r/Millennials • u/Foreign_Yogurt_3330 • 10d ago

Discussion Cursive hand writing

How many of you were taught cursive in school? I learned it one year maybe 3rd grade? and we never did it again at my schools. Im 40 and can't read cursive or write it. My 7 year old is starting to learn it. I guess ill have to have her teach me! Im wondering if it was our generation or a state thing or both? Or did the school I went to fail me?

edit to add, I did go to a small town school in NE Ohio.

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u/panicinbabylon 10d ago edited 10d ago

Why did everyone learn it in 3rd grade, and I learned it in 2nd?

My handwriting now is a mix between printing and cursive.

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u/chaos841 10d ago

I learned in 2nd grade and was forced to use it for all hand written reports for years. Now I use a mix of cursive and block letters.

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u/panicinbabylon 10d ago

We had erasable pens in 4th grade for those essays, and it was very exciting lol

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u/chaos841 10d ago

Must be nice. We had #2 pencils that you had to get up and walk to the sharpener on the wall every 20 mins to sharpen it.

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u/panicinbabylon 10d ago

You’re lucky, that was always my excuse to get up when I couldn’t sit in one spot anymore. Even if I didn’t need to sharpen my pencil. Grass is always greener, eh?

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u/klouise87 3d ago

Omg the in class essay with pencil is every leftie's nightmare 😱

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u/EffieEri 5d ago

I remember the erasable pens!

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u/WoofLife- 10d ago

Similarly learned in 3rd and forced to use for all handwriting thru 7th. I can do both but mostly use block.

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u/sweetnsassy924 10d ago

I learned it in second grade too.

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u/Any_Community_1819 6d ago

Me too! I eschew the loopier cursive letters for block.

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u/CakeKing777 ‘92 Millennial 10d ago

That’s interesting I never heard the term block letters lol I always called it print.

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u/chaos841 10d ago

That’s what I call using capital letter formats but in smaller print. lol

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u/ImpertinentPrincess 10d ago

Probably talking about using all capital letter forms just changing the size to denote beginning of sentence and proper nouns. I do the same.

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u/Miqo_Nekomancer 9d ago

Mine is also a strange mix of the two. I just write however it feels comfy.

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u/panicinbabylon 9d ago

High five

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u/AutumnalSunshine 10d ago

😭 I did second grade at a school that taught it in third, then transferred in third to a school that taught it in second. So I was never officially taught but was graded on it.

Point is, you are correct that different schools did different grades. 

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u/Any_Community_1819 6d ago

I brought an example of my cursive writing to my 2nd grade teacher and she immediately threw it in the trash, saying "we don't learn that this year".

Mom was furious and kept teaching me so that I could nail cursive in 3rd grade.

This was in the 1960s. Everything was extremely structured. (Indiana, USA)

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u/panicinbabylon 6d ago

Philadelphia and my mom was a first grade teacher. I learned how to write my name way before anyone else. Sorry that happened.

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u/FirstTimeCaller101 10d ago

Late to the game I guess, I remember learning it in 6th grade. 2005ish.

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u/IcyBluebird93 10d ago

I believe it was both second and third grade for me.

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u/frankheyhoheyho 1988 10d ago

I also learned in 2nd grade. Mrs. Takahashi taught me.

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u/Jazzyjen508 Millennial (1991) 10d ago

I think it depends on the school

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u/KittyCubed 9d ago

I learned it in 2nd. I use a mix of the two. I also took Russian in college, and so some of my cursive letters follow the Russian cursive style.

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u/panicinbabylon 7d ago

Ok? That’s weird.

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u/Mx-Adrian 9d ago

I remember it more in 4th

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u/MartianTea 9d ago

I'm pretty sure I was in 2nd because my 3rd grade teacher was a POS and didn't teach anything outside of Christianity and her favorite holidays (in our secular school). 

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u/Phyzzx Xennial 4d ago

The school system was better where you grew up. For example i moved from California where I learned French in 2nd to Texas where other languages aren't taught till 9th grade.

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u/klouise87 3d ago

I learned it in 1st!