Why Every Mormon Should Favor Teaching Cursive


zil
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A short while ago, a poor soul in England posted this:

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I am trying to do my family tree and managed to get hold of some old documents, issue is I am 22, and never learnt cursive and haven't trouble reading it, the documents are also quite old and not the best quality, I was hoping someone could tell me what it all says?

...followed by links to images of census pages (or something like them).

Where did he make this request?  Not here on MormonHub.  Not on some family history forum.  The clever soul asked the Fountain Pen Network.  And got translations of the cursive almost immediately.

If we don't teach children cursive (and frankly, a variety of old cursive styles), all the people who can read this stuff will be dead in a generation (or charging $200/hour for their services)...   So teach your children cursive.  And go do some indexing with your grandparents - they can read while you type!

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I agree. It's sad we are losing cursive. Although I was never a big fan of cursive myself, I still use occasionally, usually my journal are a mix between cursive and print. You bring up a very good point that many probably don't think of, almost all documents pre typewriter/computer are in cursive. And most journals or letter between people are in cursive. It would be sad not to be able to read the letter my Grandma and Grandpa sent to each other before they were married,  cards my great grandmother sent my mother or the history my Grandma wrote about her life and each of her children. Let alone all of the journals that are written and have information or stories we may need for the future. With computers we now find it a waste of time but as you pointed out it's very important, and  I wish there was more of a push to keep it.

Edited by miav
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Guest LiterateParakeet

I homeschool and I teach all my kids cursive. The youngest just started. I read some where that they used to have kids start with pencil, then fountain pen, then ball point. So I'm thinking of trying that out with my son. Mu daughter says I'm obsessed  (with fountain pens). Lol.

I have @zil to thank for that.  Be careful she might get to you next. :)

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2 hours ago, LiterateParakeet said:

I have @zil to thank for that.  Be careful she might get to you next. :)

I'm afraid I'm developmentally disabled when it comes to fountain pens.

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I am trying to do my family tree and managed to get hold of some old documents, issue is I am 22, and never learnt cursive and haven't trouble reading it, the documents are also quite old and not the best quality, I was hoping someone could tell me what it all says?

It looks like his English skill deficiency extends beyond just cursive.

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9 hours ago, Carborendum said:

It looks like his English skill deficiency extends beyond just cursive.

We'll forgive him - he's doing family history work. :)

9 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I'm afraid I'm developmentally disabled when it comes to fountain pens.

I think we just haven't found you the right pen yet. ;)

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I think we'll be breaking some sort of rule if nobody posts this video in this thread:

I haven't decided for sure how I'll handle my children's schooling, but I do know if nobody else teaches them cursive, I will.

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