Sadly, it appears Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) never learned
to read—or write-- in cursive.
From Deseret News:
With the development
and prominence of technology, cursive has become increasingly obsolete, but
what impact will this have for the future?
According to The
Atlantic, this means, “In the future, cursive will have to be taught to
scholars the way Elizabethan secretary hand or paleography is today.” This
directly impacts archival work. Many written documents from the 19th century
and other early time periods are written in cursive. While it was once taken
for granted that American students would know how to read cursive, now that
cannot be the case.
Archival work largely
depends on a reader’s ability to read hard-to-read texts in shorthand and/or
cursive. Will this mean that universities will start having to offer college
courses in history programs on how to read cursive? Only time will tell.
Some
educators say the advent of Common Core is largely to blame for Gen Z being
unable to fathom cursive, but there is more to it than that. Cursive writing, like
Calligraphy (though obviously to a lesser extent), requires much practice and
patience, a focused and steady mind and hand…and a writing implement (instead
of a keyboard or screen). These are all things in short supply today.
Deseret News again:
Drew Gilpin Faust, who
wrote in The Atlantic about the loss of cursive, told NPR that the
loss of cursive means that “the past is presented to us indirectly.”
Using the example of a
contract, Faust said to NPR, “I mean, just imagine if you had some kind of
contract that you had signed and you couldn’t read it and someone told you,
well, this is what’s in the contract. That’s what’s in the contract. And then
later you might find that it was something else. So there are limits in your
power, in your sense of how the world works and your sense of how the world
used to work when you can’t have access to a means of communication.”
In
an article for the NEA, Cindy Long noted that “many
studies have shown that learning cursive not only improves retention and
comprehension, it engages the brain on a deep level as students learn to join
letters in a continuous flow.” She added, “It also enhances fine motor
dexterity and gives children a better idea of how words work in combination.”
Newspapers and periodicals are going the way of the
dodo. Most kids now listen to books-- or read from a Kindle or E-book. Many
can’t tell time from an analog clock.
Reading the words of our founders--
or of any who came before us-- beautifully written in longhand, brings us
closer to them. The flowing words on a letter or manuscript, or from a diary,
seem to reveal more of their character—and the truth—than is possible to glean
from printout, screen, or audio book.
This is one more skill lost, one
more link to our past cast coldly aside.
Do we really know what time it is?
Some say the writing is on the wall…but some of us may no longer be able to
read it.
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