Yet Another Article On The Demise Of Cursive Writing

Yet another interesting news article about the demise of cursive writing in our society:

http://news.yahoo.com/cursive-writi...2632387.html

Many of us philatelists and postal historians and genealogical researchers would find this to be an especially distressing move, as how is one going to read an old letter or postcard? Or covers from Civil War Days? Or historical records about the beginnings of the country? Or Census Records? Or birth, death or marriage records, before computers ever came into existence?

While adapting to new technology is all well and good, the fact remains that technology changes every so often, but the cursive writing of the early 20th century -- and even centuries before that -- is a standard that has met the test of time.

To think that people in our highly educated society are not going to know how to read old documents and manuscripts that pre-date the personal computer or even the antiquated typewriter, is a real concern as to how our history may be perceived by future generations.

My oldest son's children go to an upscale private school. Last year he said they were dropping cursive? "What" I said! That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How will they sign their name, or read the written word (consider the Constitution, etc., etc.)?

LOTS more I could say, but this Forum is about stamp collecting.

I agree with mobilman44. Everyone should be able to do something simple like signing your name or reading an old cursive letter

They keep dropping so many subjects and yet the school days gets longer and less kids have any skills for even college. Go figure.
Then again, I seem to be complaining everyday about domestic call centers where no one understands English.

This is very sad to hear! I didn't even know this was an issue until I saw it here! I think cursive writing is an artform and quite beautiful! Pretty soon they will get rid of writing all together since everyone knows how to type! And who needs spelling when we have autocorrect?

It seems the Ticonderoga (NY) Stamp Club is connecting the cursive writing issue with philately, at least offering a special pictorial cancel and covers celebrating the Ticonderoga Pencil:

OK, gotta pass this along.......... Please forgive my divergence from the topic.

I'm sure you have noticed that many of the depictions of "alien life forms" are of ghostly white diminutive figures with large bulging eyes, and extremely long fingers with pods on each end. I've often wondered about that, but now it makes sense. These are the result of eons of time spent out of the sun, reading small lite screens, and pressing a multitude of little buttons. Think about it..........

Again, sorry for the off topic item.

I have a large number of old postcards and letters in the ephemera part of my collection. It's almost impossible to read some of the writings regardless of knowing cursive or not (disclosure: I'm old enough to have learned cursive in school). So, I'm not sure how big of a loss it is.

Hey born and raised in Ticonderoga!!

Thanks for the article.

When I was in elementary school back in the 50's we had a daily session on "cursive writing"..using straight nib pens..each desk had it's own ink bottles..and Coca Cola and other companies provided free blotters..i always took pride in my penmanship. I remember later in high school being graded on a term paper...the teacher would remark on my excellent penmanship...next to my C- grade. Decades later with the advent of computers at the workplace..my handwriting has taken it's toll...if I try hard enough and with the "write" pencil or pen I can maintain the same level of penmanship...but most times i'm too lazy..and it all goes to "hell in a handwriter"..there are even times I have to ask my wife to try and decipher my handwriting..when I can't.
Damnn computers!

I love collecting postal history pieces, some of my old letters and covers make up the pride of my collection. I have to confess that part of the allure is reading through the letters and postcards to get a snippet of life and times of the people sharing the correspondence. Without having learned cursive in elementary school interpreting these old messages would be impossible. Even having learned cursive through my youth (1980s and 90s) it is still difficult to make out the cursive writing if the 1880s and 90s. Losing cursive would mean losing the ability to read and enjoy these correspondence as well as many historic documents from the same time period. Though I value the ability in myself, I wonder if it will be long before the ability to read the 100 year old cursive will be a skill alike the ability to read the glyphs and runes of ancient times.

If the rest of the modern world is happy to see it go, I will be happy to be among the 'experts' still able to unlock the mysterious writings of the past.

Cursive handwriting to me is like music - I can appreciate it and understand it, but I cannot perform it to save my life.

The Ticonderoga ad has more issues than trying to save cursive writing. Their sentence "Covers will be available to at a small price." has a glaring spelling error. The word "to" should be "too". As a teacher I think teaching spelling is more important than cursive handwriting. Realistically the only time people use cursive is to sign their name. Just out of curiosity, why wasn't the Ticonderoga ad done in cursive? Its like saying we are celebrating cursive writing with print. Go figure!

For what it is worth, I am not sure they teach Typing as a replacement skill. I took typing in High School, on a nice giant and heavy IBM. I was last clocked at 90words per minute....anyway I was having a discussion with someone older than myself, and she told me her daughter, not much younger than I, doesn't know typing or what a typing class is. A lot of people who spend their lives on computers or phones can only peck at the keys.
So I'll defer back to my previous post about the school days getting longer and the useful classes being dropped.

I also agree I like reading the old stuff. Was at an LBJ museum and read a long Jackie Kennedy Letter, I like being able to read just about any level of handwriting myself.

The German speaking world survived the change from Sütterlin script that was in use until the middle of the 20th century.

For anyone collecting old German material, even the best penmanship is virtually illegible without a lot of practice. I can sign my name in it but it looks like the work of a kindergartener.



We will probably survive the demise of cursive too.
Dan

Let's not forget about the "Long 'S'" in cursive writing from 1800s and earlier. It is yet another lost skill that is sometimes needed to decipher postal history writing, whether on envelopes/covers, or letters/documents:

http://www.americawriteshome.us/old.../long-s.html