The Apple Newton was the last chance for cursive. Having two, I found that was the easiest and most accurate handwriting input. Alas, "egg freckles" rued the day and no more tech used cursive input.
How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
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Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#12The Apple Newton was the last chance for cursive. Having two, I found that was the easiest and most accurate handwriting input. Alas, "egg freckles" rued the day and no more tech used cursive input.
Microsoft's handwriting recognition is surprisingly good at understanding cursive. I have a Lenovo Helix and use the built-in digitizer with some frequency due to RSI issues with typing. I don't think it's a huge use case, but it's nice to see the technology carrying forward in some capacity.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Palmer method descends from Spencerian script, an excessively flowery and not-all-that-legible form of writing from the days when people wanted to make their writing look difficult and fancy. Writing in a fancy style is fine for calligraphers making wedding invitations or whatever, but is a poor model for teaching children or for everyday use for most people. Italic (aka chancery cursive), a script of renaissance…
Please don't assume my ignorance on other hands, or that I would argue in favor of teaching students the Palmer method. Teaching children outmoded systems ill suited to the instruments they are likely to have at hand is grossly unnecessary. (One of the reasons, incidentally, that I don't think students ought to be required to use italic nibs.) In its time, Palmer was taught under the assumption that a sizeable portio…
I wasn’t trying to disagree with your original comment, which makes great points.
My point is just that Palmer’s script isn’t practical/legible in comparison to italic. It’s filled with lots of little flourishes, makes it easy to write letters in a confusable way, and is very difficult for children to learn. The capital letters in particular are ridiculous. For someone highly trained, it can be fast, but it’s not inherently faster than other styles. It only seemed “professional” because it was the trendy style at the time.
As a curriculum/pedagogy, teachers using the Palmer method focused on drilling and discipline, the same “do it correctly or I’ll hit you” style common to instruction in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Features of handwriting technique like using muscles in the arm to move the whole hand in preference to fixing the hand and mostly using finger motions can be applied to any writing style.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#14This is rubbish. Ballpoint pens had long been in existence before I went to school, and I learned cursive. My daughter's French classmates are all, today, taught superb cursive handwriting.
That's exactly the author's point. We still teach a cursive writing style that is better suited for fountain pens, while working with ball-points that require a lot more pressure to start marking. Being trained in a technique is not enough, if that technique no longer works with the tools that are widely used today. When I write with a fountain pen, I too find that cursive is more natural. When I write with a ballpoi…
Not writing in cursive helps but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem that ballpoint pens are significantly worse than fountain pens when you need to write for several hours in an exam for example.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#15Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#16Any lefties here? I'm a lefty and feel stuck with the basic ballpoint because any other pen I try ends up with everything smudged. Not sure if that's just poor form on my part.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#17Is there even a point to learning cursive anymore? Seems like a waste of time if they're still teaching it to kids. I can't think of any practical purpose for it. Knowing cursive is about as useful as knowing how to use an abacus.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#18Is there even a point to learning cursive anymore? Seems like a waste of time if they're still teaching it to kids. I can't think of any practical purpose for it. Knowing cursive is about as useful as knowing how to use an abacus.
Knowing how to use an abacus makes early arithmetic so much easier for young school children.
I think knowing cursive is still useful, too, because if you do know how to use ligatures to join letters you can write MUCH faster than if you have to write in print. As an engineer, I prefer smallcaps when I need someone else to read my handwriting, but if it's just for my own consumption (task lists, notes, etc) it's faux* cursive 99% of the time.
* faux because it's really just joining letters and filling the missing letter spaces with zig zaggy curlies ... which have no bearing on readability, per this: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/cmabridge/
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#19If you want to try fountain pens but don't want to spend $$ on a nice one at first, check out the Pilot Varsity line.[1] They're cheap and disposable and seem to write pretty well. (I'm no expert on fountain pens though.)
I use them for note taking at meetings and whatnot. You do want a fairly fine/tight paper to write on though - the same as any other liquid-ink pen.
Re: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
#20Any lefties here? I'm a lefty and feel stuck with the basic ballpoint because any other pen I try ends up with everything smudged. Not sure if that's just poor form on my part.
I'm a lefty and I switched successfully to Mitsubishi Jetstream pens a few years ago. They don't smudge unless you're writing on glossy paper. I bought mine at a Japanese stationery/pen shop in SF (at the mall next to Union Square) a few years ago, but you can find them anywhere. Here's a Rakuten link: http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/atn/item/sxn-15005/