Cursive

In recent years, the written art of cursive has steadily declined as told by Joe Heim of the Washington Post in his article “Once all but left for dead, is cursive handwriting making a comeback?”. Is cursive really disappearing though? Many lawmakers in states like Texas and Alabama are actively trying to bring back the little used form of writing. The reason people find that the cursive style of writing is disappearing, is because they believe writing itself is fading. With the advent of computers, teaching writing and especially cursive has fallen out of use. Cursive especially, has faded in recent years due to its formal applications in writing letters and legal documents. With computers, cursive seems superfluous. Yet many still consider it essential to the growth of young people and a number of schools in the country still require it as part of the curriculum.

Its proponents range from educators, to politicians, to even the students themselves. Many young students are fascinated with the archaic writing style and wish to learn on their own accounts, while parents and teachers wish to hold on to their roots and keep part of their culture. Cursive supporters also expound on the need to learn for college and historical setting where the students and experts may be called upon to read old documents and text written in the style. Conversely the its critics have much to say against this style of writing. Many see cursive as a symbol of an age past, filled with bigotry and elitism, when writing was only taught to select people. They say that cursive, while seeming like a form of artistic expression, is merely a way to make students conform to certain ideals. Others simply cite the unnecessary nature of cursive, seeing as how computers and cellphones can make communication so much easier.