Oh, these dang whipper snapper kids today. First they won't read newspapers. Then they insist on text messaging or IMing instead of talking to each other. Now they've really done it: They refuse to write in cursive. 
As Jezebel reports -- citing a story that originally appeared in UPI and the Sacramento Bee -- many students are shunning loopy, lovely penmanship because, in a world where they type on keyboards or text message on mobile devices, they have no need for that nutty longhand writing stuff. Schools are still going through the motions of teaching cursive, but, as one teacher says, the kids won't use it. When they do have to write something down, they opt to print instead.
Of course, this is hardly surprising news. But it makes me wonder whether in twenty years, younger generations will even know how to craft one of those pesky cursive "z"s. Hell, I actually wrote a lot of schoolwork by hand and even I sometimes stumble over that one.
Think for a minute: When was the last time you had to write something in cursive? I bet I know the answer: When you had to sign a credit card receipt or a check. And that's one reason why the kids do need to know rudimentary calligraphy. If they ever want to buy anything or sign a legal document, they will need to scrawl their names the old-fashioned way. That is, until we start legally IDing ourselves via the chips embedded in our brains.
So the moral of the story is: Learn how to write at least the letters in your name in cursive so you can eventually sign the Mastercard receipts you'll rack up in college. For everything else: there's txt msgng.
Image: mediabistro.com
