An old picture, on the back a description written in cursive-Kids can't read it

originally posted by: FHomerK

originally posted by: SaturnFX
Pointless writing style.

Pointless? Wow.

Don't kids write their signatures in cursive anymore?

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: vonclod

I think my point is the "community" is loosing this skill.

What does this mean?

It means people write things slower.
Oh the horror!

a reply to: grainofsand

And not being able to read "old" script.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha

originally posted by: FHomerK

originally posted by: SaturnFX
Pointless writing style.

Pointless? Wow.

Don't kids write their signatures in cursive anymore?

probably
pointless also...spending how much tax dollars to learn how to scribble. Might as well teach them how to write their name in kanji

I imagine the OP wishes we spoke and spellled our words olde English style as well lol.
Language and communication is fluid and constantly evolving.

a reply to: seasonal

I agree..we are being dumbed down by/for technology for the most part.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: grainofsand

And not being able to read "old" script.

Not critical. make it an elective in high school.
everything is translated into print. most people will not use cursive in their life after school so whats the point in using tax dollars to teach it to everyone. does it grow our culture?
I would rather that money be spent having people learn a instrument or something that has some value to society

originally posted by: vonclod
a reply to: seasonal

I agree..we are being dumbed down by/for technology for the most part.

streamlined. Not sure how not learning cursive is being dumbed down. what has replaced it is typing class...far more efficient a medium of communication and way more relevant.

a reply to: SaturnFX
My point was that everything previously written in cursive is going to be a closed book, if people find themselves unable to read it. But I suppose anything written before 2000 has no value?

a reply to: seasonal

Ever tried reading olde English?
Should we teach that in the UK so kids can read Charters and acts of Parliament from the 1500's?
Ridiculous.
All your old acts have been in additional printed format since the invention of the typewriter.

I think you just have some romanticised idea of cursive because aside from being slightly faster I see no need for it.

Totally depends on the cursive script the writer used, too, dude. Some styles' complexity just made no sense even for back then.
Despite being proficient in cursive myself, I can barely read anything my late grandmother wrote, and almost nothing her mother wrote, due to the script styles they wrote in. I don't know which specific cursive script either wrote with...looks like a blend of Spencerian and Palmer with a heavy calligraphic slant. Which, considering their eras, it probably is.
Anyway, their writing is damn hard to read. I feel like I'm trying to decipher an ancient puzzle when I look at my great-grandmother's writing and damn close to that with my grandmother's.

I think it's a nice artistic form of writing, but ultimately not necessary in daily life anymore. My husband's well-practiced in actual calligraphy, and even concedes this -- we have little use beyond artistic embellishment for cursives anymore. We're teaching it to ours, but as artistic script, not daily use script.

a reply to: SaturnFX

I think we are losing these skills due to computers, electronic devise's..etc, we are handicapped to them. It's more of a general statement. I ran across a manual for shorhand the other day..that would be probably an obsolete thing.
I think cursive has style and art to it and should be taught..maybe I'm just a dinosaur

a reply to: grainofsand

No, I have had no need to read old E. I was talking about cursive on the back of a picture.

That means they won't be able to read The Declaration of Independence or our Constitution at some point, or the orginal letters by our founding fathers. When printed books have gone the way of the do-do bird, they won't even have those to refer to. Electronic data, easily altered and corrupted, will be all they have left

a reply to: seasonal

My point stands, you are bleating that kids can't read the original documents and I used an example of how your founding fathers wrote differently to their forebears in 14/15 century England.
Writing as language has and always will evolve.
Teaching cursive solely so US kids can still read the original constitution documents?!
Bahaha! What a lame reason for such an investment of time and money.

a reply to: grainofsand

Ok, but kids still can't read simple cursive.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: SaturnFX
My point was that everything previously written in cursive is going to be a closed book, if people find themselves unable to read it. But I suppose anything written before 2000 has no value?

how will they ever figure out what the ancients wrote...oh, right, its all in print form anyhow, not to mention apps for that, etc.
And not having it forced into the educational system doesn't mean banning learning it...as I said, elective in high school sounds good.

originally posted by: vonclod
a reply to: SaturnFX

I think we are losing these skills due to computers, electronic devise's..etc, we are handicapped to them. It's more of a general statement. I ran across a manual for shorhand the other day..that would be probably an obsolete thing.
I think cursive has style and art to it and should be taught..maybe I'm just a dinosaur

Year after year "Teaching to the Standardized Testing" became more and more important and now, this is about all that is taught.

Language and writing skills took the biggest hits.


mg

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: markovian
If nobody learns it, how is it not going to be forgotten? Then everything that was hand-written before computers came along is going to be a closed book.
There does remain a practical purpose, because cursive is about speed. People still need to be able to write with a pen, for those times when a keyboard is not available. How can people write with any fluency if they're laboriously putting down one letter at a time?

Son's school teaches it from pre-K on. No print at all. The idea is that cursive allows thought to flow better because there is less interruption of flow. Your hand never leaves the page from letter to letter, only word to word.

People say that cursive is harder, but then again, most of us learned print first, so cursive is our second script like for many of us, English is our first language and picking up Spanish is tougher as our second. So we don't think of English as all that hard because we learned it native, but for someone picking it up second, it's tough.

Indeed, the kids my son is learning with took to it like fish to water. Mine didn't, but he has fine motor delay issues, so even print is tough for him. He wasn't going to win either way.