Is cursive dying?

[Siam_Sam]

@Sarabellum1976

Cursive is SO dead.

Is not.

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Rather than teach my kids cursive, the time would (IMO) be much better spent teaching them to touch-type.

Would not.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Siam_Sam

Would not.

I’m persuaded. Well, almost. Could you maybe add something about who’s rubber and who’s glue?

[pulykamell]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Almost all the things that once were done with pencil and paper are now done with digital technology. Rather than teach my kids cursive, the time would (IMO) be much better spent teaching them to touch-type. It’s a far more efficient means of recording information.

Absolutely agreed. The main advantage of cursive at this point is, I think, is to be able to decipher historical documents. While I use a cursive-print mix for myself, I really wish more people would print, because most folks’ cursive, in my experience, is near indecipherable.

[JRDelirious]

@pulykamell

If you weren’t taught the stupid Palmer method and learned some more efficient form, I’m sure it’s true.

Well yes, I quickly realized that with everyone else but the penmanship teacher, I could disregard trying to actually use the mechanics of my school’s unnamed method (themselves much simpler than Palmer) and simply evolve my own cursive method as long as it was neat and legible for tests or papers. Sounds like you encountered bad teaching that resulted in making cursive harder and slower for you.

[pulykamell]

@JRDelirious

Well yes, I quickly realized that with everyone else but the penmanship teacher, I could disregard trying to actually use the mechanics of my school’s unnamed method (themselves much simpler than Palmer) and simply evolve my own cursive method as long as it was neat and legible for tests or papers. Sounds like you encountered bad teaching that resulted in making cursive harder and slower for you.

Well, we had penmanship classes that required us tracing and retracing these forms. This was pretty universal among people my age in my neck of the woods. Once we stopped having penmanship classes, I just went with my print-writing method and eliminated all the extraneous strokes for more efficient ones. My print-writing, as I’ve said several times before, is faster than my printing, but my printing is faster than Palmer method (or similar) types of cursive.

[pulykamell]

@JRDelirious

Well yes, I quickly realized that with everyone else but the penmanship teacher, I could disregard trying to actually use the mechanics of my school’s unnamed method (themselves much simpler than Palmer) and simply evolve my own cursive method as long as it was neat and legible for tests or papers. Sounds like you encountered bad teaching that resulted in making cursive harder and slower for you.

Well, we had penmanship classes that required us tracing and retracing these forms. This was pretty universal among people my age. Once we stopped having penmanship classes, I just went with my print-writing method and eliminated all the extraneous strokes for more efficient ones. My print-writing, as I’ve said several times before, is faster than my printing, but my printing is faster than Palmer method (or similar) types of cursive. The vast majority of my hand writing is this type of cursive-printing blend.

[RTFirefly]

@Quartz

Apart from it being a much faster way to write, you mean? Or do pupils no longer have to write essays in exams? Make notes quickly? Etc.

So you’re saying that schools should teach cursive to students so they can do well in school situations? There seems to be a certain circularity to that argument.

[Doctor_Jackson]

@pulykamell

I’m sure plenty people can, but I’m sure plenty of people are the other way. If you weren’t taught the stupid Palmer method and learned some more efficient form, I’m sure it’s true. Like I said, my fastest method is print writing–I combine some cursive letters with print letters, going for efficiency and lack of extra strokes or ornaments, which Palmer has a bunch of, and dot and cross as I go along.

Woo hoo! Long live print-writers (priters?)! Most of the time I print, but when speed is necessary I use the hybrid print-writing as well.

[WildBlueYonder]

How do the kids without cursive education sign their names?

[Siam_Sam]

Electronic signatures?

[Czarcasm]

Fuck, no!

Oh-cursive.

Sorry.

[Wolf333]

I used to print my signature. There is no law stating that it must be in cursive.

[Lord_Feldon]

@WildBlueYonder

How do the kids without cursive education sign their names?

With an illegible scribble just like almost everyone else uses. I don’t think I could write a single word in cursive now, but I still have a signature (which came many years after I stopped using cursive in elementary school).

Nobody is going to be stymied, unable to finish completing some important document, because they just don’t know what to do with the signature line at the bottom. If it’s really so critical (and it’s not), spend five minutes teaching kids how to make their initials in cursive and throw some loopy bumps in afterwards.

[JRDelirious]

@Lord_Feldon

With an illegible scribble just like almost everyone else uses.

Heh, I have someone I work with whose signature is a geometric pattern he seems to have chosen just for cool looks but he has admitted it means nothing.

Me, OTOH, I was sternly advised in my time to NOT sign in any manner other than cursive and only including the components of my name I wished to use. People used to be even bigger jerks to schoolchildren.