Cursive or Print

I use both on a regular basis. Depends on what I writing and who is going to read it.

Cursive, always! Just works better for me.

To me living down under it seems strange to hear so many people not using cursive or schools dropping it. Pretty much everyone here writes in cursive.

Although I don't know the state of teaching it in schools these days.

I was educated in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. I was taught cursive handwriting (Palmer-method, I assume) from the beginning and struggled with it until the end. In high school, I took a couple of mechanical drawing/drafting classes and picked up the required block lettering style. I realized then that if I wanted to communicate on paper, printing was going to have to be my default writing style. My current style is block lettering with a few nuances left over from cursive, particularly if I'm writing fast. I've been playing around with cursive since I got into fountain pens a couple of years ago, but the results are still pretty messy. It looks like I'm going to be a printer for the rest of my time here on this planet.

+1 for this. I can't believe that cursive is not even being taught in many schools today. I am not a Luddite, but writing is a basic life skill and cursive is faster (let alone more elegant) than printing.

AllenG said:

I write in cursive almost exclusively; it's what s in my muscle memory.
To me cursive is the more formal of the two scripts. I print when filling out forms, but that is about it.

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I think in the US we're teaching kids to "get by" with only the basics. Cursive is harder, so we don't want to stress the little darlings.

Herm2502 said:

I think in the US we're teaching kids to "get by" with only the basics. Cursive is harder, so we don't want to stress the little darlings.

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In most schools (all but 5 states) it has been replaced with keyboarding and computer proficiency classes or just outright dropped.

I use cursive when writing a letter, I believe that it is more formal than printing.
I recently shocked a friend and his wife in Europe when they received a three-page letter written with a fountain pen.
It so very rare to receive letters these days.

It is a shame when ever a skill/knowledge (cursive writing) is lost.

On another point, being able to tell time from an analog time piece is also disappearing piece of knowledge.

I have heard from some parents that their children cannot read cursive writing either.

So statements from kids finishing high school and saying that they cannot read or write may be a wave of the future.

Rather depressing.

I'm with the others that changed to printing in the military, but I have been changing back to cursive and trying to get it to look a lot better then it currently does.

One of my biggest fears with cursive not being taught is that the kids of today will not be able to read things like letters written by older generations, or even the U.S. Constitution.

Cursive. I went to school during the 70's and once we learned cursive my memory is that printing was not accepted (maybe high school teachers relaxed on that a bit). My wife tells me that the kids (Jr in high school and Freshman in college) sometimes struggle to read my notes (can't be because of my writing!) and I know they both always print, the few times they actually put pen to paper.

Sad to think that they may not be able to read the journals I'm keeping.

Cursive. I'll print serial numbers and the like.

I checked with the elementary school and found that all of my middle school students were taught cursive writing, D'Nealian, in 4th and 5th grade. So, I started correcting their papers in script. They complained and I reminded them of their previous experiences with cursive writing and told them to "get over it".

I've now got kids using cursive writing to answer questions and write essays. Most of them want a fountain pen. Staples better stock up on Metropolitans. A lot of kids are headed their way.

Print. I was tought cursive in school but I always printed. Now I don't even remember how to write some letters in cursive. I'll start out good and then on some words it will just turn to scribble cause I can't remember how to connect the letters in cursive.

So I print.

emt88 said:

In most schools (all but 5 states) it (i.e., cursive) has been replaced with keyboarding and computer proficiency classes or just outright dropped.

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Using the library last week, I found myself seated next to a schoolkid whom I estimate was in the elementary grades. His keyboard skills were very well developed, maybe 50-60 wpm, again by my estimate. I have to say I'm glad that he has learned proper typing technique. I don't know if he was taught cursive.

When I was in school, cursive was taught in the elementary grades and then I took some typing courses in high school, so learned both. I don't see why the one (keyboarding) has to flat out replace the other (cursive). If there is need to create room in the schedule they could just drop some totally waste-of-time course like Washington state history.

Cynomys said:

Using the library last week, I found myself seated next to a schoolkid whom I estimate was in the elementary grades. His keyboard skills were very well developed, maybe 50-60 wpm, again by my estimate. I have to say I'm glad that he has learned proper typing technique. I don't know if he was taught cursive.

When I was in school, cursive was taught in the elementary grades and then I took some typing courses in high school, so learned both. I don't see why the one (keyboarding) has to flat out replace the other (cursive). If there is need to create room in the schedule they could just drop some totally waste-of-time course like Washington state history.

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In the moat recent article I read on the subject, decision makers defended themselves by saying that computer skill were a much more important practical skill than handwriting. And in today's workplace, that is very true. I'm not very old (26) but i didn't really receive much in the way of technology based courses. At my current job, I am now learning things that most middle school kids already have a far better grasp on. A prime example of this happened today. My little cousin (10) was teaching me how to input command equations into Microsoft Excel.

I've taken to cursive. My father has some of the best penmanship I've ever seen. I've practiced over the last ten years and surprise coworkers when they see me write. I hunks it's not bad. It's more concentration and practice and structure.

I feel I have an awkward mix of printing and cursive, if that makes any sense? If you had to give it a title, I'd say I print more often than not, but a lot of times my letters flow together in the same way as they would if I were to write in cursive.

Is this more normal than I think?

emt88 said:

In the most recent article I read on the subject, decision makers defended themselves by saying that computer skill were a much more important practical skill than handwriting.

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This is exactly what I am complaining about. Why are the two - cursive and keyboard skills - counterposed as if it is a choice of one or the other. Given the number of totally useless courses (Wash. state history is my favorite), why not counterpose cursive to one of these waste-of-time courses?.

Great thread! Cursive. Mine was terrible until 10th grade Biology. You couldn't get anything better than a C in Mr. Kaiser's class if your cursive was bad. That said, I mostly type my letters...My tremors make my cursive an adventure, but I do practice it in the evenings. I am sad some school kids will not be able to read it, incredulous, really.