I went to school in TX & I learned cursive in 3rd grade (2008 ish). By why I understand, at least in my area in TX, kids aren’t learning it anymore.
I’m 25, and at my previous job I over heard a guy who was around my age talking to a woman and the conversation was about how he can’t read cursive, so she will type it out for him…like huh?
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Yeah in the 90’s. It was a MASSIVE waste of time.
I learned cursive in third grade, so about 2014-ish!
In Alabama we did
I learned it up to 3rd grade in the 2000s and still use it to this day. Most don’t
I naturally took it up as habit when I was probably 10 or 11 (not that fancy calligraphy crap they teach in schools nowadays). Never gone back.
Yes. And I use it every day.
I did as kid. Never used it. I have dyslexia and it’s really hard for me to read.
Yes I learned in 2000 and I still write in it
I am old, so, yes, I learned cursive, but I learned it on the street. Literally,. Summer between first and second grade, one of the older kids was showing off writing on the road with chalk in cursive, so I made him teach me. Rolled into second grade insisting on writing everything in cursive. Which pissed off my 2nd grade teacher because our school didn’t teach cursive till 3rd grade and that meant the other kids couldn’t grade my papers. Got into a battle of wills, ended up being sent to the principal’s office. Spent most of 2nd grade in the library doing “independent study enrichment”. Cursive, is it worth it.
Yeah I was actually never taught to print. We had to teach ourselves
I learned it, it was a massive waste of time. Can’t read it, my cursive sucks. Luckily my shoot name is easy to write in cursive for signatures. But I learned it in school and like a lot of stuff from school it went in one and out the other. I’m 29. Graduated in ‘14
I went to elementary school in the early 2000s, and this was right when they started to phase it out. I also learned cursive in 3rd grade, but by the next year, it was starting to get phased out, and by 5th grade, it was completely gone.
Interesting fact: I still wrote in cursive up until 6th grade or so, but my classmates all griped about it because they couldn’t read my handwriting. Now to be fair, my handwriting is kind trash, even in print, so that may have been the reason instead of my peers rapidly forgetting what cursive looked like.
I learned it in third grade, around 2014-2015. I still write in cursive all the time.
I learned it throughout some of my elementary years, but by the time middle school started we basically never touched it. Late 00’s and early 10’s.
Even if they don’t teach writing it I think it isn’t a bad idea to teach it so people could read it if they come across it.
30, suburbs of Boston, yeah.
Yeah
Yes.
Yes, in elementary school in the 80s.
We not only learned it, but were expected to use it when doing assignments.
I was supposed to, but I guess I was progressing so they taught me typing instead. This was in the early 90s. The teachers were super jazzed about it telling me that one day everyone was gonna learn to do it, and that I was the first.
It impacted me though as today I can’t read cursive as well as other people and this was a problem in college where professors would scribble notes on my papers that I could only kinda read.
Yes, and I haven’t written in cursive a single time as an adult.
Yes, in the 90s.
Yes, I learned cursive in third grade, in SLC, around 1990.
I did and now I get paid to 🤪
If you don’t know cursive, how do you sign checks? Just print your name?
I was in elementary school in the 80s and we learned and used cursive then. After I moved on to middle school in the early 90s we stopped using it. I don’t think I’ve written anything in cursive in the last 35 years.
I learned cursive in 3rd grade as well
I did and was even required to write in cursive for a bulk of my school career. I don’t really use it much but I still can read and write if I want even though it might not be very pretty since I’m out of practice.
Young Gen Xer here. In Louisiana we learned it in 3rd grade and they ramped up our usage of it. In 6th – 8th grade it was required that all assignments be turned in in cursive except math. In high school it was optional to turn in work in cursive or print.
I have teens in California. They were taught cursive but it was always optional if they chose to use it in other assignments.
Keep in mind that kids in general have much less written work, as computers/chromebooks are used to varying degrees based on grade level.
They taught us cursive in 3rd Grade, but I taught myself before my teacher got to it. From Kindergarten through the first half of 3rd Grade, it was all print. The second half of 3rd Grade is when they started teaching cursive and expected us to write in cursive all of the time. In my classroom, my teacher had the cursive alphabet posted above the blackboard, and it had arrows with numbers that showed the strokes. During the first half of the year, when I would finish my classwork early and had nothing to do, I would practice writing in cursive from that chart. As a result, I already knew it by the time my teacher got around to teaching it, and the way that I write cursive now comes directly from that chart in the classroom. All of that said, I fucking hate writing in cursive and only do it now in the rare instances when I have to physically sign something.
In second grade. Only use it for my signature though. I don’t remember the rest of the alphabet 😔
Not only did I learn cursive, I learned how to write with a quill pen. Cursive I learned in school. The quill pen I learned at a day camp that had a one room school house.
Yes I did in the 90s. It basically just taught me how to sign my name
Yep. Second grade, 1989.
My kids are learning it right now. They don’t spend as much time on it and aren’t expected to write in cursive as much as I did. (3-6 grade I was required to write cursive on all my assignments) It’s just a quick one time thing I feel like.
I was born in 1984, so cursive writing was heavily stressed in elementary and junior high. As soon as I reached high school, they no longer required cursive. I can still read it but never write with it except to sign my name.
Said every generation since 1920.
Yes, in 3rd grade and I prefer to write in cursive
I learned cursive in elementary school and haven’t really used it since aside from signing my signature. that was in the early 90s. I have a hard time reading it too. At least when it’s in someone’s handwriting. I can read it but it has to neat and it might take me a little longer than reading print
Yes, I learned cursive in the late 90s – early 2000s. After learning it, I didn’t need it until I took the SAT in 2007.
Yeppers.
I graduated high school in 2005, and I was taught cursive in 5th grade, so 1993ish.
Ya I learned in eather late elementary or middle school. But I do have a friend who is 5-6 years younger than me who doesn’t know how to read an analog clock.
I was in 3rd grade in the early 10s, and I learned it dont use it often, but there are a few times where I feel like writing in it
Learned cursive in elementary school in the early 2000s
The only time I ever really use it is for signing my name – so like a couple times a year
Anymore I honestly don’t remember how to write any of the the letters that aren’t in my name
We went over cursive for 2 weeks in third grade and never touched it again (2014-2015)
My sisters taught me before first grade, but my teacher didn’t like me using it so I had to wait until 3rd grade to use it.
i can’t read my own hand writing either way
I did (Gen X) as did my children (Gen Z). They attended Catholic school and have the penmanship you’d expect from it.
Yep!
Yes, Texas also.
I am older, but in school they started teaching cursive in second/third grade. However, I already knew it as my grandma started teaching me when I was 5. I just liked the way I saw her writing, and asked, and she was happy to teach me
Yes, I learned it. NYC in the 90s (I’m 36).
I still use it to take personal notes and used it to take notes throughout college and law school. I was always told my cursive was horrible, though, so I never use it for anyone else to read.
I remember my mom and her cousin asking me to help them write wedding invitations when I was in high school. Had to be in cursive. I did one envelope, my mother looked at it, told me to stop wasting the envelopes and to go do something else, my “help” wasn’t needed….
I did, in second grade. And I specifically remember Ms Ketting telling all of us in the classroom that this is the way everyone was going to be writing very soon in the coming years. And that turned out to be a lie.
And I know for a fact that she hated grading our papers when we were required to write in cursive, too.
Yes… in 1985.
And my 9 year old daughter is learning cursive in her 3rd grade class too.
Yes, we learned it in 3rd grade. For me that was 1994.
Yes, learned cursive in 4th grade, circa 1989.
I’m 21, and I learned cursive in third grade. I don’t ever use it, other than for signatures.
I learned cursive in elementary school (2003-04 ish). Forgot it. Relearned it in my 20s. I like writing in cursive on holiday cards and weddings’ message books.
Yeah, in one class during one year. And then I was told to print or type everything forever afterwards. So it never really stuck.
Learned cursive and use it all the time, even when writing my ‘ to do ‘ list. It’s much faster than printing.
I learned cursive. The problem is that I am a pharmacist. Doctors have terrible cursive writing on prescriptions. Physical prescriptions and verbal prescriptions should be eliminated. There should only be electronic prescriptions.
Learned cursive up until 6th grade (in 2002).
I learned cursive as a kid. Outside of my signature, I remember almost none of it.
Hot take: cursive belongs in Art class, not English class.
My granddaughter is in TX and is in third grade and has been learning it. Other grandchildren in mid to late teens and learned it as well.
I learned cursive in third grade in 2000/2001. My youngest brother however didn’t in 2012/2013. (WA state)
Cursive is significantly harder to write if you’re left-handed, and as a ledt handed person, I’m unbothered by its decline. I do think it should be preserved, but acting like someone can’t write cursive is a failure of the school system is silly, especially considering how kids seem to be struggling with reading print nowadays
Yes, I was told we had to learn it because adulting. Really I just need it to read my mom’s handwritting.
Yes in 1978.
I did learn cursive in third grade back in the 80s. Nowadays I noticed bad penmanship with middle and high schoolers.
My kids are currently learning cursive. First grade, California.
Yeah. I learned it in second grade, so about 2008
I learned cursive back in early elementary and I’m also 25 now. That being said outside of signatures and fancy name cards for events I’ve basically never actually used or had to read cursive. Once exception was this one girl who insisted on doing all her homework assignments in cursive with pink pens. No one liked having to grade her assignments.
I started learning it in school, then my family moved and it was never taught to me in my new school. My handwriting is a weird combo of the two
Yes, I learned it in 3rd and 4th grade. I’m 22 now and never use it.
I learned it in elementary school as a kid (’90s). I haven’t used it since then. Writing the honor pledge for the SAT (2006) was a bit of a struggle since it had been so long since I used cursive (that was the same for everyone at my school).
My ability to read cursive is pretty weak. My ADHD sometimes gives me mild dyslexia-like symptoms and cursive makes it worse (sometimes, words in cursive just look like a squiggle to me). So, while I can sometimes puzzle out what someone wrote, sometimes I can’t read cursive at all.
Writing is even worse. Where my dyslexia-like symptoms are sub-clinical, I have full-blown dysgraphia. My handwriting when writing in print tends to be much more angular than typical print and some people have trouble reading it because of how different from standard print it can get. So, cursive with its less angular letters feels unnatural to the point where it’s a physical struggle to draw the letters even when I remember what shape they should be. I’m far faster at writing in print and I’m even faster than that when typing with a full keyboard. I had an accommodation in elementary school to type many of the assignments that were typically handwritten and that has just become easier as I’ve gotten older and computers have become more prevalent.
Yeah
Yes I learned cursive in 3rd grade (2004 ish)
Yes, third grade, I think. Had an anal-retentive 5th grade teacher who kept lowering my scores because my handwriting wasn’t neat enough. Consequently, I learned to hate cursive. No patience for it, give me a keyboard.
Got graded on it, too.
I did, partly on my own initiative and partly from schooling.
3rd grade seems to be when everyone was taught, and I was no different in that sense
Yea, in elementary school, in the 90s
We did but graduated HS in 1989 so I’m old
My 18 year old learned about cursive one time in 2nd grade and can write his name, but that’s it.
As an adult I’ve used it never. My wife has gnarly good handwriting and uses it often.
I’m 21, also Texan. I remember doing those tracing sheets for about a week in what was probably the same grade, but that’s about it lol. I can sign my name and rarely have trouble reading the majority of people’s cursive, but wouldn’t know where to start if I tried to write in it.
Gen Z and I learned cursive in 5th grade I believe.
Yes, in elementary school, in the 1980s.
Also born and raised in Texas, but was in 3rd grade in the late 90s. Cursive was mandatory. I had and still have excellent penmanship – I use cursive frequently in my job.i still take handwritten notes in business meetings, but it turns out that’s a bit of an oddity. It comes in handy though. I can read my notes, but I do my own shorthand so no one else can.
I graduated from a Texas high school in 1981. So yes.
We learned it in 3rd grade (1992-1993) and I know I used it in high school and I think I might have had a college teacher require it.
I can barely use it.
Yes. We large cursive in the third grade in the 90s.
My teacher did one week of cursive in fourth grade, however, I started teaching myself cursive in February and I’m a pro now 💁🏻♀️(when I’m not rushing)
Learned it, don’t use it.
Yes, I learned cursive in 3rd grade (2002). I only use cursive for my signature. I can read cursive, but it takes effort.
I learned cursive in second grade, in Alaska, so 2016ish I guess?
yes, of course.
I did my junior year of college in the Middle East and once agreed to help a friend with his English homework in exchange for probably language help (also I had a little crush on him). Anyway, I wrote up whatever he needed and handed it over and he just stared at it like it was an indecipherable script and said “what the hell is this?”.
it had never occurred to me that he wouldn’t be able to read cursive.
It’s absurd that we’re now in a situation where native English speakers are in the same situation. Being able to read and write in cursive should be a basic life skill.
Learned it in NYC in grade school: the 1960s. I’m taking college courses again and the number of times I hear “you write like my grandmother” here in CA is nuts.
Yes but also no. I moved to a different country for a few months in the middle of it, and they either dont teach cursive in New Zealand or do so later than age 8-9. I never had to use it.
I learned cursive in first grade and I’ve been using it as my main form of writing ever since (I’m 21 now.) I can use both cursive and print with my cursive being better, although my print is still good.
it was in my curriculum, but i wouldn’t say i really learned it. 3rd grade as well for me. but i only ever learned as much as required and then never used it again. i could read perfect cursive but i have a hard time reading some of my grandmas recipes and stuff like that. i can, but its pretty hard and im making a lot of educated guesses.
My high schoolers learned it in elementary school.
I learned to write and read cursive when I was in grade 2 at elementary school.
Today, I don’t think they have a penmsnship class at elementary anymore. But some parents or legal guardians will teach their children who are home schooled to write and read in cursive.
Today, most people who love bullet journalling will learn how to practice calligraphy, have knowledge of writing cursive and tend to experiment on flairs or do some type of calligraphy.
I did in elementary school. I don’t remember a thing. I’m 17 and I can’t even read it.
I think I started learning it a year earlier than that. But yes, and it’s been an important thing to me over the years. It led into me learning calligraphy as a hobby, too.
I do not agree at all with not teaching it. It’s more than about writing itself, but about having a discipline and teaching fine motor skills. It’s terribly sad newer generations will never know friendship letters, cards in the mail, and most of all love letters written out carefully by someone in lovely script. I’ve still saved so many of the ones I got over the years and they’re little treasures.
I am older and did. My kids (born in 2005 and 2007) did not. It is no longer part of the curriculum.
I learned it in second grade (7 years old) in the early 70s.
Yes. I learned it in elementary school and still use it in my daily life. I noticed though in high school (graduated in 2010), cursive wasn’t much of a requirement anymore.
Yes, I learned cursive back in the ’80s. I teach elementary school in California and we still teach it. It’s actually a state standard now.
yes but also i never needed it as much as people said i would besides learning to sign my name. my 6th grade teacher told us in high school they would require everything to be written in cursive so i needed to be prepared. i had a grand total of one class after hers in like 7th grade that required cursive and after that never again.
I’m 53, so of course I can read and write cursive. I can’t believe they don’t teach it anymore. I feel like I am able to read a secret language.
I learned cursive around first grade in 2010-2011ish. I learned in a small town school in Pembine WI.
Yes I was taught cursive (3rd grade: 2010-11).
I learned it in third grade, back in the mid-90s. I still use it to this day because it’s easier on my wrists, and my print handwriting is absolutely atrocious.
I learned it in the third grade. It was taken OUT of curriculum under Common Core from what I understand. My mom, a teacher, never stopped teaching it, and it was added back in California cirrculum just last year.
learned it in kindergarten! 2009! i learned it before i learned print, and never officially learned print in school due to moving across the country after the kids in my new school had already learned it. i learned by watching others but i still primarily write in cursive
Did I learn it? Yes. Do I use it? Not really. On the rare chance that I am writing on paper I do go into a semi-cursive if I’m rushing but that’s extremely rare. More often than not I’m just typing stuff.
Old, so yeah, I did
I used to teach Arab students English, so not only was I taught it, I’ve taught it. With students who have a different alphabet, it’s an easier way to learn to read. The letters are more differentiated than print – think of d and b – so it helps them learn which letters are which. It has a similar positive effect on early literacy for native speakers, so it’s worth teaching young even if kids don’t use it again.
My Arab students called it “fast writing” and some who were not even in my class would come and ask me to teach it to them.
Yes, and they’re still teaching it around here.
Yes
I learned cursive and used it extensively throughout high school and college. Now I only use it for the five or six checks that I write every year. But I’m 71 so everybody was taught cursive in my time.
I’m old, so I learned cursive. My kids are in their twenties, and they also had a cursive unit in third grade. They don’t use it as default like I do, though, but they can read it
yes
Im 26 and my year was the last year they taught it ay my elementary and that was largely because the teacher who had been there for 30+ years fought super hard to keep it in finally retired
I will never be able to express the depths of my anger about cursive.
One day the teacher put on a big fake smile and told us all we were all going to learn about this wonderful new kind of writing called cursive. She taught us about it and then went on at length about how no adult would write in print, any adult that did would be considered foolish and not taken seriously by other adults. I raised my hand and pointed out, truthfully, that both of my parents had college degrees and both of them write in print, so what was she talking about? Her sweetness and light facade disappeared and a ferocious teacher instantly yelled at me and sent me to the office to be punished.
For the rest of the F-ing year, we had to write in cursive… with only the horrible pencils the school provided (which were of substantially inferior quality to what my mother got me) and on only the horrible paper the school provided (which was so bad that you couldn’t erase anything or it’d make a hole in the paper). We had to practice every letter over and over, whole pages of each letter, and if every single one wasn’t absolutely perfect we’d be yelled at and made to erase it and fix it… only you couldn’t erase on that paper, so she’d yell at us again that it wasn’t perfect because there was a hole there, and she’d tell us to go erase it and fix it. And no, we couldn’t have any more paper. Finally after yelling at us 3 or 4 times about one loop on one letter being not quite round enough, she’d give us a zero because we “refused” to erase the spot where there was a hole in the paper and write there.
Meanwhile, cursive hurt. I mean it physically made my hands hurt, in ways print never did.
Then for the next 9 years the schools demanded we had to do all work in cursive, handwritten on paper. Finally in high school I had a word processor at home, the only kid in town that did, so I started word processing my homework. I had a teacher refuse to accept it because the 30 page typed paper I had turned in wasn’t hand written in cursive and threatened that she would give me a zero for the year if I didn’t produce it hand written in cursive for her. After having put up with her cursive BS for shorter stuff, for that one I finally told her that if she wanted to fail an honor student for having the most readable paper in the class, she could be the one explaining it to the school board. She gave me a D – it was an A paper – and I decided to take it just to get away from that witch.
Meanwhile I refused to write anything by hand until college, when I could switch back to print, and also got a fountain pen. That’s when I discovered, I didn’t have pain when I wrote in print with a fountain pen, but writing in cursive with pencil hurt like hell.
Today I can’t write anything in cursive unless the letters are in my signature.
Yes, in elementary school (early to mid 90s)
Yes I learned cursive in school. I still use it to this day, every day. Recently I had a new employee that I was training, and part of our paperwork requires a written signature. And I had to explain to this person that where it says print you print where it says sign or signature you have to cursive right your name. They were never taught cursive, so he did the best he could, but he literally did not understand that the word signature means you have to write your name, not print it.
Yes. I also learned to type on a mechanical typewriter (no electricity involved).
28 here also learned it in school my cousin (your age) was the last class before our whole state stopped teaching it
Yes we started using it in 4th grade which was 1985
I’m in my 40s so yes. My kids are in their teens so they get birthday cards from grandma every year that they can’t read lol. I’m honestly fine with letting cursive go, especially now that kids are learning to type as they are learning to read. We learned two ways to write in English and so are they.
I’m 42. I was taught cursive in elementary school in FL. I was then required to submit all homework in cursive until graduation. Only exceptions were term papers and the sort where having it typed was preferred.
Since then my cursive has gotten so bad the bank and other official folks get flustered when my cursive signature literally never matches. You look at each driver’s license since I got the first at 16 and you’d have no idea the same person signed. Hell, do the same between each page of a legal contract and get the same result.
Despite the training, my most easily recognized and consistent “signature” is the stylized way I print it.
I still read cursive just fine though.
I learned it in 3rd or 4th grade in the early 2000s and have never used it since. We used it for as long as the unit took and never touched it again.
When I was in third grade in the mid to early 2010s all they had us do was “pull out your cursive notebooks and practice tracing for 15-20 minutes” and we did that for around maybe two weeks and then stopped. I have no idea how to write in cursive 💀
It’s a dying old way of writing, progress is best!
Unfortunately, yes.
Yes and it ruined my handwriting forever.
I’m 57 and yes. I can also type the proper way too. And I can even do shorthand.
When I teach littles, either second or third grade, I always promise them I will teach them cursive after Christmas if their printed handwriting is correct and neat. It’s a big motivator and they are always thrilled to learn. It does not take long to teach them and I think it speeds up their writing and reading fluency while they concentrate on the letters. Some times we talk about other forms of writing and learn about Braille and Morse code if we are having a unit around communication. Some kids hang onto it and others don’t but at least they know how to read it.
So I’m 26 and I learned cursive when I was in third grade, too. My teachers kept telling me that once I got to middle school or high school that I’d need to write everything in cursive, and that cursive was a faster way to write anyway. Fast forward to the present and I have only ever used cursive to sign my name. Those bastards lied to me.
Did I learn cursive? Yes
Do I remember how to write cursive? No
I was taught cursive along side normal writing in early elementary school but it stopped all together in around 4th/5th grade.
Edit: this was in the early 2010s, I’m 20
Yes. Elementary school in the ’70s.
We had to learn cursive in I think 3rd grade back in the early Vietnam War era. I was a smart kid but always got Cs and Ds in Penmanship. So in high school I was pretty happy to go back to printing and even happier when I took typing class and started using an ancient Remington for homework.
I learned cursive in fourth grade back in 2002
After December of 3rd grade in 2002 we got zeros on assignments that weren’t written in cursive for the rest of the year
Yeah, but I’m 37. I haven’t tried to write in cursive since shortly after college. About the only time I have to read cursive is when looking at some historical documents.
Yes.
Yes, born in 90
Yep, in a private elementary school sometime between 1995 and 2015.
They tried to make me learn cursive in the 1970s but I obstinately kept printing instead.
Yes, in the mid to late 90s. I never use it except for my signature.
I graduated HS in MD in ’13. I learned cursive. My brother went to the same schools and did not, graduated ’18. I think no child left behind removed cursive. I hear people say conspiracy theories about how it’s the government trying to make it so we cant read our old founding documents. I just don’t really think it’s that necessary. Happy I learned it, happy to briefly make fun of anyone that doesn’t know it, but ultimately it dont mean much.
I’m a Gen Xer (50f) and yes , I learned in 3 grade. I’m very pleased that the school district my kids (now 9 and 12) are in- Seacoast, NH- not only taught cursive to both my kids in elementary school, but how to read an analog clock, another pet peeve of mine. The 9 yr old learned this year in 3 grade
I don’t understand why people think not knowing how to write cursive means people can’t read it and vice versa.
There’s fonts I can read and fonts I can’t. I know how to write cursive. I could read it before I was taught to write it.
Even after being taught to write in it there were still letters from the 1800s I had difficulty reading.While I can read the Declaration of Independence just fine.
People act like print to cursive is like New Times Roman to Wingdings
Me? Yes.
My kids? Age 15 & 16 both can’t write it but can read it.
Yes, but I started elementary school in the early 1960s.
We practiced it every day.
Oddly they either took it out of the curriculum in the middle of the year or my teacher just said fuck it and hoped no one would notice we didn’t learn it, so I started learning cursive and then we just never finished the alphabet. I can sign my name but if I wanted to write something all in cursive I would have to look up how to make several letters. This was the mid 2000s.
I’ve never been in a position where I was expected to use cursive outside of signatures. Everything is typed
Yes I learned curvise and in my area schools never stopped teaching it. When i hear a local person say they never learned it, what I actually from them is “I didn’t pay attention in school.”
Same thing with taxes. They definitely taught us about them, yet every spring at least half of my graduating class is bitching that our school never taught it.
(Iowa 25M) My great grandmother taught me cursive when I was six, two years before it is taught in school, after I saw her writing a shopping list. She taught me in her kitchen and I have written nearly exclusively in cursive ever since. Due to this, and the different method of cursive she learned, which she taught me, my cursive has some older elements to it than my peers who do write cursive, which isn’t many.