I picked up a Gregg's Shorthand book at the public library in the free books section a few weeks ago. I leafed through it and tried to figure it out by reading some of it. It was quite interesting... almost like a completely different language. It looks like a different language. Does anybody still use shorthand anymore? From what I have researched, it is not completely dead... yet. It isn't necessarily required for a secretarial position anymore though like it was in the past. But nobody I know uses it. Well, that's fine though because it wasn't widely used anyway except mostly as a temporary dictation language. Now, there are some older documents that people had primarily written in shorthand, for whatever reason. Basically, we have lost this level of literacy, but it matters very little because it wasn't used widely for common communication anyway. We have books about shorthand that we can learn from if we need to decode some old obscure documents.
I am not going to talk about shorthand. What I want to address are are common forms of communication that are trying to be obsoleted: namely longhand, or what is best known as cursive writing.
I've seen several arguments as to whether it should or should not be taught in elementary school. Many people now (including educators) believe that cursive writing is a waste of time and that it is obsolete - we should focus our efforts on keyboarding now, since that is where most of our communication takes place anyway. I also see a decline in the emphasis on handwriting in block letters as well... only to be kept at a minimal level. This is a disturbing trend.
We shouldn't let handwriting die. Why? Many people consider handwriting (especially cursive) as something that was used in the past and no longer necessary. We all have computers, smart phones and other handheld devices. Why should we bother learning handwriting? The answer is blatantly clear: we still need to learn handwriting because many people currently use it. It's really a no-brainer, yet surprisingly many people still insist that learning it is a waste of time. Since many people (who have learned the art and use it frequently) write in cursive, wouldn't it make sense to be able to read their writing?
I discovered that some teachers or schools were no longer requiring pupils to learn handwriting when my wife wrote a note and one of my children (who was in middle school at the time) could not read it. This is a serious breakdown in communication. I learned that many teachers were no longer teaching it - the reasoning being that it was obsolete. How could an element of our language that is still in use be considered obsolete? This is quite bothersome, especially to someone (me) who believes so strongly in the value of effective communication.
Many proponents of keeping handwriting alive have stated that the reason for learning cursive is that we need to know how to write our signature. This is a pretty lame reason to keep an entire art from dying, so I can see the reasoning behind the push to move on to other methods and leave this art form in the past. Let me leave with some perfectly valid reasons why handwriting should be preserved and still taught in our elementary schools:
1) Consider all the letters, journals, official documents (like wills) and important notes that have been written - not only by those in past years but by those who currently write in cursive. A form of communication that is currently in use (on a large scale) is not obsolete. I guarantee that everyone will encounter cursive handwriting at some time in his or her lifetime. Some people (like secretaries and receptionists) will encounter it on a daily basis.
2) When we lose a level of literacy, we lose a link to our culture and our past. We lose a link to our forebears and ones that we love. It creates gaps in our society and severs ties that cannot be rebuilt. It prevents us from decoding past historical documents and forces the ignorant to rely on the "translation" skills of those more educated in the art. Those of us who have learned cursive handwriting take for granted how easy it is to read this, but to one who has not learned it, this is like a different language altogether... just like trying to learn shorthand.
3) I know this kinda sounds lame, but many other have expressed it and I also agree - cursive handwriting is a beautiful art and helps define your personality... on paper. It's more than a mere signature, but your writing itself. It personifies your writing style. Typewritten messages are so impersonal in that way and can be manipulated and edited, whereas handwriting is very difficult to alter.
So, for the sake of maintaining a level of our literacy and as a means of keeping connected with the many people in the past as well as those who still currently use handwriting, let's keep this important art alive!
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