No Longer Using Cursive

Following up on our conversation about cursive handwriting, we heard from Rachel Reggie in Newport News, Virginia. And she writes, I was curious how many millennials or Gen Z people weighed in on your argument about the need to learn cursive in school. I’m 23 and I learned cursive in third grade and have never used it since. My mom uses cursive, and I can’t read it because it is handwriting versus standard typed cursive, which I can still read. Additionally, when I was studying in Japan, the English teacher asked me to write my name in cursive because she was demonstrating the need to learn cursive, at the very least so we can sign our name. But the reality is most people scribble their name or use a mix of cursive and print anymore. And truth be told, I couldn’t write my whole name in cursive because I didn’t remember all the letters.

My son learned, who is now 12, learned only his name in cursive and nothing else. And he can write it very laboriously. You know, if he gets a check from grandma for his birthday, he can write his name on the back of that. But yeah, he had no need, very much a Gen Z, I guess, no need for cursive. He just doesn’t need it. Wow. Well, it’s fascinating to see all these responses.

But the truth is you don’t actually have to have your cursive for signatures. Anything can be in signature. You can make a little picture of a house. You can use block letters. You can use an X. It all counts as a signature as long as it’s consistent and as long as it means you.

Is that right? I can just draw a picture? Absolutely. Well, how do you think people who use pictogram-based languages do it? I guess they use pictograms. It’s not really pictures, but they don’t use cursive, right? People who sign things in Chinese or Japanese or Korean don’t use cursive. They just write them the same way they would anywhere else.

I’m picturing my new signature right now. 877-929-9673.