THE LOST ART OF PENMANSHIP

The old rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Russell Burton, an Old Person

I received handwritten thank you cards the other day from my two grandchildren.  Their penmanship, if it can be called that, was horrible and consequently I could not read some of it.  One started the note with a crude form of cursive which gradually transformed into printing.  The other was entirely printed.  Now the person who tried handwriting was 14 years old and a freshman in high school getting very good grades.

I mentioned this to a friend the other day and she told me that her son who is an attorney only prints.  And, then I was reminded about a TV cable repairman who wrote down on a piece of paper some things I wanted him to relate to his supervisor and he too printed.

So, what is going on?  Well, to begin with cursive is not taught in school anymore.  How sad but true.  I remember especially my eighth grade practicing cursive with all of those perfect written letters, both little and capital, in a huge size posted on the walls above the blackboards. Oh how we tried to duplicate those examples of perfect cursive but of course none of us were ever able to write like that.  Still, at lease we wrote so that someone could read it.

The letters that we tried to duplicate were beautiful and what could be called perfect.  At that time, I understood that a certain woman wrote those letters and that was what she did for a living.  Now, I think making cursive a profession is a bit extreme but it still should be taught in school!

And, speaking of reading it a friend of mine told me that one of her grandchildren can not read cursive – only printing.  That made me think maybe my grandchildren will not be able to read my short notes which I wrote in cursive and sent back by regular postage (you know snail mail) to each of them.  I guess I should have printed or written the notes on my computer and sent them email.  But, to me receiving an email is not nearly as friendly or caring as getting some hand-written note.

Okay, my handwriting is not what it use to be.  My signature is in the form of a few bumps and squiggles that can’t be read but interestingly it makes my documents legal and that can only be accomplished with my handwriting.  Yes, it is possible to e-cursive but it is still some form of handwriting.

So, apparently cursive is going the way of the Dodo bird and I think that is too bad for many reasons. The most important one is that only humans can write in this wonderful flowing manner that relates information to other humans. Another reason is that the printing I have seen is not neat and hard to read for it is a mixture of small and capital letters.  Another reason is it takes so much more time to print than to write in handwriting.  

Of course the computer and other e-things are the reason for this loss of hand writing ability as texting becomes a primary mode of communication which is the new form of writing. And, oh how rapidly these young people can text on that little key board – some with fat fingers.  I must admit it is a remarkable skill, but somehow does not compare with cursive.  I can imagine some poor lost soul not being able to write a simple message in huge letters to ask for help to some overhead plane trying to rescue that person. Okay, they would print it.

But of course the computer does offer a form of printing which is perfect and rapidly performed, especially if one learns touch typing.  I guess touch typing is still taught in schools, but I see kids texting ‘hunt and peck’ and not even using complete sentences with many ‘misspelled’ words like ‘u’ for ‘you’.  Okay so they are not misspelled only shortened using some form of short hand.

Speaking of short hand, I remember when I was attending school in the winter in South Dakota between the second and fourth grades, my folks paid to have me go across the street to someone’s home and eat a hot lunch.  They had a teenage daughter who was constantly practicing a form of written short hand.  She was attempting to make each letter exactly like the one in the book.  I think she was practicing for a contest.  I am not sure they teach written shorthand anymore.  Probably not….

What is amusing to me is that some computer software is available that prints words in cursive style.  Now, I wonder why they would write such software when people are not interested in writing it themselves anymore and I assume not interested or capable of reading it anymore.

I know I have fallen way behind on all of this e-stuff probably like most old people. I guess some of it I should have tried harder to understand but learning how to misspell words and write incomplete sentences is something I just won’t do.

I just finished reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin which brought back memories of reading the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.  Of course both of these wonderful manuscripts were written in beautiful cursive by men who were just writing
English and not professional penmen.  I assume today if any group of people had the ability to write such profound words of wisdom and agree on them (which I doubt with our present political system) they would be produced on a computer using ‘Word’ or on an Apple.  To me there is something about that which is just plain wrong.

Thinking back more than two hundred years ago, about what a person who lived then would think of life now if they could be made to live again.   In particular, Benjamin Franklin who was a brilliant person with his marvelous intellect and interest in new inventions. I think he would fit right into our present high-tech world.

I guess I’m no Benjamin Franklin.