Cursive Handwriting

I'm curious to know how many of us are familiar with cursive script (in whatever your native tongue might be). Since different U.S. states have their own public education standards, some of us may have been taught cursive at different times, or not at all. Moreover, I read articles arguing that cursive is a dying art form, rightfully replaced by typing practice. Others argue the merits of retaining cursive instruction and the positive benefits it may have. I wonder what each of you think about cursive handwriting, or handwriting in general?

Personally, I recall initially learning cursive script in 3rd grade (around the age of 9). I was attending a public elementary school in California at the time. I remember what a big deal it seemed like at that age; it seemed a very "adult" thing to learn, and I was pleased to do so. That said, outside of some in-class essays throughout the rest of my primary education, I fail to remember using it very much. Much more emphasis was placed on typed-written papers with MLA style and 1" margins.

By the time I was a junior in college, I realized my cursive handwriting skills had atrophied significantly. For no other reason than my desire not to lose the skill, I made a concerted effort to re-teach myself cursive script (I had forgotten some of the letter shapes) and practiced by rewriting the preamble to the U.S. Declaration of Independence numerous times. [It wasn't that hard. Cursive handwriting is not like learning a new language. But it does fade if you don't use it.]

Now that I'm back in college, I find myself using it on a semi-regular basis, commonly for note-taking. (I always handwrite my notes – and as a good student, I do take plenty of notes – but I shift between cursive and standard "print script" as the situation warrants.)

I suspect that most of us have been taught cursive at one point or another, but like myself, you may have forgotten some of it over time. If that's the case, I'd recommend going back to practice it. It's bound to come in handy, and perhaps one day you can teach it to your own children (if it's removed from public education).

Cursive is such an unnecessary form of penmanship. It need not be a part of the education system.
Instead, it should be an additional - optional - skill, only obtained by those who wish to pursue with such penmanship.

I have indeed learned the basics of cursive handwriting, from the young age of 7. An hour of every passing school day would be dedicated to students perfecting their letters, and applying them where deemed most appropriate. Looking back, however, I deem such use of school hours pointless beyond all reason, for I have but only reverted to writing rather plainly. Plus, it loses necessity as you progress through the academic years.

There should not be any prestige in one's penmanship; the only priority as far I am concerned is that it is visibly clear enough so that letters and words can be distinguished from one another.

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In all seriousness, I don't actually give a hoot about cursive. I do see it as absolutely pointless, let alone the fact that children are having to be taught it at such an early age. I learned how to write in cursive in my primary school years, only for me to reject this and go back to writing regularly when I was 13.

When I wrote in cursive, I was messy; it doesn't help that I used inky pens on a regular basis and I am left-handed - quite a few pages in my workbooks would have smudges left right and center! So...yes, I went back to separating my letters which helped quite a bit - it actually improved my handwriting and also meant I could write quickly without being messy, so it could still be read, and I could write a lot more.

I honestly don't think cursive has any major role in today's society; I'm sure that most people would rather be concerned with what they wrote rather than how they go about writing it (unless they're known to have messy penmanship, then perhaps both could apply, but they wouldn't be considering cursive.)

That said...it doesn't have to really die out. Cursive is nice on its own merit...I just don't think it's as important as people make it out to be. So hey, if people wanna learn cursive, then by all means go for it and have fun with it!

I learned cursive in third or fourth grade when I was 8-9 years old! I do not really use it except I do like to doodle in cursive and I doodle quite a lot :laughsquid: i am always doodling my signature!
sometimes I write scribbly and I suppose it would count as cursive even though I am just trying to print quickly!

cursive is definitely not necessary but I think it is fun i am very into calligraphy so I like it! :sbthumbs: i kinda think it should be taught in schools bc it is a writing skill but it is not a big deal lolzies

TheLocalAquatic said:

When I wrote in cursive, I was messy; it doesn't help that I used inky pens on a regular basis and I am left-handed - quite a few pages in my workbooks would have smudges left right and center!

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I can relate enormously to this statement. I really do try to avoid inky pens for the same reason: as much as I love fountain pens, me and them are just not meant to be. :(
I wrote my a's backwards for a long time so I had to have my own personal handwriting booklet. I can't even remember if I enjoyed those sessions. I suppose they were frustrating at the time, but I couldn't have cared much.
At the moment, I'm hooked on PaperMates. Sometimes I'll use a different pen (but it will never be a BIC.)
Finally, I use cursive every day, so although it wasn't an option, I just answered with the closest I could get to. :)

wait so are you telling me that i'm the only one that never learned it because my school never cared enough

I had to. I was so bad at it that I had to hope the teacher didn't look at mine, since it judt looked like random lines that didn't even make a letter, it was that bad. I always had to redo if the teacher saw it, and it was never any better.

They stopped teaching cursive the next year.
As for my thoughts on it: Completetly useless. I don't really see the point in having a second version of each letter. It's best role really is just confusing people who don't understand it, like me :P

I love cursive tbh because I don't actually have to lift my hand off the paper.

I learned cursive in around 1st grade, and I kept getting taught it until around 5th. While I know it by heart, it takes too long for me to write for it to really be effective. I only use it for my signature, or if I'm trying to be mock fancy.

I've legitimately forgotten all about cursive except for the letters of my own name which I tend to do in cursive all the time as I never wanted to forget in case I needed to give a signature.

So am I to understand the general consensus to be that writing in cursive is like eating your vegetables – it's bad because we don't like it? :p

Say what you will about cursive, or handwriting in general, but I'll tell you this: it's definitely not pointless.

I learned cursive handwriting in Grade 3 (I was 8) and I remember I sucked at it. I never wrote in cursive after Grade 4 unless I had to sign.

I remember that day, when my teacher forced us to write a whole text in cursive. It was about our plans for the winter break. When she showed me my corrected text, she told me: "Robert, your text is really good, but you need to improve your handwriting". So, I was disappointed and ignored the fact that I got an A+. I really cared about my handwriting back then since it was messy and I hated that.

My sister is one of the very few people I know who still write in cursive. She has a nice handwriting but sometimes I can't read it because I don't understand cursive anymore.

I never understood what the point of signing with cursive even is. It's just a harder version of normal English. If I ever have go sign anything, I'm just writing normally, and if they make me write in cursive then they're not worth making a deal with or having an agreement with something or anything like that.

spongedude said:

So am I to understand the general consensus to be that writing in cursive is like eating your vegetables – it's bad because we don't like it? :p

Say what you will about cursive, or handwriting in general, but I'll tell you this: it's definitely not pointless.

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Then what's it's purpose?

Wintermelon43 said:

Then what's it's purpose?

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Not going to get into a debate here. I'm not a fan of argumentum ad ignorantiam, my friend.

As you grow older, you may realize that just because something does not hold true for you, does not mean it also fails to hold true for everyone else. ;)

I learned cursive writing in 1st grade, and I actually didn't do very terribly after my first try. Once in a while, I do cursive, but before I wrote in more cursive writing like crazy.

the bottom kinda is a negator because yes i was taught how to write in cursive but i can’t write worth a lick and no i never use it.

I can't see myself writing with anything else but cursive, I'm slow as molasses while writing regular lowercase letters :|
Back when I started writing a big emphasis we put on cursive, and I just wasn't able to switch after that lmao

I remember learning cursive in 3rd grade. I was decent at it at first, but overtime, I started to suck at it by 5th grade. By 6th grade we pretty much forgot about cursive all together.

I learned cursive back in 2nd grade and my teachers urged me to write in it from 3rd to 5th grade. I mean, we even had to do MATH in cursive. My cursive handwriting belonged in the trash back then.

I still write in cursive now since mine has improved vastly, but only when I am feeling fancy or if I'm signing stuff like school papers and bank checks.

They taught me cursive around 3rd grade and my cursive handwriting wasn't so bad but a couple of years later I forgot about it and everytime I tried to write this way I sucked.