A
personal facet of yesteryear, handwriting has become less and less used with
each passing generation. Schools are one by one eliminating the lessons of
teaching their students the proper methods of cursive writing altogether. While
this author's cursive writing is rusty and far from attractive, the recognition
of importance resounds in me. We can replace this teaching with lessons of new
media methods, but what skill sets are lost along the way? Just to name a few,
how about spelling, note-taking, and brainstorming.
Past
generations would no doubt agree. For readers familiar with the Palmer Method,
fine penmanship rings true to days gone by. A nice article on Austin Palmer and
penmanship appeared in the fall 1998 issue of Iowa Heritage Illustrated by William E. Henning, “The Halcyon Days
of Fine Penmanship.” The author's father, William C. Henning had a fascinating
career under the auspice of A. N. Palmer. The article mentions other fine
writers such as John Hancock and Timothy Matlack. The necessity of fine
handwriting isn't what it used to be. At the least we should think of our
descendants and pass down a story or two in our own handwriting. After all, we
could all use some practice to work on our rusty skills.
