The Evolution of Handwriting

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

I have to get to work but it would be interesting later to see what some here think about handwriting regarding:

-Is there a need for it any more and if so, why?

-What are your thoughts about reestablishing some emphasis on teaching handwriting in schools?

I mean, I think people certainly have to still know how to write/print something down on paper easily, obviously. You can't get through school as a kid without it. But cursive? I like the idea of it, like on an artistic level.... But when thinking about it objectively, there probably isn't any point anymore. Hardly any adults even use paper and pen extensively, and when they do, it's usually the grocery list or a quick note on a post-it, or jotting a few notes down for oneself to refer to later, or filling out a quick form somewhere, etc. I think the entire point of nice cursive is mostly dead, so why take up a lot of time in school learning it? The most meaningful purpose of cursive that I can think of right now, for this day and age, is writing addresses on wedding invitation envelopes, and for greeting cards, lol.

I'm thinking if for no other reason than to not lose the art of cursive writing.  A great example of it's artistic value:

cincybearcat said:

brianlux said:

njnancy said:

When i was in Catholic school, grades 1 - 8, Penmanship was a primary subject every year. We would be graded quarterly and at year end and it was of equal importance as Science or Reading. One could get left back if they had an F in penmanship and I suppose in another subject. (I got A's in everything so I'm not sure )

I prefer writing on paper than writing in a computer, although one of the smartest classes I took in high school was typing. There were no computers back then, just typewriters, but it is probably one of the classes that had a direct impact on my life. Being able to type quickly is handy, back when I was using a typewriter for work and when computers appeared I was able to type even faster.

But when it comes to calendars, lists of things to do and journaling I always use pen and pepper and cursive. I have had a journal since grammar school (well not the same one, it would be quite large) so I have lots of books that have covered my life and they are all in cursive. I  find that when I'm writing, cursive is much faster than printing and I feel much more connected to a pen and paper than to what I'm doing now.  I am able to to express myself on a different level when I'm writing on paper. 

When I am on the phone with any type of customer service, doctor's office, information source - I always write down the information I get in a book or on a piece of paper. I don't enter it into a computer. I have my doctor's appointments, birthdays, etc on actual calendars - not in my computer. When I was a waitress, I would not have been as good if I had to print what people were ordering instead of using cursive, it would have been a nightmare.  And being able to have a signature (and variations of it for signing in public places) is essential. 

If I am at a lecture or taking a class in something, I write notes in a book. Most people have their laptops and I absolutely love my laptop and all things tech, but I don't feel like I'm getting the information down as clearly if I'm not writing it down in a book. It just feels different. I hate sending people texts or posts for their birthdays, I feel it is so impersonal and prefer to send a card or a letter when it's appropriate. And I don't lose all my info  if I hit the wrong key or my computer goes all blue screen on me. I can save a treasured card someone sent me with a little note and it's nice to have something special with their handwriting on it. Not so much with a text.

Part of my degree is in English so I may be the outlier. I love proper grammar and spelling and punctuation and cursive writing. I absolutely love to copy edit, it's one of the best jobs I've had. And I still use it on a free lance basis.  I think that we are losing something as a society with the shorthand and shortcuts we take with our language with phones and computers. People don't put as much effort into their writing in this type of a forum.

My son still has problems signing his name and he is 21. He  was taught penmanship  as part of English for one or two years in  grammar school and I bought all kinds of books for practice and sat with him for hours but he just never got it. I think that part of it was that the school really didn't put much emphasis on it. (He didn't have to deal with nuns, I kindly sent him to public school) He also had really no interest in it after he found that he wasn't good at it. This was before he had a cell phone so I can't blame it on that.  After those two years, there was no more penmanship lessons and my son, to this day, writes in print and not so well. I used to have to hold the pen with him when he was signing something. He had no clue how to do it. I think that is sad. 

I think all 21 year olds should have a legible signature and be able to read what someone writes if it's in cursive, I shouldn't have to dumb down and print so my child can understand me. He cannot understand cursive writing, it's like it's in another language. I keep writing in cursive though, hoping he learns the language.

I have nice handwriting, my signature is the same, except when signing in stores. It's neat and legible, unless I'm journalling and I'm writing really quickly and trying to write too many thoughts at once.  Then it can get whacky. But there's something personal about how my emotion can change my handwriting and that is lost when typing. 

Penmanship is important - shoot me. Both ways of expression can co-exist. We stop using part of our brain when we no longer find the written word to be important and something to do well.  (And my love for all things English language and cursive is probably why I write such long posts that are so annoying to some. I text the same way sometimes.  Sorry, not really.)

I enjoyed reading this, Nancy, thanks!

You're in good company with cursive handwritten journals.  Many great writers in the past as well as today do the same.

Seems I remember reading that John Steinbeck wrote all his book manuscripts with a no. 2 pencil on yellow legal pads... in cursive!

And now he is dead

rgambs said:

I am not a fan of the push to bring back cursive and penmanship.
I'm 33, so that surely has something to do with it.
On the other hand, I'm a pretty old-fashioned man of the land who believes the only true investments are in good soil and durable tools.  I'm also a huge literature and reading fellow, and my favorite works all came when penmanship was very important... so that lends itself to the nostalgia of penmanship.  
Still, time moves forward and we have to look at the sensibility of things and I don't see any in focusing on penmanship.

I have two major gripes.
The first one is that cursive education is a mind numbing exercise in rote memory and repetition given at an age when children should be grappling with new ideas and building imaginative capacities. There's some compelling evidence that we teach children to read earlier than optimal, and I tend to believe it.  True or not, I don't think cursive handwriting is important enough to be taught until adolescence at the earliest, and by then the obsolescence and futility are too painfully obvious for anyone but the artistic souls who will find their way to it on their own anyways.

The second gripe isn't just with cursive, but with the endeavor to make everyone's penmanship aesthetically pleasing.  
It's a waste of time.  You can improve illegible handwriting into legibility, but you can never, ever teach someone like me make "pretty" handwriting.  It's exactly like singing, a crappy singer can work themselves to the bone to learn to sing in key, but they will never, ever turn themselves into a truly good singer.  It's a natural talent, and while it should be encouraged heartily where it's found, it should never be expected from everyone.  Legibility should be the standard, and no more.  Everyone should be taught to think, speak, and write in grammatically correct sentences.  Anything beyond that is a specialty to be chosen.