Siri to come out for a bite with me. ❤ ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/65 "2016-09-10T02:36:12Z")
I for one can’t wait till offices are full of the noises of people talking to their computers all day. But who knows it might reverse the trend towards cubicles, or “open” office plans :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/66 "2016-09-10T03:50:03Z")
Another for the cursive club - I write pretty much exclusively in cursive. With a Parker Sonnet fountain pen. In Iroshizuku Forest Green ink. It’s just fun to make all the swoopy letters. But I freely admit that it’s a dying skill; touch typing was the most useful thing I ever learned in high school. You’ll have to pry my Sonnet from my cold, dead hands, though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/67 "2016-09-10T15:12:14Z")
I can write in cursive, but give it up 40 years ago when I realized it was unreadable, even for me. I started to print all my letters; some can’t even read that. Luckily, I can touch type at 60wpm, so I rarely needed to write anything. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/68 "2016-09-10T18:00:32Z")
[Here is a recent article that covers some of the research on cursive writing.](http://nautil.us/issue/40/learning/cursive-handwriting-and-other-education-myths) The article mentions that some right-wingers have their panties in a bunch because they think without cursive nobody will be able to read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. That’s not a joke - I used to work with a guy who got most of his news from Fox and Breitbart, and he brought this up more than once. After first disabusing him of the ideas that cursive was being banned outright, and that this evil plot emanated from the Department of Education (which must of course be eliminated ASAP), my reply to the part about the Constitution was simply, “Pretty sure they have that in books now.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/69 "2016-09-10T18:30:27Z")
My older sister and cousin taught me printed letters before I started school (heck, I wanted to read books and the paper, not my sister’s homework), so when I learned writing in school in cursive (printed letters came only at the end of primary class), it was already a lost case and I never acquired a good handwriting this way, but stuck to cursive until finishing college. I was an avid note-taker in classes and could write quite fast, but had often troubles deciphering my own hand. After college, I rarely had to write by hand for other people, so I took up writing my own personal notes in print so that _I_ could read them myself, and almost every other writing I do is by typing (though I never learned to touch-type either, so my writing is crippled in every way ;). But I get around). I recently wrote my first ever hand-written personal letter in at least 20 years to a friend (in print), and got no complaints. Had I tried cursive, I guess the letter would have been undecipherable. I won’t shed any tear for the demise of cursive. I’m an engineer, and in communication I prefer clarity over aesthetics. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/70 "2016-09-12T22:55:50Z")
I stopped using cursive in college in the 90’s. I haven’t used it for anything but signatures since. If I thought I could get away with it 100% of the time without ever having a confrontation over it, I’d print my signature. In upper elementary through high school we were often forced to use it, I can’t recall a single instance in college where it was necessary. Papers had to be typed, homework and tests, profs only cared if it was readable, which meant printed was almost always a better choice for us to use. Cursive should be a read only thing, only taught now so people can read historical relics from the long long ago. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/71 "2016-09-12T23:11:01Z")
Think of cursive as a language. Would you make a entire generation illiterate in that language? Cursive needs to be taught. It would help tremendously if the cursive font in MS Word were improved. I’ve tried using them and was very disappointed. It’s a pale imitation of what handwriting should look like. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/72 "2016-09-13T01:21:39Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Cursive writers: is there a preferred penknife for whitling your quills? I usually go fountain pen; for quills I cheat and attach metal nibs/points. And I actually send letters snail-mail - average of say two a week and a couple cards. OK – I’m old. But I still enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/73 "2016-09-13T01:54:50Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Think of cursive as a language. But it is not. It is an archaic and utterly unnecessary script. > [@](#): > > Would you make a entire generation illiterate in that language? In this case, yes. There is no real point to it. It’s about as useful as teaching someone to write in ancient Sumerian. Or better yet, Pig Latin. Teaching a functionally dead ( but useful as a base ) language like _real_ Latin makes a lot more sense than teaching cursive. But what really makes sense is spending that time teaching something like touch-typing ( which I never was ). > [@](#): > > Cursive needs to be taught. Nope :). And again I say that as someone who was taught it and can read and write it. It really is a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/74 "2016-09-13T04:49:12Z")
My kids (twenty-somethings) will get a card from my mom, open it and immediately pass it to me to translate their granny’s gorgeous fountain-penned cursive. I love the elegance of cursive, but I teach †¥P0grapy, and we’re all about Communication Taking Place\*. Write a note to most Millennials in cursive, and nope, Communication Ain’t Taking Place… _Every semester I ask "Would you rather that the " **Bridge Out, 100 ft** _!"\* sign was set in artsy script font, or boring Helvetica?" ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305/75 "2016-09-13T11:54:22Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s not typing on glass that’s replacing it–it’s voice-to-text. I type around 80 wpm, but I can still text my wife afterschool plans fastest by clicking the little microphone button. And when I’m teaching kids composition skills using Chromebooks, I teach them both how to use the voice-to-text function, and how to take responsibility for fixing the inevitable errors. If a kid wants to learn the skill of speaking clearly and distinctly and watching for goofy computer mistakes, that’s awesome, and for some kids it allows them to get to the meat of composition faster than any other avenue. > > Other kids adore the pencil on paper approach, and still others like to keyboard. All three skills get some attention, but ultimately I want kids to focus on things like organization, powerful language, and clarity of thought. However someone gets the meat down, it’s not really practical to _edit_ by voice, is it? I don’t mean fixing the errors of voice translation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cursive-literacy/765305.md?page=3)