Scripting a New Rosetta Stone

I know I’m a little behind in the news, but what??  The Common Core State Standards for English no longer requires schools to teach cursive...and at least 41 states are going along with this.  This isn’t where I read about it, but here’s a link to the release at abc News.

Are we witnessing the extinction of a written language before our very eyes?  How many grand-kids will need their parents to read them handwritten letters from their grandparents because they’ve never seen cursive?  Okay, I see the flaw in my logic there already.  Who the hell writes letters anymore?  And yeah...even though I know cursive, I couldn’t read my grandmother’s handwriting half the time anyway... 

Still, it’s a valid point.

Core standards exist for a reason and yet they don’t mean diddly-squat.  Roughly three years separate each of my siblings and me, but we were all taught different English standards.  Is there one period after a sentence or two?  (Two.)  Do you include that last comma before the ‘and’ in a list?  (YES - I hate, hate, hate when that comma is exluded!  It doesn't make any sense.  None at all.)  And there are generations before me who were taught to put commas EVERYWHERE (please don't - much like when drinking, use commas with discretion).  Writing and grammar are so confusing now because changes to the core standards created an inconsistent environment where some people use one set of rules, others use a different set, and others suit the set to their own standard.

I get that things change.  Our world is evolving.  History and science are constantly in flux as we learn new things, and the definition of planets change so those of us who grew up in adoration of Pluto are left feeling deflated now...but this is English.  It is our language.  It is how we communicate.  How can the rules differ so vastly so quickly?

Personally, I think cursive should be taught.  We will have a split society in which some people have this secret, almost clandestine style of writing, while the rest can type a million mph with their thumbs.  Oh, and those of us who can script...we can also type  a million mph with our thumbs because...HELLO...technology made its huge roaring entrance in the 90s.  Ug.  I swear, it makes me want to snag a quill and an ink well, and throw my pc and stupid smart phone out the window.