I listened to the broadcast and first liked to comment that here in The Netherlands, children are taught "print-script" first and "cursive" at a later stage- just as in America.

Furthermore, why couldn't cursive writing be considered growing obsolete? Keyboards are taking over. And in the future surely speech-recognition will come to the fore as well. Hand-writing might well grow obsolete, like so many other handicrafts have grown obsolete after the industrial revolution. Speech and keyboard - and storing it digitally as opposed to storing it on a piece of paper, are growing more effective this digital age than manuscripts.

I would be grieved to see the art of handwriting diminish, I think it's a wonderful tradition and an important personal skill, but I would not be surprised to have my grand-children stare at me for being able to write in cursive. I liked the way my grandfather wrote, it had much more style than my father's handwriting, and yet my father's handwriting has much more style than my own handwriting. I've noticed many kids - albeit those who are using keyboards a lot - write in print script. It might be a trick of the brain, or it might be an trend.

==========
Bram Janssen:
Weblog address: http://home.planet.nl/~bramblogs/

>>>>
>>>>There is 1 message in this issue.
>>>>
>>>>Topics in this digest:
>>>>
>>>> 1. Cursive in the US - past and present
>>>> From: ዳንኤል ያዕቆብ (Daniel Yacob)
>>>><dyacob@...>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>____________________________________________________________
>>>>____________
>>>>____________________________________________________________
>>>>____________
>>>>
>>>>Message: 1
>>>> Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:14:52 -0000
>>>> From: ዳንኤል ያዕቆብ (Daniel Yacob) <dyacob@...>
>>>>Subject: Cursive in the US - past and present
>>>>
>>>>Caught this on the radio yesterday (click audio icon),
>>>>about the challenge of cursive writing for high school
>>>>students taking the SAT this year. Talented students may
>>>>get lower grades because their hands are more adept at
>>>>keyboards. Also reviews handwriting education in
>>>>elementary schools. To my surprise, prior to the 1920s,
>>>>only cursive was taught in US schools, teaching two systems
>>>>of hand writing was a
>>>>compromise:
>>>>
>>>>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4049540
>>>>