The Lost Art

Is cursive writing dead?? I recently learned (wow, I'm late to this news) that my 13 and 14 year old niece and nephew were not taught cursive writing in school. Like, they never learned something that was a required part of my elementary curriculum.

I found out when I had to decipher some cursive writing for them. They could pick up some letters, but to them, it mostly looked like a bunch of illegible scribbling. 

I was almost in disbelief that this was a thing. No more cursive? I had to know more. So I did some Googling (as one does)... And found endless links to statements, discussions, and arguments about why we no longer need cursive or why it should remain a part of the curriculum. 

It is a fact that in 2010, the U.S. government officially removed cursive from the required Common Core Standards for K-12 education. - npr.org 

⬆️ This is actually not accurate, as I found out that individual states set their own mandates for common core, the standard for American teaching that's supposed to be upheld nationwide. BUT it's true that things started to disintegrate in 2010, when a number of states decided to remove cursive from their required subjects. 

At this writing, it appears that only 21 US states still require cursive writing as part of elementary education (usually in the 3rd or 4th grade). And there is an ongoing argument to completely remove it (understandably, I guess) in favor of keyboarding. Yes, we are interacting and communicating more via keyboards on laptops, phones, etc. But I have my reasons for hating to see cursive writing go away. 

my own messy style: a hybrid shorthand

I was taught cursive writing in elementary school. I later took typing in highschool. So I feel I have the benefit of being able to read and write cursive AND communicate efficiently via keyboard. Funny thing, after being taught cursive in school, we had teachers then require us to neatly print things like reports (if we weren't expected to type them). So in daily life, I mostly used print for the same reason the teachers gave. "Your work needs to be legible or your grade will be affected!". But as a creative person who could rarely bring herself to adhere completely to the rules, I developed my own spin. After all, I loved cursive writing, with its elegant swirls and sweeping lines. But printing had become universal. We became expected to print until it came time to sign our name. So over time, my handwriting evolved into a sort of hybrid of cursive and print writing. 

But there's still another reason I'm not excited about the demise of this art. That is, our connection to the past. I read one article that projected that in the not-so-distant future, we will require translators to decode words and documents for most of the population who will not understand cursive. Like it's a whole other language. While this could be a boon to people who see a new professional opportunity opening up, does it put the larger population at a disadvantage to be dependent on a select few? I thought of how I've looked at census documents provided by my ancestry research account. These are documents (average circa 1910 - 1930s) that were manually completed in cursive writing.

a screenshot of a census record with my
great grandmother's name and age

I can read them, but to someone who doesn't have cursive writing in their toolbox, they are gibberish. Thankfully, on the site I use, there is a tool that helps with that.

my grandmother's recipes- almost entirely written in cursive

So what will become of this fading skill? Are we doomed (okay, yes "doomed" is a bit dramatic) to having our cursive words discovered by some future society to whom they are little more than cryptic hieroglyphics? Will the cursive alphabet fade like old English (who could even read "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"? Cliff Notes, please!).

the "Cursive Bowls"
(click to check them out!)

Funny, that this all came to my attention as I was finally completing a new series of paper mache bowls that feature cursive phrases in wire. The synchronicities of life. 

Time marches on. And with it, inevitable change. But I'm thankful to have been part of a generation that was granted this knowledge, even if some don't feel it has a place in the future!

What do you think? Good riddance or horrible development? Did you learn cursive in school? If so, where/what country (or state)? Does your country still use cursive frequently?