[squirt]

I find it very hard to buy into the core premise of this article. Namely:

> Sassoon’s analysis of how we’re taught to hold pens makes a much stronger case for the role of the ballpoint in the decline of cursive. She explains that the type of pen grip taught in contemporary grade school is the same grip that’s been used for generations ... modern pens requires that they be placed at a greater, more upright angle to the paper—a position that’s generally uncomfortable with a traditional pen hold.

I was lucky enough in college to study calligraphy & penmanship through an independent study program. Most days I would be at my desk writing for six to ten hours. It was an obsession. After graduating, my practice continued at this pace for the next four years. I have experienced zero cramping or discomfort in my hand.

In that time, I've used an array of pens. From traditionally cured and cut quills, dip pens, to modern fountain pens. Ultimately, the vast majority of my practice was done with a ten cent Bic pen. They're cheap, reliable, and write quickly & consistently.

The actual difference between writing then vs. now has less to do with the pen itself, and more with how it's handled. Your poor, unpracticed, overly-tense grip on the pen is what causes discomfort. As does manipulating the pen with the fingers, rather than the larger muscles in your arm/shoulder.

Penmanship education, I'd argue, has been non-existent in America for well over a full generation. The further you go from the so-called "Golden Age of Penmanship" (~1860-1920), the more distance there is from real, quality professors of penmanship. Institutional knowledge is lost, and present day teachers are merely parroting back things they were told to be true, rather than educating based on a deep-seated practical knowledge.

Penmanship, and thus cursive, was incrementally killed by ever-easier ways of putting text to paper. Typewriters -> word processors -> computers -> cellphones.

[Centigonal]

I can't disagree with your lived experience, but I have to say that mine has been different. I've never taken a penmanship class, but I did write almost exclusively with fountain pens for about four years at the end of high school and the start of my undergrad.

For me, writing with ballpoints required more pressure and a more upright grip, while fountain pens love to write in one flowing line at an angle to the page. When writing with a fountain pen, I will tend very naturally to cursive. With a ballpoint, cursive is a real chore.

I do agree with your last point, though: OneNote has replaced my fountain pens and ballpoints nearly completely at this point.

[wrp]

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 are facilitated by the natural grip of using a quill/dip pen. Ballpoint pens require a more upright angle, a firmer grip, and more emphasis on axial rather than lateral force. Ballpoints encourage stroke forms that conflict with traditional letter shapes. Fountain pens, on the other hand, are properly held more like a dip pen. That is why people experience an improvement in their handwriting when they switch from ballpoint to fountain pen.

[webmaven]

> 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.

[wrp]

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.

[masgrimes]

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?