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by _n_b_ 1204 days ago
> cursive […] isn’t taught in US schools any more.

I was dubious, so I googled.

According to this[1], 21 states require cursive as part of the curriculum, and some admittedly older data[2] suggests that 90% of students get some amount of cursive handwriting instruction.

[1] https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/great... [2] https://drs.dadeschools.net/informationcapsules/IC0916.pdf

2 comments

It was required for me, but that didn't mean anything real. We "learned" it for like two weeks then I never used it again.
I think that is all you really need. I mean, once you know how to write, learning cursive could be done in a few hours, it is fairly simple. After that it is up to the student whether to use it or not. I was never required to use it but I still liked it so the more I used it the better I got.

Honestly, I really do not understand all the complaning about cursive. Learning to read and write was harder (I imagine cause I don't actually remember struggling with it, it just came naturally) . Learning cursive is just a simple extension of it.

> Honestly, I really do not understand all the complaning about cursive

My memory of school was everything was required to be turned in cursive, but I was so bad at it that I wrote everything in print, then wrote a version in cursive, and then turned in both versions so there was one legible version and one version to fulfill the rules. It was a pain and I hated it, so it's a bad memory that it still feels cathartic to complain about.

On the other hand, I don't remember how much Palmer script instruction I had but it was probably a class over multiple years back in the 60s.
Hmm, my entire education until high-school was entirely cursive. It was something of a revelation that a different method of writing existed, even though I was sort of aware that the letters in book didn’t look like the letters I wrote.
NJ public schools don’t generally teach it. Many private schools do, which makes for a fun time when a kid transitions from public to private school..