A student asked me this morning as I was walking the floo...

A student asked me this morning as I was walking the floor while they took the first exam of the semester, Was I able to read cursive? I was so startled at the question I almost responded that I can read anything from Carolingian minuscule to Old High Gallifreyan, but it was a serious question and actually very considerate (given the horrifying scribbles I sometimes get on exams), and I thanked her and said yes, I could read cursive quite well.

And yes, looking over the essays, with a couple of exceptions even the well-composed, well-thought-out ones are hand-printed rather than hand-written. No wonder they hate writing essays, and many don't take notes very well.

I recall I hated cursive as a kid - I found it difficult to read (I think the Babar the Elephant books were printed in cursive, which meant I didn't read them). I adopted it when I got into High School and needed to take notes, and became very fluent in it, the same way my arithmetic improved the summer I was a waitress. I suppose there'll come a time when everyone will be taking notes on a laptop (many do already) - (I would, if I owned a laptop). But this transitional phase must be awkward, and I'm always a bit wary of solutions that require high-tech equipment (what if you get kidnapped by Cro-Magnon and forced to go to college in the Neolithic Era?).

There are times when I suspect there is something very wrong with the way I think.