The Dying Art of Penmanship

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"Do you think that you could teach me how to write cursive?"
I responded, "Are you kidding?"
"No," he answered, "We were never taught how to do that in school. We were only taught how to print."
"How do you answer essay questions on tests or take notes in class?" I cried.
"I print. It is hard to print quickly compared to writing. My writing is awful. I can just about read it myself," he answered.
I sat down with this poor writing-neglected student, and made templates of perfectly formed small and capital letters in my best Spencerian Script. I was a student of both the Palmer and Rinehart Methods of penmanship back in the early 1950's when handwriting was still a prized part of the curriculum. Outside writing specialists even came to the school every few weeks to check up on us and our advancement as penmen.
Within two and a half hours, my young friend was writing away in a decent and legible hand. At first he wrote in a labored way, but after a while, his writing became more fluid. "With some practice, I can pick up some speed and I can actually tell what I'm writing! This beats the hell out of trying to print fast."