The Cursive Curse

(I am in the second grade, age seven to eight or so, during the mid-seventies. Over the summer my mother, has taught me how to write cursive. I have an older brother, so she knew that later on that year we’d be learning it, so I guess she figured she’d give me a head start. In class I am taking notes. The teacher comes to my desk, sees what I am doing, and tears that page out of my notebook!)

Me: “Why did you do that?”

Teacher: “I haven’t taught that yet!”

(She made me take my notes in print until SHE taught us cursive later in the year.)