I like to read old diaries from the 19th century to get a more realistic picture of how people lived outside the conservative, contrived world presented in the fiction of the period. Cursive, even by a practiced hand, is hard to decipher. The fact that most individuals did not have a complete education or a dictionary makes it doubly so. The spelling of even the college-educated could be atrocious since nobody likes to have to look up every word they are unsure about a heavy book.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, evenamong " learned " writers, the uniformstandard of spelling had not developed yet.The journals of Lewis and Clark have someinteresting examples.
Last school year, when I proctored an SAT, I would write on the whiteboard, in cursive, “Does anyone here not know what cursive writing is?” This year we’re told we’re not allowed to provide any hints or aids for a part of the test procedure that has absolutely no bearing on their scores. Next year, so I understand, the requirement to write the particular passage in cursive will disappear from the process altogether.
Templo S.U.D. about 10 years ago
So, Zack (and other digital people who never learned cursive), what’s the purpose of the pencil and pen?
Boots at the Boar Premium Member about 10 years ago
I like to read old diaries from the 19th century to get a more realistic picture of how people lived outside the conservative, contrived world presented in the fiction of the period. Cursive, even by a practiced hand, is hard to decipher. The fact that most individuals did not have a complete education or a dictionary makes it doubly so. The spelling of even the college-educated could be atrocious since nobody likes to have to look up every word they are unsure about a heavy book.
bueller about 10 years ago
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, evenamong " learned " writers, the uniformstandard of spelling had not developed yet.The journals of Lewis and Clark have someinteresting examples.
Comic Minister Premium Member about 10 years ago
Agreed Zack and a good way of closing your left eye!
K M about 10 years ago
Last school year, when I proctored an SAT, I would write on the whiteboard, in cursive, “Does anyone here not know what cursive writing is?” This year we’re told we’re not allowed to provide any hints or aids for a part of the test procedure that has absolutely no bearing on their scores. Next year, so I understand, the requirement to write the particular passage in cursive will disappear from the process altogether.