I've just started reading a very interesting book, Script & Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey. I highly recommend it.
It drives me nutty that handwriting isn't really taught at the Montessori school grandson Will attends. He wouldn't let me teach him the manuscript "printing" that all first and second graders should know. I'm not sure what he's doing now that he's a third grader. I think they teach cursive writing, but doing it "right" is not an objective.
To me handwriting is one of the fundamentals of a good education. Having neat, legible handwriting is right up there with using correct grammar and knowing how to add and subtract without a calculator. In that same vein are correct spelling and punctuation, too.
Oh, how texting has ruined everyone's writing skills! I want to send back granddaughter Hannah's e-mails with spelling, punctuation and grammar corrected, but I don't. I'm just glad to hear from her! I'm sure her school papers are better written.
Good handwriting takes practice. I hope the kids who don't study it now will work on it before they have to fill out job applications by hand!
I remember dutifully practicing my "script" capital letters in the fourth grade with my Noble and Noble writing book under the watchful glare of Sister Mary Augustine.
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