#110 Penmanship

Last night we went to the dollar theater to see Freaky Friday, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. It really was a cute movie, very well acted, with only the wooden performance by Mark Harmon spoiling it. But then, maybe he was supposed to be that way and is really a fun guy who had to tone it down?

In one scene, Annabell the daughter (in the body of her mother) goes to a parent teacher conference and gets to read an essay her brother Harry (played by Ryan Malgarini) has written about her--expressing his love and admiration. (They had been squabbling throughout the movie.) The essay is in cursive writing (the audience gets to read it, too).

However, I've been told that cursive is no longer taught in public schools. Recently a senior in high school filled out a form for an art show, and I had to ask her about the word, "Paradize." She spelled it aloud for me, correctly, when I asked. I think she didn't know the difference between a "z" and an "s" in writing but is very bright. Probably only uses a computer. So I asked her if writing was taught in school, and she turned up her nose--"we never use it."

This private school in Houston is proud of teaching first graders cursive. Perhaps the boy in Freaky Friday went to private school.
Kimberly at Number 2 Pencil had these comments on "fancy writing."