The February 23rd issue of Newsweek magazine contained an article by Jessica Bennett titled, "The Curse of Cursive." The article gives a brief history of penmanship and points out that, because of technology, the use of penmanship has been steadily decreasing over the years. While Bennett covers the pros and cons of the loss of penmanship, she makes it clear that she is all for "eras(ing) it for good."
Cursive writing is a system of writing and therefore falls under the science of grammatology which, as discussed yesterday, is the scientific study of writing systems.
I find cursive to be both beautiful and elegant and I think it would be a shame to lose this writing system. What do you grammatologists out there think? Please submit your comments.
6 comments:
I also like to write in cursive. It would be a shame if most people chose not to write in longhand anymore. With texting, I'm afraid that many people are using a shorthand approach to communication. Spelling, grammar, style all seem to be going "out the door" as technology pushes in. Hopefully, dedicated English teachers will try and instill a respect in their students for the practice of good writing, grammar and penmanship. It may be an uphill battle!
“I find cursive to be both beautiful and elegant…”
You’ve obviously never seen my writing ;-)
I don’t do much cursive writing anymore for a few reasons:
1. I type 100+ words-per-minute, which is much easier and faster.
2. My writing is awful (I had to see a writing specialist in 3rd and 4th grades).
3. Email is my primary means of communication at work and personally.
I appreciate elegant handwriting, but only do it myself when writing short, meaningful, personal letters or cards.
septembermom - I'm glad there are people out there who still like to write in cursive. Let's keep it going.
Carlos - At least you still write the meaningful things in cursive.
I am in my twenties and regularly write in cursive, but I am sadly one of the only people I know in my age group to do so. I am wholeheartedly in favour of keeping cursive around. It IS beautiful and elegant.
I'm glad you agree dandibrandi. Keep on writing.
I appreciate those who take the extra time and effort to send me a handwritten letter...to me it shows a true caring human element, and I do the same for others.
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