Cursive, foiled?

[illusionofjoy]

I remember being taught to write in Cursive in grade school. While forming loopy letters didn't much bother me (except for the letter Q, which I have always refused to write in Cursive, as it looks like a "2") having ignorant teachers berate me for slanting my letters the "incorrect" way certainly did. I have something in common with President Obama: I am left-handed. However, unlike the President, I learned the proper way to position my writing paper so as to avoid hooking my wrist and smudging what I was writing.

The fact that I learned this independently says something about the public school system. When writing in Cursive, the proper position for a right-handed person to slant his or her paper is with the top angled towards the left. This aids in creating the distinctive rightward slant of Cursive writing. Just the opposite is true for lefties: the proper position for the writing paper is with the top angled towards the right. This, of course, would naturally lead left-handed people to slant their Cursive in the opposite direction and was exactly what happened with my writing. Certain teachers of mine were relentlessly critical about this development. Of course, the disapproval of a few educators with overinflated egos wasn't about to cramp my personal style - especially when I was the only left-handed student leaving class without ink smudged down the side of my hand.

In grade school, I was told how important Cursive writing would be later on in life. I was told a lot of lies in grade school. As it stands, the only times I ever write in Cursive anymore are when I make out a cheque or sign my name to an official document. Most of my writing done with my hands on a computer keyboard, learning how to type having been a far more useful skill than learn to write in Cursive. When I write song lyrics, which I do on paper, rather than at a computer, I write them out in Manuscript (honestly, it wouldn't matter if I wrote them in either style, no one but me is able to read them regardless).

So, for me, Cursive is well on it's way to extinction and this IndyStar article buttresses that argument:

Cursive is still widely taught in U.S. elementary schools, according to a 2007 nationwide study by Vanderbilt University on handwriting instruction. It surveyed a random sampling of about 200 teachers in grades one through three.

Ninety percent of teachers who responded said their schools required instruction in handwriting. Of those who taught it, half of second-grade teachers and 90 percent of third-grade teachers offered cursive instruction.

Also, the emphasis has shifted from the beauty of handwriting to writing efficiently, the study found.

With the ever-increasing role of computers in our lives, I don't see the "efficiency" argument flying for very long. Even when I was in college, term papers were typed into MS Word and printed out - they were never written in Cursive.