Can you write it, but it just isn’t legible?
Thanks again for instigating a thread which accentuates the realization these forums are primarily authored by a much younger social demographic than my own.
In my day not only was writing cursive required, the quality of your penmanship went towards your grade. You could articulate your dissertation in prose that rivaled Bill Shakespeare himself, but if the handwriting was sloppy it could take an “A” paper down to a “B”. (And when you were a “C” student with a poor cursive hand the results were just disastrous.)
I have a great niece who is just finishing up the fifth grade and I don’t think penmanship has ever been much a part of her curricula. I’ll post a message on her Facebook page and ask her. (The reality that I can actually do just that is illustrative of how much our culture has changed.) She was typing on a computer keyboard before she was tying her own shoes.
It’s just a different world out there today kids and more and more each day I feel like an alien in it…
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don’t worry banjo your not alone I have a history teacher that thinks the same thing. In. Fact he says if he were to figure out and iPad he said everybody would be laughing because he doesn’t like using technology.
my penmanship for just the basic letters as in not even in cursive is really bad as in My lower case “b’s” look a lot like a 6. So this means I only know how to write the letters in my first and last name I’m cursive cause that’s what the teacher said That’s what I really need. So I can’t write the entire alphabet in cursive but I can print it but still looks really bad.
Wow, that’s pretty strict. I’ve recently started doing my assignments in cursive to get more practice. As a result, less than three days after relearning cursive, I already can write in it fluently, but not quickly. I assume that will come with time.
kids these days… (lol I’m 14)
that was the hardest part of the SAT for me. 
I can read cursive just fine. But writing it? God no. I basically printed it and just connected all my letters. That counts, right?
I’m with Totalartist and BanjoSpins on this one… man… it was a graded requirement. It’s as basic to read and write cursive as it is to read and write hand printing.
The teacher’s classroom notes on the chalkboard or overhead were in cursive. You’d be pretty hard pressed to follow a lesson if you couldn’t read cursive. 
In my day, printing taught you the basic alphabet and provided the ability to read printed materials… but all written communication was in cursive after grade 2 or so. That’s just the way it was. Wrote class notes? Cursive. Communication with a relative? Cursive. Strongly-worded letter to your local government? Cursive. And you expected the same in return.
If you got “printed” communication from somebody, it was something you’d raise your eyebrow at and think “is this person serious?”
Ranting aside, as long as people learn touch-typing, let’s face it… with technology all around, it’s the more efficient way to go even just from a practical point of view. My concern is that so many people just learn to “hunt and peck” and no matter how fast you get with that method, you’ll never approach touch typing speeds. Not even close.
Wow, feeling so old…
I was taught to use cursive, but frankly I don’t really care. What I’m more concerned with is that people use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation so that their writing is clear, succinct and understandable whether written, printed or typed.
“Someone signed this, but I don’t know who. Let’s go find someone old so we can find out who it was.” 
My mom wrote in cursive, my dad used a high-speed hybrid. My sister printed, and her handwriting was very clear and easy to read. My other sister was a master of both, and managed to make whatever she wrote look amazing. I was exposed to cursive from a young age and knew how to read it just fine before it became mandatory to use in school (which was 3rd and 4th grade, maybe 5th as well?). Once I started using it, I realized it was not for me…but it didn’t matter, because for that couple of years I was forced to write in a prescribed way instead of what was natural for me. I never got comfortable with standard cursive. As soon as I got into a grade that didn’t require it for everything, I went straight back to printing, and my handwriting was immediately more legible and comfortable. Of course, though, since the experience set me back a couple of years, I still had a lot of development to do. It was a mess, and sometimes straight-up illegible to others. It was a definite improvement, but not especially satisfying.
As time went on, I began consciously changing my penmanship. A number of my letters and numbers developed and mutated into more personalized versions, as I practiced and practiced to improve legibility and aesthetics. At some point I started incorporating elements of cursive when they felt natural, and in that sense I wound up with a similar hybrid to what my dad used, but with bits and pieces of my sisters’ writing splashed in—plus a few uncommon tweaks I snarfed from random sources. I’d still like to improve my handwriting, but I’m mostly happy with it as it is.
I checked with my niece. She’ll be entering middle school next year and she has never had any penmanship teaching beyond her initial alphabet in kindergarten. She has never had any instruction writing in cursive at all. On the other hand her first typing class was in the second grade.
As I said last evening, it’s a different world.
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That is the way it is with many people in my class.
That’s pretty crazy. I think my first typing class was in 2nd or 3rd grade as well, but I know I had to learn cursive in I believe 1st grade.
I learned how to read and write cursive in 3rd or 4th grade. I just started typing in 6th I think.
I took my first typing course when I was a junior in high school. The idea of teaching typing at the grade school level would have been considered a ridiculous notion. I will go as far as to say just a few years ahead of me typing was considered a high school class primarily for girls. Real men did not eat quiche or have any need to know how to type. A guy in typing would be like a girl in auto mechanics.
This is not nearly the hyperbole you might think…
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I learned cursive in 1st grade 
I still do it in 7th grade. So yes I can do it very well.
Look how much my handwriting has improved.
Before
After I simply made it better
Cursive (Keep in mind I wrote this full speed on my nightstand while laying down on my bed with my arm at an awkward angle)
Current Print (First section is slow, second section is faster)
