In the fifth grade, students were expected to learn how to write in cursive, in ink.
But educators like McGrann feel cursive is more than a traditional style of writing.
Look at modern writers' cursive signatures, and you're looking at a late form of this popularized script.
As one of my professors once explained, doing surgery is no more physically difficult than writing in cursive.
So if you're teaching cursive, the words you're teaching the kids to write should be their spelling words.
Still, the thought that the series of illegible but meant-to-be-cursive loops will grace our currency sparked many ideas.
The graceful yet relatively controlled cursive script fills three columns on two oversize scrolls (27 inches by 105 inches).
The writing isn't on the wall yet for cursive, even if children don't learn it in school, she said.
WSJ: The New Script for Teaching Handwriting Is No Script at All
It's also a matter of students not needing to use cursive as much as they had in the past.
On empty pages, he wrote of Adam, an ark, locusts, loaves, fishes and the resurrection in his neat, looping cursive.
She was taught cursive as a child, but finds herself printing more and more -- mostly because of her students.
Peck doesn't see the point of teaching cursive to a new generation when so many people no longer use it.
The post, which argued that cursive handwriting should continue to be taught in schools, garnered more than 500 comments.
The exhibit is structured chronologically, and the progression of Aoyama's work away from traditional cursive calligraphy toward less constrained, freer expression is clear.
Jean Leising, the bill's sponsor, said more than 90% of the 1, 000 constituents she surveyed in her rural district said they favored teaching cursive.
WSJ: The New Script for Teaching Handwriting Is No Script at All
It's a touchy subject: Is there a reason schools should continue to teach cursive, and is it worth the time that must be spent?
The company wouldn't adopt the now familiar "M" Motorola logo for nearly another decade, favoring a decidedly less iconic, cursive font for the time being.
After a few weeks of work, he settled on a charming design, with "I Love New York" in cursive, set against a plain white background.
And McGrann, whose private school has no plans to stop teaching cursive, says it doesn't take much extra time to teach if teachers plan well.
Still, with 80% of states in the country phasing out cursive and so much of today's communication being digital, the discussion may be purely academic.
Beirut-based jeweler Paolo Bonja has his name printed in cursive font on one of the club walls because, I'm told, he "sponsors" the VIP table.
Next, "The Calligraphy of Aoyama San'u, " which begins with his early cursive script and ends with the more intuitive and pictographic calligraphy of his later years.
Miss Tran, who moved to the U.S. two years ago from Vietnam, says practicing cursive helped her learn grammar and having pretty handwriting boosted her confidence.
WSJ: The New Script for Teaching Handwriting Is No Script at All
Many of the cursive submissions came from adults who said they'd switched to cursive in high school or college because it was faster for taking notes.
Forty out of 50 states in the United States have adopted the Common Core curriculum, which phases out cursive writing in the classroom, for their public schools.
But for students these days, it's often faster and neater to take notes on a laptop or similar device, making the speed of cursive far less important.
CalliGrapher from the ParaGraph PI unit of Silicon Graphics, our choice for Best of Breed, not only achieved 100% accuracy but it alone recognizes both print and cursive.
Of the 268 submissions we'd received at the time of this article, 149 (55%) were printed, 75 were in cursive, and 44 were a hybrid of the two.
"The discipline of cursive is excellent for developing fine motor skills, especially in young children, " agrees Mary Brennan, who has her own handwriting business in New York.
Besides the intrinsic value of cursive writing, some are worried that phasing it out may make texts written in cursive go the way of hieroglyphics, as McGrann pointed out.
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