Sign here please...

[Trip]

When was the last time you wrote a long letter to an old friend? I watched this segment on CBS Sunday Morning,and with all the billions of emails we write, penmanships is going by the wayside.

When I was a kid, the Palmer Method of handwriting was all we knew, and consequently, many of my girlfriends and I, share a very similar style of handwriting. When my Mom doodled, she did push pulls and curly q's! MY teachers used to have me do work for them, but, as the piece states, our handwriting peaks in the 4th grade..MIne has degraded from then, but, is still pretty to my mind. Hows yours? Could a doctor read it? Are you a lefty or a righty? Check it our..it's an interesting look at what many feel has become old news.

Is penmanship being written off? - CBS News

[nlb1050]

My oldest grandson (age 20) never really learned how to write cursive and he has a hard time reading it because of this. Of course most of his teachers would would print on the blackboard so that does not help either.

My handwriting has never been great but it is readable.

[Moiraine]

My high school senior prints. I actually write cursive, and most people can read it. I still have a few people in my family who refuse to buy computes, so I have to use snail mail for them.

[johnthed0g]

Never occurred to me that people wouldn't be able to read normal cursive handwriting. I have a job to write fluidly now, lack of use.

[Lakers Fan]

I frequently write long letters.

[Donna]

My sister and I used to always write each other a nice newsy letter every few weeks, now we can catch up daily with an e-mail.

[Sistersolo]

One of my volunteer activities is teaching a GED preparation class. Students come as young as 18, as old as in their 50's. NONE of them use cursive, and only a few of the oldest can read it.

My school district this year opted to stop teaching cursive.

[Trip]

Wow..I find it so hard , realizing some people cannot read cursive,and it is not going to be taught

[ToddDH]

Sad but true, Trip.

My cursive is illegible which is strange inasmuch as my mother had absolutely beautiful cursive up until her death. I only wish I would have tried harder and could write half as well as she did.

Although I'm getting older and even this isn't as it once was, when I write something very personal (such as a card, etc.) I use a very (for lack of a better term) "flowered" version of printing but printing it is, nevertheless.

I've been asked more than several times when I sign my name if I happened to be a doctor. I reply with, "Well, actually I wanted to be a physician and I got the signature down pat. But when they told me I had to go to eight more years of school to get my MD, I went into law enforcement."

Just think, if today's student's aren't taught cursive, they're for the most part going to be unable to even read some of the most important documents of history. That is nothing short of a tragedy. Whether they use it or not, they should be taught to write cursive only so they can read it.

Todd

[Cruznut2]

I learned cursive in school. I remember well the manila folders with the letters on them. Also the inkwell in the desks in which the teacher would place a full bottle of ink for us to use.
I am a lefty from a long line of lefties on my fathers side and I passed it on to my daughter and grand children.
My handwriting is terrible, I never was good at it. My mother and her family all had great hand writing. By the way they were all righties.
I used to scratch out long letters to my friends and family. Then along came computers. Ahhhhh the relief! I can now write my letters, choose my font and color and send it off via email or print and mail via snail mail.
Believe me , the recipients of my letters are now sighing great sigh of relief.

Laura

[skymaster]

I'm a "righty", and my handwriting is pretty good, and absolutely legible. As I understand it, they aren't teaching handwriting in school today. That's the point I was making in another thread. Todays children can't even speak to each other, let along write to each other. They communicate with "their thumbs". So sad!
A couple of years back, one of my nieces won a contest at the South Carolina State Fair. They were gushing about how smart she was, but when they found out that she was HOME SCHOOLED, they took the prize, and award away from her! Truly unbelievable, but sadly, true!

"SKY"