Someday we old folks will use cursive writing as a secret code! Yes, if you don’t know by now, cursive writing is not taught anymore in schools.
For generations we were taught a beautiful way of writing, of looping our letters and the graceful flowing of words. Letters had an elegant visual art to them and one’s handwriting could be spotted right away as to who had written it. Now it is fading into history. What will our young people do when they want to read grandma’s old letters or reading documents written many years ago?
Why has it been dropped? Since 2010 decline in schools teaching the art of cursive writing has been declining. What has inclined is typing skills because of the use of computers in everything we do. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries penmanship was regarded as a marker of education and refinement. Cursive writing was considered a cornerstone of elementary education. It was considered to instill character in young students. Then when some became doctors, their cursive writing went by the wayside. They have their own cursive writing that no one can decipher but the pharmacist!
What do we lose without cursive? Though cursive may be less practical than other forms of writing today, nostalgia lingers. Cursive is more than just pretty penmanship It connects us to the past in a literal way. The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, soldiers’ letters home, and many historical diaries are all are written in cursive. Without the ability to read it, future generations risk losing direct access to these documents…