[BeFlatXIII]

Part of the reason I'm so cynical about the teaching profession is that I had a string of two or three elementary teachers who insisted that cursive was the only acceptable method of handwriting in educational settings. Immediately after—and for every single other teacher or professor—no one cared whether the letters were connected or block-printed so long as they were legible.

The other reason was the far-longer string of "you had better shape up now because if you don't get your act together, you'll never pass next year" and then continually passing next year with flying colors.

[dkarl]

I think it would make me more cynical about teaching if teachers all agreed. Teachers have different opinions that evolve over time because they're trying to figure out the best way to teach. Static unanimity could would only happen if it was pursued for its own sake, to make the profession more comfortable and to avoid questions of skill and credibility.

I have ditched cursive for block printing, but it is an annoyance because I'm much slower that way. Even though I sit at a keyboard ten hours a day, better handwriting ability would be a noticeable asset for me. Still, I can't blame the teachers who taught me in elementary school, because none of them could make the individual choice to teach me a different cursive system, just like I can't make the individual choice to start writing code in a different language at my company.