Receptionist Asks Gen X Patient Who Filled Out Paperwork In Cursive To Redo It Because She 'Never Learned That Kind Of English'
The Gen Xer was shocked to discover that cursive is no longer taught in most American schools.
Antonio Guillem | Shutterstock Cursive seems to be becoming a lost art amongst young people who spend far more time typing on their phones and computers than taking pen to paper. One Gen X woman came to this realization at the doctor's office when a young receptionist was unable to read her cursive writing.
The receptionist asked the Gen X patient to redo her paperwork because she never learned how to read cursive.
In her Reddit post, the Gen Xer explained that while at the doctor's office, she filled out paperwork in cursive. "My printing is chicken scratch," she admitted, "but my cursive is good, so that's mostly what I use. Most of my forms have been online for the last 10 years."
Kaboompics.com | Pexels
She then returned her paperwork to the counter, sat down, and waited to be called. When she finally was, it wasn't because the doctor was ready to see her, but because the receptionist couldn't read her cursive writing. In fact, she couldn't even tell it was English!
"I tell her it's English in cursive and she says, 'Oohkaaay, I never learned that kind of English, but I've heard of it, I think they stopped teaching it in the early 2000s, so you'll have to redo the paperwork,'" the Redditor recounted. Shocked by this encounter, the Gen Xer politely declined.
Thankfully, her doctor, who was older than her, could read and understand her cursive handwriting. However, this unexpected encounter stuck with her.
Many Gen Zers do not know how to read or write cursive.
According to The Washington Post, although cursive writing was once a major part of the American public school system, "for many students, cursive is becoming as foreign as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics." Back in 2010, Common Core standards began omitting cursive instruction, which means many Gen Zers have not been taught about that writing form.
"Cursive writing is a traditional skill that has been replaced with technology," Michael Hairston, president of the Fairfax Education Association, told The Washington Post. "Educators are having to make choices about what they teach with a limited amount of time and little or no flexibility. Much of their instructional time is consumed with teaching to a standardized test."
While cursive may seem unnecessary nowadays, this also means that many Gen Zers, especially younger ones, will miss out on large parts of historical facts, as a lot of archival work is often written in shorthand or cursive. Some research has also found that cursive writing has cognitive benefits and aids in literacy.
Some schools, while in the minority, still teach cursive.
A few schools in Washington, D.C., both public and charter, offer cursive in their curriculum. The Virginia Department of Education mandates that third-graders should be able to read and write legibly in cursive. For other schools, it's mostly up to teachers if they want to include cursive in their lesson plans, but it isn't required for them to do so.
It's certainly a shame that young children are missing out on learning cursive, a skill that can help connect them to the past. Among all of the other problems that students are facing in public schools, including a literacy crisis, this is just one more thing that proves how much of a gap there is, not only between generations, but also when it comes to education as a whole.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
