4 ms·
Kinds in the UK still learned 'joined up writing', which is simpler than the more elegant style of previous generations, but is practical tool for writing quic
by Angostura 4y ago
Kinds in the UK still learned 'joined up writing', which is simpler than the more elegant style of previous generations, but is practical tool for writing quickly.
- TazeTSchnitzel 4y agoOh, the American “cursive” is something more elaborate? That explains why people would hate it.
- VintageCool 4y agoAmerican cursive is an impractical "idealized" script. Some scholar a hundred years ago decided that handwriting would be faster if the pen never left the page, ever. As a result, American cursive is full of tiny hand-cramping loops and loses legibility. With one exception, the capital I is unconnected. My teachers made me retake the cursive test every week for a year because I always tried to connect the capital I to the next letter, and it took that long before anyone told me which mistake I was making.
- Izkata 4y agoThat must have been a distinct style, the version I learned does connect capital I to the next letter, while capital D/U/W doesn't unless it's a tall letter like lowercase l: https://sciencetrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/800px-Cursive-700x479.png https://sciencetrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/800px-C...
- bowsamic 4y agoYeah the American style is extremely ornate and traditional. The UK style is literally just print letters but joined up, nothing fancy.
- Tesl 4y agoohhhhh I didn't know this. I've seen these complaints from Americans about cursive a million times and I never understood why writing with joined up letters was so hard.
- marvin 4y agoI wrote a comment of my own and scrolled through 700 comments before I found this response. The whole debate has seemed incomprehensible to me, for the 20 years that I've been aware of it.
- lloydatkinson 4y agoI went to a school that taught normal handwriting and I had some of the neatest handwriting in the class. I changed schools where they insisted I wrote “joined up” and my handwriting went to shit - looks absolutely terrible even today unless I put in a huge effort. I blame the school for hampering my ability to write correctly. When I do write anything now I have to write slow and make a conscious effort not to write joined up. That way, it’s actually neat and readable again.
- iso1631 4y agoExactly the same with my kids, 3 years of great legible handwriting, then it all wen backwards because the national curriculum driven by 90 year olds thinks writing for other people is a key skill, despite well over 99% of written communication being typed.
- jeltz 4y agoBut cursive is not even very good for reading.
- denton-scratch 4y agoI have the same experience; my cursive was deemed too messy, so they gave me personal handwriting classes. I ended up with a script that was a cross between formal script and spidery rubbish. Nowadays I try hard to make recognisable letter-forms, and I link them up if it seems flowing and convenient. It's a struggle; often I can't read my own shopping lists. Dammit, the buggers taught me to write so that nobody could read it. And this was an expensive school.
- thom 4y agoThis is what I’ve watched happen to my son in school. Genuinely neat, readable writing that was plenty fast, ruined by hours of lessons on joined up writing, all of which took away from actual learning.