Can you read your own handwriting? A piece in the online magazine Slate examines the history of penmanship, its apparent decline and the way the author, Emily Yoffe, and her daughter sought to improve their own chicken scratch. Yoffe quotes Michael Medeiros '10, a former associate editor for Opinion at the 'Prince,' who wrote in a 2006 Washington Post letter to the editor, "I have not had to read or write cursive in seven years. There is no reason valuable elementary school class time should be spent giving instruction on an obsolete subject."
At Princeton, most work to be submitted for a grade is typically produced on a computer, and many students take in class notes on laptops. Some professors, however, have started asking students to refrain from using laptops in class. This may lead students back to a notebook, a pen and questions of penmanship.
Are you like Michael, a student who never sees, let alone writes, in cursive? Has poor penmanship ever tripped you up in a class?
Monday, September 14, 2009
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3 comments:
i dont own a personal computer (this is written on a shared computer in the reference section of a local college) or a typewriter, so when i write letters, i do so by hand. i write a fairly elegant, if not always legible hand (i find my handwriting tends to deteriorate due to stress and fatigue).
I write about 85% cursive, because it's faster to be loopy. I actually thought that was the point of learning cursive...
I believe having elegant handwriting, while not as "useful" as other daily skills such as arithmetic, reading, or driving, builds character. Penmanship lessons have taught me manual dexterity, something which is "useful" in life, as well as patience and perseverance. Beyond these, learning to write in cursive has helped me be more calm, effortless, and elegant in my other actions. A beautiful hand can mean a gentler soul, I opine; penmanship can build character. If only for that, we -- and by we I do not necessarily mean the school system -- must find a way to write with a beautiful hand. Try it.
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