12 responses to “Can you read this?”
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I think it still holds valve in having kids learn how to write and read cursive. That said I think it could work as an art form now. How to be creative with your writing. It teachers patiences, hand strength, and focus. I am sure lots will disagree with me. We don’t need it for signatures really but it can be fun!
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Vivian, you bring up an important topic. Actually, there were some problems with voting this year because the signature on the voter registration card needed to match the signed mail-in ballot. Young people are so used to scribbling a signature on devices that they haven’t had a chance to develop a signature, like I did when I was young and writing checks to pay bills. I agree with Joanne, it would be good to teach cursive as an artform, and of course, it is certainly a “foreign” language that students of history need to read primary sources. I loved reading your cursive here. Thanks for the discussion.
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Ahhh…the age old question! I could go either way, but I tend to side with the “it’s no longer necessary” camp. With everything else we need to teach, where do you get the time? I do wonder whether people in the future will be able to decipher old documents and letters though.
P.S. Your cursive writing is so pretty btw!!
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Aw, thanks! ☺️
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I love this post and connected to it. My own 18 and 20 year old can’t read cursive at all. I remember my daughter getting a card from someone and she asked me to read it to her. I felt sad about that. For students with learning disabilities, cursive is said to be easier for them – but we don’t really teach it well. I do sometimes write handwritten notes too.. and my hands do get tired… guess we need to be flexing those muscles more!
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I love to give and receive handwritten notes, but I write in a hybrid print-meets-cursive style that swings print, so my kids seem to be able to read it 🙂 I think cursive provides an opportunity for some kiddos to work on small motor and do something they find pleasing. It might also be cool to write in block letters or learn calligraphy, too. Even using different fonts and picking up on how it can reinforce (or detract from) your message. It’s all about the JOY in the fabulous that is the alphabet and the individual letters.
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love reading this as a fellow hand-writer. In 2nd grade I would do a “cursive quiz” and write words and secret messages for kids to guess- they were so motivated to learn the letters! Even if we don’t write it often (except for the journalers out there) I do think it’s important brain work to learn how to read it! And this year a student from Mexico came only writing cursive and didn’t really know how to print. Funny cultural difference about school!
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Not entering the debate, but what is true for me is that there is a personality to handwriting, particularly cursive, a warmth that emanates from the page. Even almost illegible “chicken scratching” carries feeling with it. Handwriting analysis is a science that is fascinating. Too uniform, these fonts we’re addicted to…
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I’m a fan. My sons attended Austrian private schools where cursive is still taught and I believe they both still use it for notetaking. That said, it has come out of fashion but it will continue to be important for anyone who chooses to study primary historical documents of previous centuries.
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