Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, one of the oldest colleges in the country, is trying to get with the times — first, with a change to its logo.
After the school was chartered in 1782, making it the first college to do so after the United States became independent, the nation’s first president, George Washington, not only gave the school permission to use his name, he also contributed 50 guinea coins toward the founding of the college and served on the Board of Visitors and Governors until he was elected president.
In 2013, Washington College introduced a new logo that used George Washington’s original signature. Now, the school is ditching the 18th-century script for a more modern typeface.
“Because cursive writing is no longer taught universally in K-12 education, the script — especially this highly stylized version — was difficult to read and not immediately recognizable for many prospective students. This was counterproductive when it came to name recognition and identity,” said Brian Speer, Washington College’s vice president for marketing and communication, in a release.
As cursive gets phased out of young people’s education, the school wanted to be more welcoming to students who may have never learned the writing style.
“The new logo features the Washington family crest. This symbol has been part of the Washington College seal as far back as the earliest visual records held in the College archives. The shield is combined with a newly designed wordmark — the college’s name — that is modern and easy to read yet carries elements of traditional typography,” said Speer.
While George Washington’s signature may not be the easiest to read, does that mean all cursive is outdated? That’s the question WTOP posed to students at George Washington University, whose school shares the same namesake.
“They taught it for like a year or two in elementary school. It was a very good school in the middle of one of the wealthiest counties in America,” said freshman Dillon Weir, of Marin County, California. “After that, they just kind of stopped teaching us cursive. I didn’t quite get why.”
Weir said they only used cursive to write their signature.
Junior Micah Rashada said he uses cursive when he takes notes in class. He was surprised that Washington College made the change and tried to make sense of it.
“I think that’s a little crazy reason to change the logo, because people can’t read cursive. Maybe it’s because they stopped teaching cursive, I wonder if that’s an issue,” said Rashada.
One person that will not give up on writing in cursive is GW freshman Moksha Karuturi.
“I think cursive is cool. I learned it in second grade. I don’t know why they would change it. I think cursive is pretty easy to read. I think it looks cool too,” she said.
She believes cursive should definitely be used for special occasions.
“I write in cursive on my friend’s birthday card just to make it look pretty,” said Karuturi. “I feel like it adds a nice touch.”
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