The topic of good penmanship and writing in cursive came up in conversation recently. I was somewhat startled to hear that very little effort was put forth in teaching proper writing techniques in today's schools. I was told that some teachers, in fact, have completely thrown out the whole method and figured why bother. With all the students now days using computers for just about everything, I suppose the emphasis is being placed on teaching good typing skills. Why bother indeed! Why, I can think of many reasons.....at least I think I can. I still take a lot of pride in the fact that I write letters and cards using my cursive writing skills. Whatever will happen should wedding invitations need to be sent out. Proper etiquette demands writing on the envelopes. What about love letters? Shouldn't they be written in cursive? An electronic card sent via the Internet just somehow doesn't seem quite the same in regards to romance. And then, how would one ever keep a journal. Isn't part of the mystery recording one's life experiences much better, having been written in cursive. Not only a good idea, but maybe even a more dramatic style of penmanship.... calligraphy would be nice. I'm a little upset about this and find I'm having trouble adapting to putting away ideas that worked beautifully for generations in the past. I don't want to see the future generations miss out on the Palmer method of writing. One of my fondest memories, elementary school, standing at the blackboard along side my classmates, trying desperately to make my circles connect all in a row. As instructed by my teacher, I would ever so slightly slant my circles taking great pains to achieve perfection. I remember that cursive writing was a fun thing to learn. We all did our best trying to accomplish proper writing skills, eventually, developing our own personal style. When I hear about changes in the old ways, such as this, my reactions are of disbelief, and a bit of sadness. Oh well, I've had to conclude that people will still be able to communicate, and they will create their own styles, just as we did. Now isn't that all that is really necessary?
