The Devolution of Handwriting

I’m sure you’ve read (probably in the neat, sans-serif lettering of digitized print) that cursive writing and penmanship are on the decline. That, indeed, some schools have even stopped teaching cursive writing because it is so useless. That except perhaps for calligraphy hobbyists, everyone’s penmanship, not just doctors’, is rapidly waning.

Perhaps like me, you still have some use for writing by hand. I write birthday cards, thank you cards, and grocery and to-do lists, and I even wrote this blog by hand first. But even with that small bit of practice, I must admit that my penmanship is declining. It’s not bad, mind you, and some have called my writing “neat.” But it’s not like it used to be.

I have looked down with shock on notes I’ve written to myself, not knowing exactly what I was trying to tell myself. Of course, as I write, I’m trying to get it all down before my memory gives up in exhaustion on my racing brain. So I use abbreviations and scribble hastily. But even if I am attempting to calmly write out a nice note to someone, the once-neat script sometimes begins to go rogue.

My logical brain says, yes, let’s unburden the school curriculum with such an archaic and pointless thing as writing in cursive, which people are using less and less, and fill its place with something like more reading comprehension or math, which are far more valuable.

Still it saddens me. What will be the societal ramifications if cursive writing des out completely? How will handwriting analysis experts make a living? People who know how to read cursive will join the ranks of those who can read Egyptian hieroglyphics.

And if my own handwriting continues to devolve, perhaps I’ll need one of those hieroglyph experts.