I have mixed feelings about this one: No More Cursive Handwriting

[TGS]

Originally Posted by nohmi2

It sounds crazy I know, but the reason for writing out a job application in

cursive, is because the said application is then studied by a graphologist.

Cheers

Are recruiters still buying that?

[DixieGal]

My 4th grade teacher couldn't tolerate that I only write 3 letters, then scrawl the rest of the word. But I was a brainy hyperactive girly-girl, and who was too bored to be bothered with penmanship. There was a whole outdoors going to waste! BTW, the best way that elementary school teachers dealt with me was to send me outdoors when the boredom turned to rowdiness. I would bring back rocks and leaves and stuff, then end up in the school library looking them up in the encyclopedia.

But I digress. That 4th grade teacher said that my penmanship was so bad that I would end up printing everything if I didn't settle down and behave. That seemed like an end to silly cursive and a perfect solution to me, so I have been printing ever since. It's fast.

My mom had beautiful handwriting.

[Mortis]

I still use cursive now and then, if it is something only I will read, no one else could read it. I think there will have to be something to replace it in schools, I think there was more to learning to write cursive than just learning to write cursive, for one patience at something when started is rather frustrating and hard to master.

I don't honestly remember learning it in school, I do remember being told repeatedly to print!

DixieGal, I think it is a requirement for mothers my mothers age (65) to have perfect handwriting. I could always forge my fathers illegible scribble they he calls a signature, but my mothers, no way impossible, it is so perfect, like it was printed rather than handwritten.

[nohmi2]

Originally Posted by TGS

Are recruiters still buying that?

Yep!!!


Cheers

[The Terminator]

For one I almost never write anything, I don't write letters I send E-mail so the only time I really use cursive is in my sig. I find that typing is a lot more important these days when almost everything is done on the computer.


And now with the smart phones you can now just use them to type notes and lists on, I should probably get one just for making shopping lists

[wyndslash]

i love a man who writes beautifully

but mostly i do just use print even when writing letters. i love snail mail

[sakura-panda]

My second grader has been trying to teach himself cursive -- I think because I still use it a lot. I don't know where else he would see much of it, except where I've written somthing down and have forgotten to make sure it was all printed. (I write about half print and half cursive.)

I use cursive on envelopes, checks (yes, I still write lots of them even though I pay all my bills online!), and on notes that I'm writing, including my scrapbook pages. (Which future generations will probably not be able to read. )

Most engineers (my profession ) write in block caps, but I don't. It looks terrible when I do it! (Maybe I'm not a real engineer! )

[jkeene]

I think it's certainly the "End Of Something". A form of slavery, that's what's ending. Conformance to a dead technology, and all that. Keep it as a high school elective, for those interested, but drop the mandatory aspect of it.

Now we should replace that lesson time with something useful, like basic financial literacy, and we can help eliminate credit card slavery next.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by jkeene

I think it's certainly the "End Of Something". A form of slavery, that's what's ending.

Yes, learning a fancy-looking and faster method of writing is exactly like spending one's life as chattel. Thank you for bringing clarity to this issue, kind sir.

[RainingLemur]

My handwriting has been the same since I was about 8 years old. I hated cursive with a passion. I still do. If I have to write, I use plain print and scribble a signature when I need to. Of course, the difference in legibility is very minute. My 3 year old is already showing signs of having better penmanship than me. And, I'm ok with that.

I think The Oatmeal summed it up best.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by nohmi2

It sounds crazy I know, but the reason for writing out a job application in cursive, is because the said application is then studied by a graphologist.

Note to self: if a job app or similar document requires cursive, use left hand to write it. (My left-hand cursive is unsteady and slow, but not particularly messier than my right. It is, however, drastically different.)

[wodin]

Cursive being the bane of all civilization, I say “good riddance”!

[wodin]

I learned years ago that if they can't read the signature, they don't know who to blame. Therefore I don't print my signature, nor can I read it.

[jkeene]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Yes, learning a fancy-looking and faster method of writing is exactly like spending one's life as chattel. Thank you for bringing clarity to this issue, kind sir.

And here's the full quote.

Originally Posted by jkeene

I think it's certainly the "End Of Something". A form of slavery, that's what's ending. Conformance to a dead technology, and all that. Keep it as a high school elective, for those interested, but drop the mandatory aspect of it.

Now we should replace that lesson time with something useful, like basic financial literacy, and we can help eliminate credit card slavery next.

Perhaps you missed the phrasing "a form of slavery", then followed up by an expansion of "Conformance to a dead technology"? I never called it chattel slavery, you leaped to that incorrect conclusion yourself.

Certainly cursive is often a faster form of handwriting than printing, though for today's schoolchildren I think that's not useful. Riding a horse is faster than walking, but mandatory classes in cursive handwriting are about as valuable as mandatory classes in horsemanship.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by jkeene

And here's the full quote.

I could see the full line well enough, thank you very much.

I never called it chattel slavery, you leaped to that incorrect conclusion yourself.

Oh, I'm sorry-- I was confused by the definition of the word "slavery."

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slavery

Certainly cursive is often a faster form of handwriting than printing, though for today's schoolchildren I think that's not useful. Riding a horse is faster than walking, but mandatory classes in cursive handwriting are about as valuable as mandatory classes in horsemanship.

The claim that modern children do not need to write because they can type on keyboards is as utterly idiotic as claiming that modern children do not need to learn math because they can use calculators.