Can You Read This?

I recently visited my sister and learned something surprising. She said that when she and my brother-in-law want to write notes to each other that their kids can't read, they write in cursive. As incredible as it seems, my nephews (aged 19 and 12) can't read cursive. It's indecipherable to them, like some sort of top secret WWII Enigma code. My nephews can no more read (or write) it than they can Mandarin Chinese. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I heard that.

Apparently most schools around the country are no longer teaching cursive. I'm conflicted about this. Somehow it just seems wrong to totally abandon a form of written communication. After all, there are a lot of old documents out there that are written in cursive. You know, little things like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It might be a good idea if people were able to read them now and then, along with the thousands of other similar documents.

On the other hand, besides my signature, I can't remember the last time I actually wrote something in cursive. Whenever I write something, 99.999% of the time I print it. So despite the fact that I have misgivings about totally abandoning cursive, I honestly don't use it much myself.

Maybe this could lead to a whole new job field for middle aged people: Cursive Translator. When the young whippersnappers of the world encounter an old stock certificate or a will that they can't read, they'll call in the Cursive Translator to read it to them. I think I'm going to go set up my store front right now!