Cursive writing a DEAD SKILL???

[HassleCat]

7. I hated it

Our teachers always, uniformly, praised the girls for their loopy, swirly cursive writing. It was proclaimed
"beautiful," even if you couldn't read it. The boys were criticized for their scrunched characters and inconsistent spacing. In fourth grade, I staged a one-person revolution and printed everything. When the teacher pointed out it wasn't cursive, which was called "longhand" then, I said it looked cursive to me, and it was readable. (My printing was, and still is, very neat.)

Well, they were having none of that. This was the early 1960s, when regimentation was paramount. Every student had to do the same thing, at the same time, in the same way. My parents were sternly reprimanded when my kindergarten teacher discovered I could read. So the cursive writing episode prompted another conference with my parents. This gave my dad a chance to be an asshole, something at which he excelled. He looked at the printed samples the teacher offered up as proof of my crimes, and said, "Can you read it? Yes? Then why did you call us in here?" Having an asshole dad is usually not much fun, but sometimes it works in your favor.