# Is cursive dying?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 11, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072 "2014-10-11T23:10:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/61 "2014-10-24T14:07:38Z")

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I learned cursive in third grade so that would have been around 96-97 and we had to use it for all homework assignments from third grade through sixth. I never minded it and I usually still use it for personal letters and cards and work notes.

Cursive just seems like writing for adults to me. Printing feels childish and while I still print plenty, I would feel slightly embarrassed to give someone something I wrote and have it be printed.

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**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:** [October 24, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/62 "2014-10-24T15:54:00Z")

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> [@Diceman](#):
>
> I know how to write cursive, but except for signing my name, I never use it. My handwriting is awful, and when I write notes or whatever I always print, or else I might not be able to read my own writing 🙂
> 
> Back when I did still write in cursive, there were a couple of letters I never got used to using. Capital F and Q were just too different from from the “real” (print) F or Q. Cursive Q looks like the number 2, and cursive F looked too much like a cursive T (and not the slightest bit like any F I’ve ever seen outside of a handwriting lesson).

The capital cursive Q is a weird one, yes; but when I was playing around with it once, trying to write it correctly, the lightbulb went off - it’s the right half of a print Q, with a flourish at the top.

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**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/63 "2014-10-24T16:28:59Z")

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If(when) they stop teaching cursive, there’s going to be thousands of documents people won’t be able to read including The Declaration of Independence.

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**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:** [October 24, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/64 "2014-10-24T17:12:19Z")

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> [@percypercy](#):
>
> If(when) they stop teaching cursive, there’s going to be thousands of documents people won’t be able to read including The Declaration of Independence.

And yet I can read [this poem](http://www.ieuanreeslettering.co.uk/image/calligraphy/alanw.jpg) without ever having learned calligraphy.

Also, [I can read the Declaration of Independence just fine](http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html).

The idea that children need to devote dozens of hours to learning a style of writing just so that they can read important documents that have been transcribed into more familiar fonts fails on both counts.

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/65 "2014-10-24T17:43:42Z")

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> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I only learned a few years ago on this Board that cursive is no longer taught in elementary schools in the US. That still blows my mind. I can’t believe this would be allowed to die out as if it were just an eight-track tape or something.

It’s the equivalent of an eight-track tape. At this point, it’s every bit as outmoded as manual typewriters.

If some people are into cursive as an art form, that’s fine, but not everyone needs to be an artist. If people want to learn cursive, they can pay for evening classes or something.

But the reason it was taught in schools was for utilitarian reasons: back in the days before computer keyboards, people used to need to be able to write fast, and most people could write a good bit faster in cursive than by printing. Nowadays, most of us do most of our ‘writing’ on a computer, and it’s a damned sight faster and easier than any sort of handwriting.

So cursive is going the way of the buggy whip. And this lefthander says good riddance. **Curs** ive was the name it earned, fair and square.

And handwriting in general will probably follow after a time. For awhile in there, people needed to be able to do some sort of handwriting because you weren’t always near a computer. But with the increasing ubiquity of tablets and smart phones, even that need for handwriting is going away. Hell, we’ve got electronic versions of the Post-It already; there’s texting and IMing and all that.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/66 "2014-10-25T00:37:01Z")

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> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> It’s the equivalent of an eight-track tape. At this point, it’s every bit as outmoded as manual typewriters.

No it’s not! :mad:

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**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/67 "2014-10-25T01:22:18Z")

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> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> Cursive just seems like writing for adults to me. Printing feels childish and while I still print plenty, I would feel slightly embarrassed to give someone something I wrote and have it be printed.

Weirdly, I feel precisely the opposite. Cursive reminds me of 5th grade, girls dotting their i’s with hearts, and using cute and unreadable fonts in email. I’m vaguely embarrassed of my own signature, which is perfectly good cursive and therefore looks like I first wrote it in grade school (which I did).

I can do a pretty decent draftsman lettering when I try. It’s extremely readable to everyone and looks professional.

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/68 "2014-10-25T03:03:13Z")

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> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> Cursive is still taught and used here (France). In fact, print isn’t (well, you learn to read in print, obviously, but you’re never taught to _write_ using it).

I think I’d be more okay with cursive if it worked that way here.

But my experience was more like this:

1. Learn to write.
2. Learn to write again, using special proprietary slanty letters with hooks at the end, scientomagically proven to make it easier to learn cursive.
3. Learn cursive and have it treated as the absolute highest standard of writing, to which we will be held our entire lives. We’re young adults now, so we need to act like it and use mature handwriting.
4. Cursive? Who gives a shit about cursive? We can make our own decisions about how to write. We’re young adults now, so we need to stop worrying about petty crap like that and just write legibly.

(I’ve said it before, but I don’t think this is driven by actual studies into how children learn to write. I think it’s driven by selling extra material to schools.)

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**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/69 "2014-11-03T22:46:57Z")

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> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> I think it’s already dead. I believe, although I might be mistaken, that it’s no longer being taught in most U.S. elementary schools. Most kids under a certain age have never even seen it, aside from historical examples.

I meet people (usually under 20 years old) routinely who can’t write/read cursive. I am baffled by this; who decided it was no longer necessary, and why? As some others have noted, it is very annoying to hear someone whine that my writing is “bad” or that they “can’t read it.” Do any other elementary schools/teachers who DON’T teach reading/writing cursive ever stop to think that most histoical documents (including the U.S. Constitution) are in cursive? That hundreds of MILLIONS of adults routinely write in cursive? What the hell is the education establishment THINKING??

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**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/70 "2014-11-04T01:56:06Z")

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> [@Lizard](#):
>
> I meet people (usually under 20 years old) routinely who can’t write/read cursive. I am baffled by this; who decided it was no longer necessary, and why?

it became unnecessary when we stopped writing. I’m serious; I’m pushing 40 and probably the only handwriting I do is filling out checks every month for my rent and car payment. Note-taking at work is done either on my laptop or tablet. my signature would do an M.D. proud.

> [@](#):
>
> As some others have noted, it is very annoying to hear someone whine that my writing is “bad” or that they “can’t read it.” Do any other elementary schools/teachers who DON’T teach reading/writing cursive ever stop to think that most histoical documents (including the U.S. Constitution) are in cursive? That hundreds of MILLIONS of adults routinely write in cursive? What the hell is the education establishment THINKING??

they’re thinking “why waste class time on something of diminishing use?” I think you’re way over-estimating the number of people who actually use cursive writing on any given day. I’ve never taken a typing class, but even I can type a lot faster than I can write by hand. with auto-correct ever improving on mobile devices, I don’t even really need to worry about that.

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**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/71 "2014-11-04T02:16:00Z")

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> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Sure, spending 45 minutes a day on this cursive and spelling program means that we only have 45 minutes left to teach science AND social studies AND writing combined, but hey, cursive’s important, right?

Wow, I wish when I was in school that the school day was only an hour and a half long.  
I also wish they hadn’t forced cursive on me. Starting in college I haven’t used that garbage for anything but signatures, and even there I’d print if I could get away with it.

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**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/72 "2014-11-04T15:03:28Z")

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Spaniard here, I only write in cursive. Because, like in France (as what **clairobscur** said) it was the only writing system taught to us in school.

Of course you learn to recognize printed letters (that is what your books are … well, printed with, after all). But you wouldn’t think of using that to write by hand. Print is only for typewriters, computers and printed materials. When writing by hand, you write in cursive.

Personally I feel very comfortable writing in cursive. The writing simply _flows_, and it goes real _fast_. In fact, whenever I have tried to write using “print” letters, it struck me as uncomfortable and clumsy. Also, slow.

And for those who complain about cursive script being unreadable, thank whatever deity you feel like thanking that you didn’t have to deal with … **(OMINOUS CHORD)** … _ **Sütterlin** _.

Imagine a cursive script based _ **on Fraktur letters** _, inspired by the “Kurrent” handwriting standard from previous centuries… It was the only handwriting taught in German schools from 1935 until 1941, and I guess that if you have been extensively trained in it you can read it easily… And yet… It looks very alien.

Example of Sütterlin: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Sütterlin.svg/744px-Sütterlin.svg.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/S%C3%BCtterlin.svg/744px-S%C3%BCtterlin.svg.png)

Example of Kurrent (with a text by Kant): [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Kant\_deutsche\_Kurrent.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Kant_deutsche_Kurrent.png)

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**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/73 "2014-11-04T15:12:17Z")

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Missed edit window:

And now look at this chart for the “Kurrent handwriting” as taught in Denmark in the 1800s, and weep: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Deutsche\_Kurrentschrift-2.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Deutsche_Kurrentschrift-2.png)

(the extra potential for confusion is huge – look at “a”, “e”, “n” and “u”; look at “o”, “r” and “s”; “v” and “w”; “f”, “h” and “long s”; “ae” and “o/”…)

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/74 "2015-04-13T13:38:24Z")

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Bumped.

A bill has been introduced in the Ohio legislature to require the teaching of cursive: [Should kids know how to write in cursive? Some Ohio lawmakers think so - cleveland.com](http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/04/should_kids_know_how_to_write_in_cursive_some_ohio_lawmakers_think_so.html)

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**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:** [April 13, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/75 "2015-04-13T13:51:19Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Bumped.
> 
> A bill has been introduced in the Ohio legislature to require the teaching of cursive: [Should kids know how to write in cursive? Some Ohio lawmakers think so - cleveland.com](http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/04/should_kids_know_how_to_write_in_cursive_some_ohio_lawmakers_think_so.html)

I wonder if they will include how to properly address an envelope and all the other stuff that went with our writing exercises?

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/76 "2015-04-13T14:15:43Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> She worries that too many don’t know how to sign checks, sign paperwork for their drivers license or for other official documents.

I’m worried that too many cursive fundamentalists seem to think that if a signature isn’t based on D’Nealian for-profit cursive, it’s not a legal signature.

> [@](#):
>
> And since they are not often taught how to write in cursive, they can’t read it - not even in major historical documents like the Declaration of Independence.

So we’re not just mandating cursive, we’re mandating the medial S? Because if you don’t know how to write it, you don’t know how to read it, QED, so therefore we need to teach students to write both types of S.

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**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/77 "2015-04-13T14:18:05Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Bumped.
> 
> A bill has been introduced in the Ohio legislature to require the teaching of cursive: [Should kids know how to write in cursive? Some Ohio lawmakers think so - cleveland.com](http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/04/should_kids_know_how_to_write_in_cursive_some_ohio_lawmakers_think_so.html)

I really hate how old white people descend into the “everything was perfect when I was a kid and it should stay that way forever” mindset. _Especially_ when they try to legislate it.

> [@Dr. Strangelove](#):
>
> Print is dead.

Oh, that’s very fascinating to me. I read a lot myself. Some people think I’m too intellectual but I think it’s a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play racquetball. Do you have any hobbies?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/78 "2015-04-13T16:01:14Z")

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> [@Lord\_Feldon](#):
>
> …So we’re not just mandating cursive, we’re mandating the medial S? Because if you don’t know how to write it, you don’t know how to read it, QED, so therefore we need to teach students to write both types of S.

Abfolutely.

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**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/79 "2015-04-13T17:15:36Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Bumped.
> 
> A bill has been introduced in the Ohio legislature to require the teaching of cursive: [Should kids know how to write in cursive? Some Ohio lawmakers think so - cleveland.com](http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/04/should_kids_know_how_to_write_in_cursive_some_ohio_lawmakers_think_so.html)

I would like to say - as a native Ohioan - that, indeed, there is nothing more important for our legislators to deal with right now than schoolchildren learning cursive. Nothing.

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**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-cursive-dying/701072/80 "2015-04-13T17:30:31Z")

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I’m older than most of the posters–started school in 1966. We learned printing up until third grade, when we switched to cursive or “penmanship” as it was called. On our first day, we were told forcefully and explicitly that printing is for children, whereas adults write cursive.

So I write cursive because that is how I have been writing nearly my whole life. On the practical side, cursive is faster and easier because you don’t have to pick up the pen every time you start a new character.

Part of my job is to leave a note for the next shift about anything they need to know. I don’t think any of the people who read my notes write cursive, but no one has ever complained that they can’t read my notes. But my penmanship is very good, and my writing is easily legible.

In the notes I get from other shifts, I notice that even their printing is very poor. I think it’s just that they don’t write much at all; they likely text and keyboard most of the time. I won’t even get off track and discuss how horrible their spelling is.

If I had a choice I would type my notes. I had three years of typing in school, and I can touch-type more quickly than I can write. I think it’s keyboarding that’s killing off cursive. But I’m not dumbing down my handwriting. However judgmental it is, printing still looks childish to me.

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