Cursive writing is rapidly disappearing from school curriculums. Print and television newscasts have reported with this trend, and also as someone who learned to create using the Palmer Method, I was surprised. How will kids sign their names on legal documents? Will they be baffled when they receive a letter from Grandma in cursive writing?
Actually, kids that have not learned this writing are not able to read it, also to them, it looks similar to scribbles than communication.
A Wall Street Journal article, "the brand new Script for Teaching Handwriting is No Script at All," says handwriting is "going the way in which associated with the quill pen." Students are learning keyboarding instead, an art and craft my generation calls typing. Many of us use a combination of print and cursive, and therefore makes our handwriting much more individual.
The Handwriting University International website reports regarding the disappearance for this classic writing form. Georgia is just one declare that has removed handwriting from the curriculum. "Many students prefer computers or text messages to handwriting," the web site reports. But those in favor of the writing think it is a unique form of communication.
Expert Michelle Dresbold, writer of Sex, Lies and Handwriting, considers this writing form as "brainwriting." Trained because of the Secret Service, she testifies in court, and contains helped to solve many crime cases. A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article by Michael A. Fuoco, gives us more insight into handwriting analysis.
In accordance with the article, Dresbold thinks the letter "I" is the most essential one out of the alphabet and variations as to how it really is written reveal the person behind the pen. "Variations in writing [the letter] show an identity crisis," Fuoco explains. Though appearances can be deceiving, Dresbold thinks handwriting never lies.
I looked up her book on Amazon and go through the interior pages which were available. Dresbold thinks handwriting comes through the brain. "Reading people through their handwriting is a lot like reading body language," she writes. Her book contains many writing samples that support Dresbold's views and work.
Later on, electronically transmitted legal documents will likely not require a signature. America could become like Taiwan, where people do not sign documents, but stamp these with an ink chopmark. Each chop mark is unique and represents that individual. Unfortunately, when your chop mark is stolen or you lose it, you're in big trouble. Taiwanese newspapers often contain ads reporting lost and stolen chopmarks.
I'm all for keyboarding and think kids need to find out it and know it well. Still, I think we are taking something away from children whenever we don't require them to sign their name -- their personality -- in a writing form that has survived for centuries. Why should handwriting stay in the curriculum? Students will discover ways to sign their signatures, read cursive communications, and express their individuality.
Somehow, a keyboard signature seriously isn't the same.
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