There’s an internet meme that’s been floating around for a long time that attempts to illustrate the perceived generational gap that exists between some of today’s youth and older folks.

It asks a question about how to confuse one of today’s kids.

The answer: Put them in a room with a rotary telephone and write directions on how to use it in cursive.

I suppose that’s an attempt at humor, but I find it rather sad.

Rotary phones are a thing of the past. There may be some being used somewhere, but in these days of cellphones and video calls, well, it is something we’ve moved away from.

What bothers me, though, is the second half of that meme. The part that involves cursive writing.

Many of us remember it. Many of us still use it.

It’s that style of handwriting that connects strokes to form words in a flowing manner. It’s that style of handwriting that adorns the most important documents in history. Perhaps the most famous, the Declaration of Independence, was mostly cursive. The most famous signature, that of John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental Congress, figures prominently at its end.

That signature was a statement - an example - to the other signers of his dedication to the idea of a free and independent nation.

And it’s something only he could’ve written at the time.

But in our time, cursive has been kicked to the curb in many places. Only 21 states mandate it be part of an elementary school curriculum. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania isn’t one of them.

It’s still part of elementary education in schools operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown, though I don’t know how many - if any - nuns are using rulers to stress its finer points like they did when I was in school.

Many say cursive helps kids develop motor skills, coordination and dexterity. Opponents argue that keyboarding does the same thing, in less time.

I think cursive helps people remember things. It helps kids learn the alphabet and spelling. It strengthens vocabulary. How many of us remember taking notes in a class? How many remember writing an English composition or history paper, then sitting down at a manual typewriter to prepare it for the teacher?

The remembering part works. I can attest to that from my years in the newspaper business. In my college days, though portable tape recorders were around, they were too expensive. And the instructors frowned on using them. I took notes in cursive, developing a style of shorthand of my own that helped me write stories on deadline. Playing back a recording would just slow me down.

And during my days as an adjunct professor, I wouldn’t allow tape recorders in class - even as backups - because my journalism students needed to learn how to listen and hear so they could learn to do their reporting quickly and accurately.

Students with disabilities may benefit from cursive writing. Dyslexic students, especially, might be helped since cursive letters look different from each other, possibly making them less confusing.

Nowadays, for every one of those benefits I’ve described, naysayers are ready with an answer. Their arguments are many.

Some say cursive isn’t required by standardized tests - that the time and resources it takes could be used on other more applicable modern skills.

They say cursive isn’t universal in that its style doesn’t cross over languages and cultures. Letter shapes differ from country to country. Besides, today’s keyboards can automatically translate those letters into nearly any language.

The demise of cursive writing, to me, takes away from someone’s personality. Written words can say a lot about someone. Large letters versus small, spaced out versus close, flowing versus rigid.

Words written by one’s hand are an indicator of their true feelings and mood. We want our children to learn about individuality and expression. What better way than with pen in hand?

Instead, these days they use avatars and emojis to display feelings, thoughts and moods.

I can’t quite understand how those things can accomplish that goal. Maybe it’s a generational thing.

There are several school districts in the newspaper’s circulation area, and countless teachers who’ve most probably dealt with the issue. We’d be interested in your thoughts via a letter to the editor. You can send it electronically, or in cursive, of course.

Nonetheless, I don’t believe it would be a bad thing for Pennsylvania to bring back cursive writing in its schools. In fact, if a law to that effect were in front of me and I had the power to make it happen, I’d put my John Hancock on it in a split second.

ED SOCHA/TNEDITOR@TNONLINE.COM

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 40 years experience in community journalism. Reach him at tneditor@tnonline.com.

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.