Can you write in cursive? Is your handwriting of a good quality? If you answered no, you’re probably not alone- as cursive writing and handwriting in general have been slowly getting phased out of existence over the past years for the younger generations.
Not many people know how to use it anymore; and for university student Myah Graham, that means the skill comes with a prestigious status:
“Just because it’s fancier. And so, to write letters to people, or cards when you send them- it just comes across as fancier and more well-written, but I would definitely say it’s more sophisticated, especially nowadays, if you can write cursive, I feel like it’s considered fancier than just plain printing.”
The reason it’s seen as sophisticated or as a sign of education, is because it’s a skill that exudes knowledge. The reason not many people in the younger generations have this skill, is because it hasn’t really been needed these past few years. Myah talks about how things have evolved.
“The fact that we use keyboards and stuff nowadays is taking away from people’s handwriting. And that’s probably why we don’t learn cursive, because no one really writes notes to people, it’s usually like they’ll type an email or print it and send it. So I feel like that definitely takes away from the old-school handwriting and cursive. Its probably not something people need nowadays. So that’s probably why we don’t learn it.”
Although the modern world has made it seem as though we don’t necessarily need cursive and handwriting, there are still many nifty uses to the skill that can come in handy. Deb Hunter is a secondary school teacher for the Thames Valley District School Board. And she explained some of the uses.
“I know I still have a lot of students that handwrite their notes. Writing things like grocery lists out, especially if it’s multiple people in a family, you can read each other’s stuff and just continue to add to it. Leaving notes for family members, or even at work for people, that’s something quick so that you don’t have to worry about printing anything if it was on a computer. Even for signing documents, people need to know how to actually read and write signatures, and other things as well.”
Along with the uses, there’s also plenty of learning benefits that come with writing things down on paper. Its said to make humans more creative and think faster. Deb explained some more learning benefits.
“It does allow people to write more quickly. For many people, it’s quicker to even write in cursive than to print or to type. So it’s still beneficial. Writing down material, of course, allows for more retention. So people will do better on different kinds of assessments, they score higher on things when they write.”
As Deb said, People score higher when they’ve been writing and taking notes. Its why some teachers don’t even allow digital note taking in class- Myah Graham says some of her university professors didn’t allow it either.
“A lot of my profs in university don’t allow computers because of the study of how like, you don’t remember things as well if you don’t write them down. And so I feel like that just proves kind of how important handwriting is compared to typing.”
The more people practice writing things down, they’re going to start remembering it more. The brain is a wild phenomenon, and Deb Hunter says if children start working on this skill young and practice at it, then it could pay off in a big way.
“For children especially, they can learn a lot more quickly. And a lot more of those brain connections can be made. So if they’re learning this stuff at an early age, they’re more likely to remember it. It allows for many things, because their hand-eye coordination improves, their fine motor skills are improving..”
A recent article in Psychology Today cited research which shows that students wrote more words faster, and express more ideas when writing essays by hand versus typing with a keyboard. The study basically says, writing makes you smarter.
If that type of thing catches your interest, handwriting is a very accessible hobby- and a healthy one, too.
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