This is also something my husband often does I also sometimes get messages in all caps followed by an apology when he’s working lol!
Actually I think the eldest, at 26, did learn to write cursive. The boys have definitely not though.
Very few of my students can read cursive.
Husband also writes in all caps because the Navy insisted on it.
This made me think, when was the last time I saw anything in cursive? One parent used it for pretty much all writing, but they passed away a long time ago, and the closest anyone else I know comes (at least that I get anything written from) is basically failing to lift the pen between printed letters. I can say I remember most of the alphabet because I just tested that , but I don’t think I’ve written anything except my signature in years. On the other hand I do use all caps fairly regularly for drafting/labeling.
I saw a recent news story about Ontario adding cursive back into the curriculum, but having a problem because the younger teachers couldn’t teach it.
I was puzzled by the why. Who on earth needs to know this???
The article rightly pointed out that when you’re taking notes it’s faster than printing. Writing has all the letters connected so you lift the pen from the paper far less.
Fine, I accept that. But then how often do we take notes by hand? I can type faster than I can write, and typed notes are vastly more useful.
If that’s the reason: I dearly wish I had learned shorthand in school. I take notes by hand fairly often because I remember it better. Things on my phone just get lost. It would be nice to do so with less hand strain.
I think I’ve heard that there’s a new fad/experiment of teaching cursive because of the secondary benefits to motor control and memory.
yes, it was announced the last week of June that it was being reintroduced this September - so teachers have to be ready to teach it this coming year, with little notice and little training.
And, why. J1 has had a chromebook through special ed since grade four, but every kid in our board receives a chromebook in grade 7. J2 will receive his this September. One they have chromebooks, just about all writing intensive schoolwork gets completed and handed in electronically.
Even J2, who didn’t have his own chromebook last year for grade six, had 12 chromebooks for his class of 26. He says one class had 12, and his sister class had 16, but they went on the same cart together (So either class A or B had all of them at once, and likely that meant enough for each kid when they were using them). (J2 is in French immersion, so he did his morning in English then switched rooms for the afternoon in French, the sister class did the opposite. The whole school is set up in paired classes in this manner).
His words, when I asked him how many, was ‘not enough,’ but I mean - I recall the days of one Amiga 365 shared around the whole school.
It’s a dying art, for sure, but I can’t remember the last time I used cursive. It’s usually typed or all caps filing out a form.
Also - kids type so much these days, I don’t think they have the hand/finger muscles for sustained writing regardless
What if it’s not about when you use it directly, but developing fine motor control?
Yeah this is what I’ve heard, basically it changes how the brain integrates information and connects concepts. There’s some interesting research on it.
I did all my school notes in cursive through nursing school, then had to change to do my hand written charting for work, and it’s stuck. I’ve always done to do lists and day planner in print though, so I’m all over the place apparently.
I do all caps for floor plans and sales slips at work but notes are very messy cursive because it’s faster.
In my province it was part of a conservative government pushing tradition, old fashioned everything and a buck a beer.
So I agree it could help with fine motor skills hypothetically, but I know that isn’t the reason
If this was it, I’d feel better about it. Here, it’s about a government that hates teachers throwing a last minute wrench at them. they did the same thing last June with a surprise new math curriculum.
(also, as a kid of the 90s who handwrote everything, I realized when I had to handwrite a test a few years ago that I’ve lost all those muscles. My hand was cramping for days afterwards, I was walking around carrying a beer can, not to drink it, but because it was cold on the swelling. It’s important, but it’s also use it or loose it, and we don’t use it as adults either)
Yeah thats a shitty reason.
I signed up to write recruitment postcards for my Alma mater the last 2 years and writing 10-12 postcards killed my hand! I feel ya.
I feel like such a relic on the cursive thing - I’m 28 but still vastly prefer handwritten notes etc. and do a lot of journalling. I think I was the last year at university where exams were 3 hour handwritten essay tasks (for a science subject!), so I had to get plenty of practise (including at writing through the cramps) and can still handwrite as fast as I can type
I used to write in cursive and now it takes so much extra concentration. But I do remember it being faster for notetaking especially in school. I think print can be just as pretty and distinctive!
I’m 36 and still use cursive a lot.
As someone who committed to the bubble-dot above the i for years, yes.
I still use cursive for analog writing intended for my own eyes. If anyone has to read it I usually print or type- my kids can’t read it, I don’t think my husband can read my cursive, and my grandma is getting on in years and I don’t want to make it harder for her!
I generally use a mixed cursive/printed scrawl. Which is questionably legible.