(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

OPINION

I miss cursive writing. Actually, I even cringe when reading an adult’s note “written” in block letters. I almost expect the note to read something like, “See Jane. See Jane run…run, run, run.” Sorry, maybe it’s my “old school” attitude or just my age showing, but an adult shouldn’t have the penmanship of a six-year-old kid.

Oh, I know all the “reasons” not to teach cursive writing…everyone uses electronic devices today…and you don’t need such writing for text messages. Apparently, you don’t need punctuation or proper spelling either.

I’ve had someone text me: “r u (emoji of a golfer) TMR”. I responded with something like: “R yak fls a TD”. Then, enjoying a drink on the 19th hole after my round…I simply smiled as I imagined my don’t-mince-words friend still trying to decipher my message.

If we don’t need to teach cursive…maybe we don’t need to teach Shakespeare either…after all, that Old English is a hard to read. Yeah, I guess so…especially if your text messages contain as many emojis as real words.

Professor Drew Gilpin Faust, teaching an undergraduate history course at Harvard, said last year he was amazed to find that two-thirds of his students couldn’t read the captions beneath U.S. Civil War photos in their text books…because they were written in cursive.

If you can’t write cursive…you probably have a hard time reading it. And people still read…books, manuscripts, legal and historical documents…that are often written or printed in cursive.

Cursive fell out of fashion 15 to 20 years ago in a lot of places…throughout Canada and the U.S. In some places it was an optional course…in others…non-existent. That’s too bad, IMHO. (Sorry, just showing that I know HOW to write in today’s abbreviated style…I simply choose not to.)

This past July, Ontario made cursive a compulsory part of the provincial curriculum. We’ll see whether other provinces follow. It could be that the biggest barrier to this reemergence will be the acceptance of teachers…and their ability to teach it. Almost a generation of teachers grew up not using cursive writing themselves.

If you learn three basic strokes…you can learn cursive writing. Recent research shows that students who write fluently - using cursive - take better notes and do better on exams.

Cursive started more than 1,500 years ago, when Romans - borrowing freely from the Etruscan alphabet - were the first culture to use script that looked more modern than ancient for contracts, official documents and correspondence.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, stylized writing became more or less the domain of monastic dwellers…monks.

For almost 300 years monks did their own thing…making marks that varied widely.

Charlemagne charged an English monk to standardize the writing…and a style called Carolingian minuscule was adopted because it was very legible. It featured lower-case letters, separate words and punctuation to guide the reader.

In the late Middle Ages, the demand for books and parchment increased dramatically. Gutenberg - who invented the printing press with moveable type - favoured a thick Gothic style of writing…but a couple centuries later Italians rebelled and started using italics…the closest thing resembling today’s cursive penmanship.

I remember the first time I saw a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the U.S. National Archives…written by hand…it was elegant and beautiful. Those who signed the famous document had signatures that were works of art…and this is how they wrote day-to-day.

By the mid-1800s, Platt Rogers Spencer - a prominent abolitionist and bookkeeper - created the Spencerian method of cursive writing, which was widely taught in schools and quickly adopted by those in business. The logo for Coca-Cola is a good example of its flourishes.

But it was Charles Zaner and Edward Bloser - who developed an easier style to master - that dominated classrooms in the 20th Century. In the 1980s and since, the handwriting for many folks in Canada and the United States is best described as a type of scrawling…with ill-formed letters, poor spelling and imprecise punctuation.

Personally, I’m glad to see cursive making a small comeback…and consider time spent teaching it as a worthwhile investment. How can something that increases literacy not be a good thing?

When I write a note to my grandkids in their birthday cards…I’d like to think they could read it…though they certainly can read and understand both U.S. and Canadian dollar signs.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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