Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Who Said That?

"This is an issue about older people being afraid of losing something from their world."

-- Steve Graham, an education professor at Arizona State University and a nationally-recognized expert on cursive handwriting

Every day, for most of the day, she stands in the back of the kitchen and wishes happy birthdays to strangers. The head cake decorator at Wright's Gourmet House, Rosa Malpica uses frosting to congratulate couples on anniversaries and junior partners on promotions. And because she believes it looks elegant and because she loves to do it, Malpica writes in cursive — except when a customer requests print.

"I think those are when the cakes are for the children," she said one recent workday, walking into the freezer. "The children can't always read the cursive."

Like typewriters or cassette tapes, cursive still exists but its use has diminished in the digital era. Now, Florida education officials are poised to decide whether cursive handwriting should still be taught in elementary schools.

Read more at the Tampa Bay Times.