Being from somewhere where everyone learns cursive and most use it in handwriting, I was very surprised when I learned a lot of (mostly American?) people can’t make any sense of it at all.
I remember a guy posting an old handwritten letter on Reddit, just asking for a transcript. And while I agree many people have terrible handwriting that is absolutely undecipherable for anyone but themselves (if at all), this was not the case at all here.
I understand why that would be a problem if someone never learned it or only in passing and never used it again, but it’s so weird being able to read something naturally with no effort while others treat it like a mysterious cryptogram.
I guess they have stopped teaching it at some of schools in the United States. The kids that don’t know it are really passionate about why they don’t need to know it, to the point of calling it stupid. I made some arguments in a post about it a week ago and they’re adamant that they don’t need and don’t want it. Obviously I think people should still learn it, but I don’t sit on a school board.
I was taught how to write cursive before I emigrated to Ireland. When I arrived cursive writing isn’t being used in the country. And to be honest, learning cursive is pointless. Like, why? It developed as a pretentious way to write by the elites in the past. We’re learning how to write “normal” to start with when we were just starting in school. Then later on we’re taught to write in cursive when we could write in more easily legible and readable separated letters. The advent of the computer and emails have made handwriting largely obsolete anyhow.
I’ve read an article of a professor lamenting the fact that new generations are not being taught how to write and read cursive. Admonishing who would be able to read old cursive handwritings for historical research and posterity. The professor may feel nostalgic for the old ways, but has it occurred to him that cursive writing is a relic of the past, and reading it could be done by a specialist historian, same way as someone who reads Sumerian cuneiform?
I mean it’s an objectively worse writing system. All caps printing is the most legible, and as writing is a form of communication, clarity is paramount.
I’m also very surprised no one has started calling it racist yet because of it’s origins and which demographics historically used it. “Linguistic prescriptivism” is racist now, but handwriting is still A okay.
Is this how calligraphy looks to people who can’t read cursive?
Being from somewhere where everyone learns cursive and most use it in handwriting, I was very surprised when I learned a lot of (mostly American?) people can’t make any sense of it at all.
I remember a guy posting an old handwritten letter on Reddit, just asking for a transcript. And while I agree many people have terrible handwriting that is absolutely undecipherable for anyone but themselves (if at all), this was not the case at all here.
I understand why that would be a problem if someone never learned it or only in passing and never used it again, but it’s so weird being able to read something naturally with no effort while others treat it like a mysterious cryptogram.
I guess they have stopped teaching it at some of schools in the United States. The kids that don’t know it are really passionate about why they don’t need to know it, to the point of calling it stupid. I made some arguments in a post about it a week ago and they’re adamant that they don’t need and don’t want it. Obviously I think people should still learn it, but I don’t sit on a school board.
I think cursive is a low priority on a list of increasingly important extracurricular topics.
I was taught how to write cursive before I emigrated to Ireland. When I arrived cursive writing isn’t being used in the country. And to be honest, learning cursive is pointless. Like, why? It developed as a pretentious way to write by the elites in the past. We’re learning how to write “normal” to start with when we were just starting in school. Then later on we’re taught to write in cursive when we could write in more easily legible and readable separated letters. The advent of the computer and emails have made handwriting largely obsolete anyhow.
I’ve read an article of a professor lamenting the fact that new generations are not being taught how to write and read cursive. Admonishing who would be able to read old cursive handwritings for historical research and posterity. The professor may feel nostalgic for the old ways, but has it occurred to him that cursive writing is a relic of the past, and reading it could be done by a specialist historian, same way as someone who reads Sumerian cuneiform?
Well one use for cursive is to help dyslexic kids. it makes it easier for them to write and spell
I mean it’s an objectively worse writing system. All caps printing is the most legible, and as writing is a form of communication, clarity is paramount.
I’m also very surprised no one has started calling it racist yet because of it’s origins and which demographics historically used it. “Linguistic prescriptivism” is racist now, but handwriting is still A okay.