Cursive Writing Explodes Into Thought

Of course I have to weigh in on this subject but I must confess that I was terrifically shocked to learn that cursive writing is going the way of the dodo bird.  It was some years ago when I discovered that my nephews had not learned cursive writing in school.  As much as I liked to hear about what they were learning in school this was something I had never questioned.

First of all I must say right off the bat that I adore writing (as opposed to printing).  I love the feel of it, I love the way it looks, I like how it sooths me, I like the way I express myself when writing.  In short, I like it.  I don’t have particularly nice writing, in fact I think it is a little eccentric in style but my mother tells me that I have “nice writing”.  And when I advanced from printing to writing I was the last girl in my class to be promoted to permanently writing in my exercise books.  I was a little messy I guess.  But I took to writing like a duck to water.

I did some Google research on the value of cursive writing and there seems to be a split decision on whether or not the experts are right in saying that it is useful with cases of dyslexia, that it helps with cognitive ability or that it helps with creativity and personality.  Is writing faster than printing?  can you believe one report said no?  I used an expletive and questioned the researcher – the rest of what he wrote went in one ear and out the other because I highly doubt any of what he said after that.  At the end of the article was a sample of the author’s hand printing (hmm, is that a clue right there?) and from its back and forth leanings I can say something but won’t (gee, aren’t I being nice today?).  Also not straight, another clue.  Get my drift?  But that’s another story.

I am getting up there in age and I suppose despite trying to stay current I am going to have some old fashioned opinions but for what it’s worth here’s what I think.  I think a person who writes rather than prints indicates that she is educated, intelligent and may have a creative personality.  Why?  Handwriting is invariably distinctive where printing is generally primitive looking even when neat and tidy and doesn’t really show much style.  Going back to the author defending printing, his printing was wavy and had pretentions to writing in being somewhat swirly and my thoughts were “wannabee” writing.  I know that when I put my thoughts in writing, compared to when I compose on a keyboard, I have a steadier, stronger sense of the ideas I am formulating.  I do not need to edit myself nearly as much with handwriting as I do when typing.  I would never dream of printing as I find it much more awkward and childish.  Even with my elderly fingers writing flows much better from my pen.  But that’s me.  When it comes to writing, I confess, I will make judgments.

Teachers and individuals are going to do whatever as the mainstream changes but I feel that cursive writing is a valuable skill and I feel sorry for those who won’t experience the flow of thoughts into a stream of writing on paper.