Handwriting has its place: electronic systems can crash at any instant, and may stay down for months. Further, students who learn literacy through handwriting, rather than through key-pressing, perform better on a wide range of written tasks.
However, to exalt cursive is unrealistic.
Research shows that the fastest and most legible handwriters avoid cursive. They join some letters, not all, making the easiest joins, skipping the rest, using printlike shapes for letters whose cursive and printed shapes disagree, an approach we teach in our business.
When following cursive rules is counterproductive, rewrite and upgrade the rules. Discontinuing cursive provides the opportunity to teach some better-functioning style, resembling what the fastest, clearest handwriters do anyway. Cursive and printing are not the only choices.
Of course, cursive must still be read, because of documents written that way. However, reading cursive takes just 30 to 60 minutes to learn. Even a 5- or 6-year-old can be taught to read it. The usefulness of reading cursive therefore doesn't justify writing it.
Regarding the statement in your Jan. 2 article ("Cursive is becoming a postscript") that, "Many schools have eliminated those extensive Palmer Method practice sessions": the amount is nearer to "all." Palmer Method's producer, the A. N. Palmer Co., folded in 1986.
KATE GLADSTONE ANDREW HABER
Handwriting Repair/ Handwriting that Works
Albany