Seriously thoughtful Kids just don't cursive like they used to.

[WT Sharpe]

When I was a kid, we could cursive up a blue streak. Now many kids in high school can't even sign their names. Sure, most of our writing is done on computer screens these days, but what happens when people encounter the need to look into historical records? Many young people today can't even read the Constitution in its original form. Are we doing a disservice to our kids by not teaching them to read and write cursive? And what does this portend for the future of handwriting recognition software?

[Cinisajoy]

We went to the Pearce Museum on the Navarro College Campus. They had letters from the Civil War. That was some beautiful cursive writing. Especially the cross hatch letters.

Cross hatch letters were written one way, then the paper was turned 90 degrees and then more was written.
Yes, it was readable.

[drjd]

People born after 1980 tend to have a distinctive style of handwriting: a little bit sloppy, a little bit childish and almost never in cursive. The simple explanation is that computers are responsible for our increasingly illegible scrawl. The simple fact is that kids haven't learned to write neatly because no one has forced them to. These teens aren't alone in the struggle. An entire generation is forgetting the proper loops and swirls of cursive.
Kids can't read cursive if they don't know how to write it, and I hear from a lot of parents how surprised they are when their child gets a card from grandma and grandpa, and they can't read it.
Nowadays cursive is no longer required to be taught in school. Keyboarding, however, is now required by third grade.

[Cinisajoy]

And how is our cursive? Note I am asking the over 40 group.
I know mine has gotten worse.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

We went to the Pearce Museum on the Navarro College Campus. They had letters from the Civil War. That was some beautiful cursive writing. Especially the cross hatch letters.

Cross hatch letters were written one way, then the paper was turned 90 degrees and then more was written.
Yes, it was readable.

Here's an example of cross writing. This was mainly employed at the time because postage was charged per weight (and paper was expensive and possibly scarce).

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by drjd

Keyboarding, however, is now required by third grade.

Isn't it called typing?

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Isn't it called typing?

In my kids' school, no -- it was "keyboarding." I think the difference they were trying to emphasize was the distinction between touch-typing that the parents might remember (the letter and number key placement) and learning to use key sequences in word processing and spreadsheet programs (insert, delete, select/highlight, etc.).

But that might not be an official, universal definition.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

And how is our cursive? Note I am asking the over 40 group.
I know mine has gotten worse.

Naturally, after dominance of digital documents (typing them out) over the written ones, everybody has gone pretty "out of practice" in using pen and paper, very adversely affecting the cursive. I am running 54, but as a passion, I still keep alive my fountain pens (an old collection of MontBlanc, Pilot and Parkers), and write a few pages of my diary every week. This has kept my cursives in better shape. I still remember how our teachers used to force us kids in '60s and '70s to use fountain pens instead of ball point pens, because ball pens could damage your handwriting, which appears to be a right opinion.

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Isn't it called typing?

Keyboarding is perhaps the right word. Cromag has explained the difference very clearly.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

We went to the Pearce Museum on the Navarro College Campus. They had letters from the Civil War. That was some beautiful cursive writing. Especially the cross hatch letters.

Cross hatch letters were written one way, then the paper was turned 90 degrees and then more was written.
Yes, it was readable.

Interesting, but what's the purpose except perhaps to save money on stationary?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by JoHunt

Here's an example of cross writing. This was mainly employed at the time because postage was charged per weight (and paper was expensive and possibly scarce).

Or that...

[John K]

This calls to mind the US Marine Navajo Code talkers of WWII fame. They simply used their ancient spoken language to send messages over the radio. The Japanese code breakers were totally bewildered.

I'm imagining some high tech future despotic government forces fighting resistance guerrillas and unable to make any sense of the hand written notes being sent via homing pigeons.

[issybird]

Am I the only person old enough to remember when it was called script, not cursive?

[Cinisajoy]

It was called handwriting back when I was in 3rd grade. The other was called Printing.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

When I was a kid, we could cursive up a blue streak. Now many kids in high school can't even sign their names. Sure, most of our writing is done on computer screens these days, but what happens when people encounter the need to look into historical records? Many young people today can't even read the Constitution in its original form. Are we doing a disservice to our kids by not teaching them to read and write cursive?

Maybe there is a need to teach reading it. But does that require knowing how to write it?

I'm not terrible at reading it -- can't write in cursive to save my life.

My handwriting (NOT cursive) has definitely gotten worse.
I know in elementary school I had fairly neat handwriting, but by mid-high-school at the latest I am pretty sure I started getting a lot clumsier.

See how fast you can get out of practice...

And what does this portend for the future of handwriting recognition software?

We won't need it?
Although I assume we have some already, and it is doing its thing recognizing ancient historical texts.

Whatever. The way of the future is in digitizing information. We don't need to keep on recognizing handwriting, we just need to preserve what we've already got!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by issybird

Am I the only person old enough to remember when it was called script, not cursive?

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

It was called handwriting back when I was in 3rd grade. The other was called Printing.

It certainly wasn't called cursive when I was a kid. I believe I first heard the term from my grandson.