The Write Stuff

I saw something recently from the National Archives asking if there are any people that can read the cursive writing on some historical documents. 

They are looking for “anyone with an internet connection interested in volunteering to transcribe these historical documents and help make the archives’ digital catalog more accessible.”

I would ask, is there anyone left out there under the age of 50 that can read any cursive writing, let alone cursive writing from 1776?

Writing and penmanship has gone the way of the dinosaur, I do believe.  A recent article I saw calls it “a dying art as it is now only required in less than half of the public schools in the nation, according to the National Education Association. But Catholic schools are keeping it alive.”

That does not surprise me.

I went to Catholic school and I can tell you that the good Sisters were very keen on this subject, putting it just below Religion class in order of importance, I would say.  Math? Reading? Spelling? All very important.  But Penmanship? Pity the poor child who couldn’t get the proper flourish and curlycues on their letters.

They gave us sheets and sheets of paper. One for each letter. After them teaching it and us practicing it in school, we’d be sent home with more papers each day to painstakingly, repeatedly write those letters.  Row, after row, after row.

Most Catholic schools taught the Palmer Method of cursive writing which used “muscle motion” to move the arm’s proximal muscles instead of the fingers.  Yes, I had to look that up. Will try to remember this factoid should it ever come up on Jeopardy.

Here is how they describe the benefits of cursive writing:

·      Improves hand-eye coordination

·      Engages multiple areas of the brain, which can help students learn and remember better

·      Helps students develop focus, discipline, patience, and attention to detail

·      Helps students transition quickly to reading print.

Or at least this is what AI is telling me when I type my query into the google search bar.

I admire the ‘never say die’ approach of the Catholic schools towards cursive writing. Not surprising, as they are pretty much a ‘never say die’ bunch.  They are probably also still teaching sentence diagramming.

Is it worth it though? The cursive writing, I mean. Not the sentence diagramming. That is definitely not worth it.

Does anyone write in cursive anymore? Letter writing? When’s the last actual, real letter you wrote by hand and sent to someone? Sure, you may have sent a birthday card with a Dear Sally on the inside of it, and a little note wishing her a happy birthday, and signed your name.  But even then.  Was it in cursive? Or did you print it? Or, did you not even send a card and just sent her a text or posted on her FB wall?

Paper checks? How many people still use those? And if you do are you writing it out in cursive?  Actually, if you are still writing out checks, the likelihood is that you are using cursive.  But again.  Don’t think too many people under the age of 50 even use checks anymore.

Digitalization has taken over.  And like the previous revolution that was industrialization, where things like hand looms, waterwheels, sickles and scythes, blacksmithing, candle making, became quaint artifacts or activities, so has the tech revolution pretty much laid cursive writing to rest.  Soon if you want to learn how to write in cursive you’ll have to find some special class for it.  Like calligraphy.

My son is 28 years old.  While he had a few years of Catholic school, he left too soon for them to imprint cursive on him.  Not only can he not write in cursive, but even his printing is atrocious.

I don’t know.  While I hated the agony and tedium of learning to write cursive, I am glad that I have this skill, outdated as it may be.  And I feel kind of sad that many will never learn it.

I have a journal that I started for my new granddaughter.  I hand write it. In cursive.  And I wonder, will she even be able to read it 18 years from now? Should I switch to printing? Should I switch to a digital journal?

To answer my own question of is it worth it:  Yes. I think, it is.

I’ll have to ask my daughter to make sure she picks a school for the little one that teaches it.

And I think I’ll check out the National Archives and see how I do with 18th century cursive. Might as well put these skills to good use.