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Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Campus Life

"How do you make a capital 'S?' I forget," said senior Anthony Cycyk.

Cycyk, like many Youngstown State University students, share the same problem when it comes to cursive writing. They don't remember how to write with it.

Students are forced to learn it in school, but cursive writing is quickly going out of style.

Senior Debra Strobel is a integrated language arts education major. She said she hardly ever uses cursive writing, but "it's still a valuable skill to have."

Although Strobel said cursive writing is important, she will not require her students to write with it.

"You only need to use cursive writing at certain times, but it is now becoming less valued in our society," she said.

Jessica Stephenson and Amy Myers, also senior integrated language arts education majors, agreed with Strobel and will not require cursive in their classrooms either.



Try the quiz: Which cursive belongs to fifth graders, and which was written by college students?





"I just want my students to write in whatever style, printing or cursive, that makes them feel comfortable — but I do want it to be legible for me," Stephenson said.

"Since it's hard for me to write in cursive because I'm not used to it, I won't have my students experience that," Myers said. She agreed that students should be able to write in whatever script is comfortable for them.

Stephenson admitted that she doesn't write in "strict cursive form."

"I have the tendency to print and write in cursive in the same sentence, and that's a bad habit," she said.

Senior Kari Milliron, integrated language major, said she shares Stephenson's habit of mixing printing with cursive writing.

"Sometimes I write really sloppy, and sometimes my writing is just really good. I'm not sure why is comes out the way it does, but cursive writing seems to be going out of style because it's not being stressed in high schools as much as it is in the lower grades," she said.

Senior Shelby Creed, English pre-education major, said her cursive is "relatively legible" and this neatness depends upon her daily mood, but "cursive is pretty much what I use," she said.

Creed disagreed that cursive is going out of style because it's still being taught in schools.

"Cursive is not a dying writing style because schools still mandate that students learn it. Plus, you always have to learn to sign your name," Creed said.

"On the other hand, schools may mandate that you learn cursive, but they can't mandate that you use it, especially in the upper grades," Creed said.

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