Cursive writing no longer important skill in digital age

TUJUNGA, Calif. (KABC) -- In the digital age, cursive handwriting is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

It's a battle being waged in school districts across the country, where lessons in computer skills are displacing lessons in cursive writing.

"I haven't written in cursive in a very long time. I wrote it in third grade. They didn't require it that much," student Shann Hannadige said.

In fact, when a Tujunga high school computer teacher told his students to write their next assignment in cursive, many of them had to search the Internet for examples.

Ed Trimis is the principal at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga. He said cursive may be one of those skills kids have to learn outside of the classroom, and that schools are now laser-focused on preparing students for the working world.

"When you go to college, when you get your job - you have to know technology. You have to be a thinker. You have to be able to problem solve. Do you have to handwrite? You could probably get by without," Trimis said.

But focusing on technology and not writing skills comes with a cost, and some people are finding out a lack of cursive skills can throw them for a loop.

Josh Boland is a sales manager at Logix Federal Credit Union where signatures are important. But he said a lack of a cursive signature is not a deal breaker.

"A signature can be in cursive writing or it can also be by making your mark. Simply a dot or an X and it can be captured electronically," Boland said.

That doesn't sound good for the future of cursive handwriting, and it is another sign of the decline in interest to teach it.