[Aravis60]

Last week I spent part of the afternoon in a meeting to discuss cursive writing. There was a lot of talk about whether or not cursive was a dying art form. I know that the readers of this forum are a well-read and intelligent bunch, so I wondered what your feelings are on the subject. Thanks for your help and input!

 

[Kathy]

That is so interesting. What do you do? Since I'm the first vote, you can see that I combine both.

 

[MAGreen]

I combine both too! Sort of like the Kindle boards banner....

 

[dollcrazy]

I also combine both most often. If I'm actually writing a letter though (how often do any of us do that these days) it's always cursive. Lists and notes are another story it's a combo of print, cursive, and my own form of shorthand.

 

[Jeff]

I can write much faster in cursive but my handwriting is abysmal so I print when someone who doesn't know my scrawl is going to read it.

 

[Wheezie]

I am a combiner also. My handwriting has always been terrible and it seems the older I get (44) the worse it is and I seem to be using less cursive.
I think is is also one of those "if you don't use it you lose it" types of things. I hardly ever write by hand anymore except for a quick and short note to self. I don't write checks by hand anymore and even put the grocery list in the PDA. Handwriting is really becoming a lost art.

 

[PJ]

Like most I combine the two - but it is more likely that the first letter tends to be printed (especially if it's capitalized) and the rest is cursive.  There are some letters that are a hybrid since they never looked good to me in my cursive hand (r is an example).  I don't know if you would call it connected printing or broken cursive but it is something like that.

 

[LSbookend]

Okay I'm trying to remember, so if I'm wrong I apologize.

In elementary school they made us write in cursive because that is the only thing we would be allowed to use in middle school (at least that's what they told us, I don't remember this being the case.)

Now years later (not that much later, I just turned 25) I could not think of asking some of my students to write in cursive, I can barely read their print and I teach high school. Oh my. The computer age is upon us.

 

[PJ]

Okay I'm trying to remember, so if I'm wrong I apologize.

In elementary school they made us write in cursive because that is the only thing we would be allowed to use in middle school (at least that's what they told us, I don't remember this being the case.)

Now years later (not that much later, I just turned 25) I could not think of asking some of my students to write in cursive, I can barely read their print and I teach high school. Oh my. The computer age is upon us.

I know what you mean. My sister's kid's writing is horrendous. They are 23 - 18 years old and I don't think they ever really had to write anything for school. But they did have to take "keyboarding" when they were in grade school. Isn't like teaching them to use the graphing calculator before they can do it on paper. Oh, wait they did that too!

When I was growing up all my papers until college where had written. And they better be legible or else you would loose points.

 

[Mike D. aka jmiked]

I pretty much quit cursive 40 years ago when I got my first job as a mechanical draftsman. I can print much faster than I can do cursive.

Mike

 

[marianneg]

I always print, at least if I want to be able to read it later.

 

[frojazz]

I have to do a lot of writing at work where it needs to be legable.  I like to print almost everything, except my initials.  I've been mostly printing since school, when some teachers required us to use cursive.  I don't like a lot of cursive letters, like 'r' and 's', so I avoid it most of the time.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

I print. My cursive is awful. Heck, my printing is barely legible. I have some fine motor skill issues and dysgraphia. By the time I was in Junior High my teachers had me typing my answers for exams on the computer.

My mother attempted to improve my handwriting by enrolling me in calligraphy and teaching me needle point. I can't say it made much of a difference.

 

[Anju]

My cursive has always been horrible and I use a mixture, if I want someone else to read it, or even myself.  My DH on the other hand has absolutely picture perfect cursive and wouldn't know how to print.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

My cursive is good, my printing is good.  I like printing better, I started using it for note taking in college because it forced me to think about what was important when I was taking notes.

My husband can only print in caps or do cursive.  The small letter font was not installed, apparently. 

Betsy

 

[Kind]

My handwriting has not changed since elementary school along with my signature!  ....... seriously though. 

 

[DawnOfChaos]

The only thing I do in cursive is sign my name.  I print everything else.  If I try to write in cursive it looks like an 8 year old did it.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

The only thing I do in cursive is sign my name. I print everything else. If I try to write in cursive it looks like an 8 year old did it.

Still looks better then mine (sigh)

 

[Abby]

I do a combination.  I've never actually studied my handwriting long enough to see if I have a pattern or if I use cursive or print with certain words or letters.  If I'm writing something for my 5.5 year old DS to copy though I use all print.

 

[LSbookend]

My Spanish teacher in high school showed us a letter from her family in Columbia (the country) and I remember the handwriting being super neat. I believe she said they spend more time in school on handwriting then we do.

I print and my handwriting depends upon my mood on how fast I'm writing, oh and if I'm putting it on the board for my students.