Wednesday, December 06, 2006

You have to write in cursive to go to grad school

Did you know that? I was shocked. I pretty much abandoned cursive after high school. I found I could write as fast and probably much more legibly if I just printed. The only thing I write in cursive is my signature, which - if you've seen it - proves the legibility part of my reasoning.

So I went to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test last night in Fairfax, and when I showed up they gave me a clipboard with a carbon copy form on it. It asked me to "Write, DO NOT PRINT, the following statement in the space provided."

The statement was something about me really being me, or agreeing not to cheat, or something. I don't actually know what it said. I was so flustered that I had to write in cursive for the first time in over a decade, it took all my concentration to focus on each word and try to remember how to form letters like "k" and "b" and to get the right number of humps on "n" and "m." I couldn't figure out how to do a capital "I," so I printed the first one. The others ended up looking like lowercase f's. I think it took me 5 minutes to copy three sentences. Who knew checking in would be the hardest part of the test?

So what's the logic here? Does success in grad school have something to do with knowing how to write in cursive? Or do they just think people who print an oath are more likely to break it than people who write it in longhand?

Labels:

4 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

They are requiring cursive for easier handwriting comparison in case your amazing test scores come into question. If the whole GRE were to write a capital Q in cursive, I definitely fail that test.

2:19 PM  
Blogger Joshua said...

Oh, wow. It's a good thing there were no capital Q's! That's going to bug me for weeks! I can't even vaguely recall what a Q looks like in cursive! Oh, wait, I guess I could Google it.

2:29 PM  
Blogger Joshua said...

Of course! Capital Q looks like a 2. How could I forget?
http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/animCrsvCap/Q%20crsvcapAn.html

Bonus Capital I: http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/animCrsvCap/I%20CrsvCapAn.html

2:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that was too funny, man

i don't think they'll hold it against you (not be able to write cursive)

see you next month, dude

joey, jeena, and alyssa

www.xanga.com/joeyjeenaalyssa

8:41 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home