Cursive

[Peter Paltridge]

Some states preserve penmanship despite tech gains - Yahoo! News

A lot of schools are dropping cursive writing from the curriculum. I get why. Writing without your pen leaving the paper was originally developed to save business time back when typewriters were a luxury; now everyone writes digitally and there is no point to the exercise. They made me write a lot of book reports in cursive. It had no effect on my chances in the real world. Unless you count my signature, I've almost never had to use cursive again, except in a cartoon I'm drawing if the situation calls for it.

This brings up an interesting question for those of you who've graduated: what did you learn that ended up having the most use in real life, and what turned out to be useless?

For me, the obvious staples like math (there are times in real life where you'll have to use algebra), but one of the most valuable turned out to be typing class in the computer lab. Nowadays I have to type every day.

Most useless? Diagramming sentences. I never understood the point of that.

 

[PC!]

Besides typing and basic math and English? Nothing I can think of.

Heck, I don't think much of anything past middle school has had the slightest bit of usefulness to me outside of school.

Still, one never knows when something may come in handy one day.

 

[Kevin]

I remember learning cursive in school, but the only time I ever use it is when I sign something. Nowadays, since everything is pretty much digital, there's really no need for it. I never even see it much in real world use anyway.

 

[Michael24]

I actually still write quite a bit by hand, but mostly things like story notes and such. As such, I don't really use formal cursive but since I write kind of fast my writing is like a combination of print and cursive. Some words in a sentence will be one or the other, or even a weird combination of both!

 

[Light Lucario]

I also still write with a pen and paper, but only for notes and even then, I don't use cursive to write them. Nowadays, I only use cursive for my signatures. I don't see much value in teaching it school at this point either.

 

[Daxdiv]

I'll admit that I only use Cursive writing whenever I sign something off, like picking up my paycheck, depositing it, using my credit card. Even then I can only write my name in it anyway. Cursive is like a dying art for me., but I never recalled having to write reports in it. Though it could be due to my poor penmanship. Seriously, I have the worse writing out there.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

In high school I learned to type. On a typewriter. That does not come up much nowadays.

The one that turned out to be most important was grammar. When you write professionally the better your grammar is, the easier your life is. I wish I had paid more attention.

As far as cursive goes I've probably taken 10s of thousands of pages of notes in my career and I've printed most of them. There's something wrong with me that makes my handwriting almost unreadable even to me, so I tried taking my notes in cursive but they were more legible when printed.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

I only use cursive to sign something. I never use it otherwise. I have some bad memories from the 3rd grade about learning cursive and my hand writing was so sloppy and I had to redo it again, and again, and again, wondering why do I have to learn this.

 

[purplehairedwonder]

Well, I work in academia, helping run a college writing center, so all the English lessons I learned have been extremely important. The number of freshmen we see now that tell us they never wrote a paper in high school is mind boggling. But that goes beyond not knowing how to structure an essay; they really lack the critical thinking skills required to formulate a paper, and that's really hard to watch since I'm not that much older than these kids but I had that education just a few short years before them. I will say that I never learned enough grammar until I actually started tutoring, though, since we''d have meetings about grammar and I had to do a lot of my own research to learn how to teach tutees.

I occasionally write in cursive, though it's usually just for signatures on credit card slips or check deposits anymore. The idea of not knowing it, whether to write or read it, kind of boggles my mind, though. Sometimes I'll switch to cursive when hand writing things just for some variety. I find it helps my thought process to switch out the ways I write sometimes; I switch pen colors for the same effect.

I got through calculus in school, but math for me is mostly just about calculating sale prices (which, as a shop-a-holic is both extremely useful and extremely dangerous) or tips in my head anymore; I stopped balancing my checkbook a couple of years ago when my calculations and my e-banking numbers wouldn't match up because of the time it took for things to process. It was just easier to use the online numbers. The rest, well, I still have my graphing calculator from high school

 

[Storm Eagle]

When I was going into third grade, I was starting at a new school, and that's when I learned to write in cursive (they called it "script"). I saw cursive writing before then, and I didn't think I could learn it, but I believe I remembered getting it all straight right away. We also always had to write in cursive. Nowadays, like most people have said here, I've only been writing in cursive when I'm signing something. If I'm writing down notes on my notepad, I write it in manuscript. So one day, I wanted to see if I still remember how to write every letter in cursive, in both their uppercase and lowercase forms. I think there might have been a couple of letters that I forgot how to write in cursive though.

 

[Gold Guy]

I only write cursive when I write my signature. Otherwise, nope.

 

[Aquadementia]

Not knowing cursive seems rather illiterate.
Heck, soon people will probably wonder why bother to read anymore when the computer can write down everything you say and read it back to you?

You don't have a signature if you don't know cursive. Then again, maybe signatures are obsolete now that everything needs a password. With the new Windows 8 password gestures people may literally be signing their names with an X now.

I write in cursive all the time. I'll use printing to highlight things like headers and pseudocode, then switch back to cursive for the talky parts.
I would always use printing for short notes meant for everyone to read. but I'm starting to think nuts to you if you can't read handwriting.

It does take longer to read handwriting, and it can take time to get used to another persons style.

Funny thing is, when the Newton came out I wanted one because I could take notes on the computer by writing instead of typing. But the Newton was expensive and everyone said the handwriting recognition sucked.
iPads and tablets are ridiculously more powerful then the Newton, yet people would prefer to complain about how virtual keyboards suck then take out a stylus and write on one.
I don't think it's popular to write on iPads even in Asian languages, and keyboards for Asian languages are idiotic.

In high school I learned to type. On a typewriter. That does not come up much nowadays.

The one that turned out to be most important was grammar. When you write professionally the better your grammar is, the easier your life is. I wish I had paid more attention.

As far as cursive goes I've probably taken 10s of thousands of pages of notes in my career and I've printed most of them. There's something wrong with me that makes my handwriting almost unreadable even to me, so I tried taking my notes in cursive but they were more legible when printed.

You never learned shorthand?
Sometimes I still think I should have leaned shorthand.

 

[PC!]

I'm starting to think nuts to you if you can't read handwriting.

It does take longer to read handwriting, and it can take time to get used to another persons style.

In all fairness, some people--heck, many people--have handwriting that's more or less illegible to anyone but themselves.

I've noticed that more and more people in today's society tend to print their signatures instead of writing them in cursive. It's definitely a dying breed.

 

[Gatomon41]

Not knowing cursive seems rather illiterate.
Heck, soon people will probably wonder why bother to read anymore when the computer can write down everything you say and read it back to you?

You don't have a signature if you don't know cursive. Then again, maybe signatures are obsolete now that everything needs a password. With the new Windows 8 password gestures people may literally be signing their names with an X now.

I write in cursive all the time. I'll use printing to highlight things like headers and pseudocode, then switch back to cursive for the talky parts.
I would always use printing for short notes meant for everyone to read. but I'm starting to think nuts to you if you can't read handwriting.
(snip)

I agree. Cursive, despite not having such an impact today, has some importance. Signatures are unique and have style, and there's an art to it. There's beauty in how it flows.

 

[Beefy]

Not only did I have to learn cursive in school, I also had to learn calligraphy. Why? I have no idea. Maybe so I can write fancy wedding invitations by hand?

Today I only use cursive for my signature. I've forgotten how to write some of the letters that are not in my name.

Most important thing I learned in school that I still use: grammar. Every day we would have exercises where we would have to find the errors in a sentence. Those really made a difference in helping me remember all that stuff.

I also have to use math when installing satellite dishes (lousy parabolas) and figuring out what frequency corresponds with what channel when doing modulation and multiplexing for cable TV systems.

 

[G. Wen]

*stupidantiquatededucationsystem* O.K., now that's out of my system...
I remember spending a good two months learning cursive. TWO MONTHS! Look, I understand the importance of having a passing knowledge of cursive and knowing how to sign your name, but there's no reason why we need to spend two months teaching grade schoolers how to write in cursive. Most of them will not grow up to be calligraphists. Furthermore, many companies insist you print your communications so there is no chance of misinterpretation. As for stuff I learned in school that I use in the real world...

Art: I use basic principals of design and composition everyday on the job, and I because I draw and paint in my spare time, I also use all the technique I learned as well.

English: Reading comprehension, grammar, and writing are very important for me. You need to communicate your ideas and identity clearly if you want to get grants, gallery shows, residencies, etc. Also, as a voter, I need to understand bills, laws, positions before I can make an informed voting choice. Yes, I actually read those things, I don't vote blindly based on how "liberal" or "conservative" something is.

History: Again, as a voter, I need to understand and contextualize new bills, laws, and positions within a historical framework in order to make sense of it. As for art history, I don't use it very much at my job, but I do use a lot of it for personal use, such as home decorating, enjoyment, and looking up ideas for my artwork.

Math: I use basic math for balancing my bank accounts, and some geometry when it comes to decorating and planning spaces for parties, etc. I've never used anything above 10th grade geometry.

Biology: I use basic biology to make informed nutrition choices to take care of myself (i.e. I never hopped on the Atkins Diet band wagon). As an environmentalist, I use basic biology to make informed decisions on how to live my life.

Business and Economics: When you're an artist, knowing the business of art is the most important thing in the world. Also, I lean libertarian on economics for a reason.

 

[Aquadementia]

In all fairness, some people--heck, many people--have handwriting that's more or less illegible to anyone but themselves.

I've noticed that more and more people in today's society tend to print their signatures instead of writing them in cursive. It's definitely a dying breed.

I’d expect people be able to decipher something short like “back in 1 hour.” Well, maybe not the part where the hour started. I do enjoy a certain air of mystery.

*stupidantiquatededucationsystem* O.K., now that's out of my system...
I remember spending a good two months learning cursive. TWO MONTHS! Look, I understand the importance of having a passing knowledge of cursive and knowing how to sign your name, but there's no reason why we need to spend two months teaching grade schoolers how to write in cursive. Most of them will not grow up to be calligraphists. Furthermore, many companies insist you print your communications so there is no chance of misinterpretation. As for stuff I learned in school that I use in the real world...

This might be a small window of time where anyone has such an attitude.
Writing is practically timeless.
Keyboards could easily go the way of CRT’s and fax machines.
It may be as little as 10 years before kids are wondering why they should learn to type when computers can take dictation and recognize their handwriting well enough. We could argue speed and ease, but they will see it as complicated and unnecessary.
Only old people from our misguided generation prefer to plunk away at rows of letters.

 

[Lanmanna]

I am the only person I know who uses cursive.

 

[Daikun]

Good riddance. Cursive drives me CRAZY. I hate reading it (or rather, TRYING to read it) and I hate writing it. It's ugly as sin and looks like chicken scribbles. I don't even sign my name with it.

I stopped writing in cursive once I entered junior high; it had no affect on my life. In fact, giving up cursive actually IMPROVED my penmanship as I practiced printwriting. I even had comments from teachers and classmates over how "unique" my penmanship looked, simply because I gave up on those stupid loops.

Get that useless technique out of our education system.

 

[dothesmartthing]

I love writing by hand; I've had people commenting about how nice my handwriting looked. As for cursive writing, I do some of that too, when I'm not typing and while signing.