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Ever wonder what the point to cursive writing is anymore? Sometimes it seems that cursive is just something else to lead to cursing. Computers are similar, in that they’re just something else to ensure the proliferation of obscenities. About the only thing that cursive writing is good for nowadays is signing your name. And even then, I’ve looked at annual reports and seen other signed letters and things, and in the real world, it seems that as long as your scribble resembles the first letter of each name, and looks like you did it, it’s fine. But I must say that our family’s little Dachshund, Greta, whom you may have met in a previous quote, could probably produce the same thing with a pen in her mouth. Still, let’s have a show of hands. How many of you were, in elementary school, subjected to the torture of learning cursive writing, and then for the rest of your elementary school days, required to use it? (I am imagining every hand going up) I thought as much. Pain in the butt, wasn’t it? Same here. Then I got to middle school, and my teachers didn’t care how you wrote, as long as they could read it. Needless to say, I printed. You never see cursive writing in books, and computers don’t use it (unless you choose some fancy font). In high school, same thing. The I-don’t-care-how-you-do-it-as-long-as-I-can-read-it approach is definitely alive and well. With cursive writing, half the time, you can’t even read it anyway, so what’s the point? College professors almost unfailingly require that it be TYPED. And that means Arial or Times New Roman (or the occasional Comic Sans MS). Professors do not want to deal with handwriting issues, either. And just as well. Computers have given cursive writing its death-blow, with fancy printers (and even piece-of-junk printers) printing neat, legible fonts. So… let’s let cursive writing die now, saving it only for signing official documents, letters, and the like. The world will be a happier place for it.
Date posted: November 19, 2000
Notes: With this being the quote article that ran during Thanksgiving, this additional note was thrown in: Also, Thanksgiving is this Thursday - go turn off your computer and eat some turkey. The Schumin Web will still be there when you get back.