None of my students can read cursive

[apl68]

A few years back, I offered extra credit in a course if students read a page of secretary hand (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_hand). I gave them an alphabet and some general principles. Halfway through, I realized some of them were struggling more than I had expected because they didn't even know cursive. Oops.

AR.

I did know cursive and struggled with secretary hand in grad school.  One reason why it's probably just as well in hindsight that I washed out of the PhD program. 

I'm surprised that my students were ever able to read my cursive back when I was a TA in the 1990s, my handwriting being what it is.  It bears a strong resemblance to the writing of both my father and grandfather, so I guess I could blame them for it....

[little bongo]

I just use cursive for signatures now. My handwritten notes, when they come, are printed (and still a scrawl).

Although my two oldest kids did a couple of sections on cursive in school. Not sure how much of it stuck.

[downer]

These days when I'm signing fairly unimportant PDF documents I just type out my name using a cursive font, rather then upload my actual sig.

[ergative]

But in this latter case, then it seems that what we're grieving when we grieve the loss of cursive or fraktur or anglicana formata is not the loss of the skill itself (which is still alive and well and practiced by many artists still), but the loss of the society that it belonged to. And in that case, it's not fair to criticise kids these days for not being part of a society that no longer exists.

Good analysis. One thing though; a love letter in cursive seems infinitely more intimate than anything typed, since each letter reflects the individual writing. No amount of emojis can replace that.

Yes--but that's because it's handwritten, not because it's cursive.

[dismalist]

But in this latter case, then it seems that what we're grieving when we grieve the loss of cursive or fraktur or anglicana formata is not the loss of the skill itself (which is still alive and well and practiced by many artists still), but the loss of the society that it belonged to. And in that case, it's not fair to criticise kids these days for not being part of a society that no longer exists.

Good analysis. One thing though; a love letter in cursive seems infinitely more intimate than anything typed, since each letter reflects the individual writing. No amount of emojis can replace that.

Yes--but that's because it's handwritten, not because it's cursive.

I used to work on my love letters to my wife to be whole evenings at a time. Everything had to be just right. Handwritten. Cursive. Fountain pen with gold nib.

Love is expressed in text messages nowadays.

[apl68]

I still write on cards, most of which go to family members who should be able to more or less decipher my writing.  And I take handwritten notes for personal use all the time.  Once in a while I've had trouble reading them.

[sinenomine]

A few years ago a bunch of my students asked me to write out the alphabet in upper and lower case cursive for them so they could learn it; I happily obliged. And I remember gazing at the letters pinned above the (chalk)boards during boring bits of classes when I was a kid — great way to soak in knowledge. Perhaps we should bring back those images!

[Morden]

My mom, who went to secretarial school in the 1950s, had beautiful cursive handwriting. I remember seeing a Christmas card her old roommate sent her--they had the same beautiful cursive handwriting.

[downer]

My aunt always writes her Christmas cards very neatly in handwriting of course, but it is noticeable that the lines of writing are totally straight. If you look carefully you can see a faint pencil line made with a ruler. That might be a little obsessive.

[ergative]

My mom, who went to secretarial school in the 1950s, had beautiful cursive handwriting. I remember seeing a Christmas card her old roommate sent her--they had the same beautiful cursive handwriting.

Right, that's the flip side formal handwriting training. The very formality of the training can enforce a certain uniformity. It was the less tutored people who came up with their own idiosyncratic letterforms and ligatures and developed something individual to themselves.

[jerseyjay]

Am I okay with the fact that students do not know how to read cursive? Well, I don't spend much time weeping over it, but I think it is unfortunate, if probably unavoidable. It is more or less the way I feel about the decline in being able to drive a standard transmission. Both being unable to wield a fountain pen and gear-shift lever are also things that tend to scream "American" at full voice.

When I was in primary school, it was drummed into my head that after a certain age, writing in print instead of cursive was a sign of mental slowness (or, perhaps the same thing, a class distinction), like moving your lips when you read or counting on your fingers. I KNOW that this is not true, but on an instinctual level, I still have a strong negative impulsive reaction to adults who cannot write in cursive.

I have heard that there are worries that the decline in cursive, while not inherently bad, is coupled with a decline in eye-hand coordination, with possible problems for jobs that require this, such as surgeons. I am not in medicine so I cannot comment.

As a professor, my observation is that students who have gone to Catholic schools tend to be better with cursive.

As a historian, I do think there is a problem with a decline in reading cursive. I cannot see doing archival work without being able to at least read cursive. Most of the documents that I used in my dissertation were typed, but there were various marginalia and annotations in script, plus hand written documents interspersed. Not being able to read these would have been a big handicap. (And being able to identify one person's script from another is also important.) I don't think that everybody should learn to write and read cursive just so historians can do so, but I do think that reading cursive will have to be taught in graduate school, as a specialized talent such as Spanish paleography: http://spanishpaleographytool.org/

[Wahoo Redux]

My cursive was always terrible.  Even I couldn't read it.

I actually had to retrain myself to print when I handwrite. 

[Antiphon1]

My students have been printing for at least the last 12 years.  However, public schools in our area started teaching cursive again 5 or so years ago when their students couldn't sign their names on legal documents.  Huh?  Who knew signing your name was a a thing?

As to reading my handwriting, good luck.  I do my best, but truthfully, it's worse than chicken scratch.

[kaysixteen]

If one is going to give an essay or short-answer type test, and the students cannot write cursive, it will take them much much longer to print out the answers.

[lightning]

Think of cursive as a secret code that only you can read (along with any of your contemporaries who are still alive).

I can think of lots of fun & nefarious applications . . . .