This may be true in much of the USA, but I know from experience that it's not true in California and Texas, the two most populous states. It's still required in Texas, and many California schools continue to teach it, even though it hasn't been required statewide since the early 2010s. When I was in California public school in the 1990s, cursive was taught in elementary school. We spent a lot of time practicing it, f…
This is incorrect at least in 2022; my Texas educated children have never been taught or graded on cursive.
OK then, so there is still great variation in educational policy between the states. I'm glad handwriting is still being taught somewhere. A map of where it is and isn't would be interesting.
We had to use nib-based pens until 1st Form, when we were allowed biros. Suddenly my clothes were no longer soaked in ink, my pages were no longer Rorshach inspired artworks.
And my writing, for the first time ever, was legible. This is what killed cursive, it's bloody hard to read.
You and Sassoon are talking about different things. She is referring to angle of grip and how it influences style of writing. You are referring to tenseness of grip. Sassoon also deals with that issue in other writing. She works as a physical therapist with people who get RSI from their writing style. The letter forms of cursive evolved when people were writing with quill or dip pens, and rely on stroke forms that ar…
> Ballpoints encourage stroke forms that conflict with traditional letter shapes. Hmm. Can you point to more information on this conflict? Maybe what's needed is a new non-traditional form of cursive that embraces the stroke forms that come naturally with a ballpoint.
I've never seen or heard of a study of the mechanics of ballpoint pen manipulation. However, I have seen a considerable amount of handwritten correspondence from the early to mid-20th century. With the general change from fountain pens to ballpoints, there was a significant change in letter forms, particularly among female writers. The newer style is marked a reduction in straight vertical lines, a general trend to circular motions, and a slower advance along the line. This seems not surprising when you consider that quill/dip/fountain pen movement is more with the arm, while ballpoint movement is more with the fingers. So...it seems that a new form of cursive has already (informally) evolved to a degree.
> Ballpoints encourage stroke forms that conflict with traditional letter shapes. Hmm. Can you point to more information on this conflict? Maybe what's needed is a new non-traditional form of cursive that embraces the stroke forms that come naturally with a ballpoint.
I've never seen or heard of a study of the mechanics of ballpoint pen manipulation. However, I have seen a considerable amount of handwritten correspondence from the early to mid-20th century. With the general change from fountain pens to ballpoints, there was a significant change in letter forms, particularly among female writers. The newer style is marked a reduction in straight vertical lines, a general trend to c…
What makes you think the change in penmanship specimens over that time period are more connected to the proliferation of the ballpoint pen instead of the changes in penmanship instruction?
Start with either Lamy Safary [0] or Pilot Metropolitan [1]. If you like smooth, go with Medium nib, and if you like some feedback, go with Fine, as I said. Writing on decent paper (not always the expensive one) with a decent medium nib pen is something everyone needs to try at least once. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Safari-Fountain-Charcoal-Medium-L17M/... [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Pilot-Metropolitan-Collection-Fo…
I've gotten some cheap pens from China via Amazon and eBay. They're not as nice as the expensive pens, but for the price they're amazing. Some of the Lamy Safari knock offs are only a few dollars.
At that price, sampling becomes very reasonable. Sometimes knock offs can be perfectly usable, though I've had my share of disappointments when I didn't expect a fake.
This may be true in much of the USA, but I know from experience that it's not true in California and Texas, the two most populous states. It's still required in Texas, and many California schools continue to teach it, even though it hasn't been required statewide since the early 2010s. When I was in California public school in the 1990s, cursive was taught in elementary school. We spent a lot of time practicing it, f…
This is incorrect at least in 2022; my Texas educated children have never been taught or graded on cursive.
Googling around to try to figure out why our experiences are different, I found that the requirement was only brought back in 2019 for second and third graders. It appears Texas stopped requiring it in the early 2000s, only to bring it back a few years ago.
If your children passed third grade before the 2019-2020 school year, they wouldn't have run into the requirement.