According to this article from the beginning of November, cursive is becoming a lost art form and I completely agree. When I write on the board in cursive I always have one of my students say "I can't read cursive." My friend Button (an elementary teacher) and I have had numerous discussions on the importance of cursive in the classroom and much of this discussion stemmed from reading "Matched" by Ally Condie. So I thought it was only fitting that the article be printed a week before "Crossed" released.
In "Matched" cursive writing was one of the first things "done away with" or "outlawed" because of the creativity (I assume, it's been a while since I read it). Printing very formalized and standard (unless you have some of the students I do) whereas cursive is very much an individual's creativity in letters. I remember as a child learning cursive experimenting with all of the different curves and hoops and to this day I experiment with my signature and new last name.
The article states that the controversy lies in where our time is better spent — teaching cursive (a creative art form) to students or on the more "important" core material. As an English teacher (albeit a high school teacher) I see a great importance in cursive writing. It allows students to write as an individual rather than as a human sized type writer. I think it gives the students time to think for themselves and create for themselves rather than memorize and trace what has been done for them — much like in the society of Matched.
What about art classes? If the almighty "they" think cursive is a waste of our instructional time and we are all aware that art classes have been in jeopardy for a while, what will "they" take away from us next? Art and cursive are ambiguous, creative, and completely subjective. Well, can't the same be said for poetry?
Is losing the creative art form that is cursive the first step toward a dystopian society where everything is formalized and the concept of art and poetry is lost? I don't know, it just scares me to see parts of a favorite dystopian novel coming true.