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C-  The information was posted on November 6, 2012. It has been updated as of August 2018.
R-  The information answers my question. It agrees with my claim.
A-  The publisher of the Blog is The Room 241 Team. The URL is .edu so its an education site.
A- I did not find any spelling or grammar errors in this article.
P- The purpose of this article is to persuade.

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C- The information was posted on January 6, 2018.
R- The information answers my question. It also agrees with my claim.
A- The author of the article is Iris Hatfield of New American Cursive. The URL of the site is .com so it can have some mistakes.
A-  There were no spelling/grammar errors in this.
P- The purpose of this article is to persuade,

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Developing an attractive, legible cursive handwriting style certainly has great aesthetic value, but it also has numerous mental, physical, social, and practical benefits. Here are the Top 10 reasons to learn cursive!

1. Improved neural connections. Cursive handwriting stimulates the brain in ways that typing cannot. It improves the dynamic interplay of the left and right cerebral hemispheres, helps build neural pathways, and increases mental effectiveness. According to Virginia Berninge r, a researcher and professor at the University of Washington, "Pictures of brain activity have illustrated that sequential finger movements used in handwriting activated massive regions of the brain involved in thinking, language, and working memory. Handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential finger strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding only involves touching a key."

2. Improved ability to read cursive. When individuals cannot read cursive, they are cursively illiterate in their own language. The ability to read cursive is required in many settings.

3. Increased writing speed. The connectivity of a simple cursive style is faster to write than the stop and-start strokes of printing. Speed has been shown to increase attention span during writing. This increases continuity and fluidity in writing, which in turn encourages greater amounts of writing.

4. Improved fine motor skills. "Cursive handwriting naturally develops sensory skills. Through repetition the children begin to understand how much force needs to be applied to the pencil and paper, the positioning of the pencil to paper at the correct angle, and motor planning to form each letter in fluid motion from left to right. This physical and spatial awareness allows them to write, but more importantly, builds the neural foundation of sensory skills needed for a myriad of everyday tasks such as buttoning, fastening, tying shoes, picking up objects, copying words from blackboards, and most importantly, reading." ( Cutting Cursive, The Real Cost. Candace Meyer, CEO, Minds-in-Motion, Inc.)

5. Increased retention. The act of taking notes by hand instead of on a computer encourages a student to process the content and reframe it, which leads to better understanding and retention. Studies indicate that college students remembered information better one week later when they transcribed a paragraph in cursive than when they printed it or used a keyboard.

6. Ease of learning. Printing is more difficult than cursive due to the frequent stop-and-start motion when forming letters. In addition, some printed letters look similar and are easily reversed, like the b and d, which is often confusing to children. Cursive is of particular value to children with learning challenges such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and difficulties with attention.

7. Improved legibility and spelling ability. Cursive requires children to write from left to right so that the letters will join in proper sequence and with proper spacing, making their writing easier to read. It also aids with spelling through muscle memory, as the hand acquires memory of spelling patterns through fluid movements that are used repeatedly. This is the same phenomenon that occurs when pianists learn patterns of hand movements through continued repetition.

8. Increased self-discipline. Cursive handwriting is complex, and is inherently associated with the development of fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Learning cursive prompts children to also develop self-discipline, which is a useful skill in all areas of life.

9. Higher quality signature. Cursive handwriting will improve the attractiveness, legibility, and fluidity of one's signature.

10. Increased self-respect. The ability to master the skill of writing clearly and fluidly improves the students' confidence to communicate freely with the written word. Handwriting is a vital life skill.

Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive by Iris Hatfield, author of New American Cursive

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Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive - Memoria Press

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Developing an attractive, legible cursive handwriting style certainly has great aesthetic value, but it also has numerous mental, physical, social, and practical benefits. Here are the Top 10 reasons to learn cursive! 1. Improved neural connections. Cursive handwriting stimulates the brain in ways that typing cannot.

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C- The information was posted on January 15, 2018.
R- This information provided answers my question and agrees with my side of the claim,
A- The author of the article is Iris Hatfield. The URL is .org which means that its a good site for information.
A- The article has no spelling or grammatical mistakes.
P- The purpose of this article is to inform the reader.

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You are probably aware that most schools no longer teach cursive handwriting. Why? Because computers and technology don't need it. Because it's "old world". Because it's not "21st Century".

Well we came across a list of 10 reasons why teaching cursive is GOOD. Take a read. If you agree then go to your local school and demand they return to teaching cursive. If you are persistent (and share this list) they will make the change. You are an agent of change...will you take on the task?

Why Learn Cursive?
Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive
Iris Hatfield, Handwriting Coach

Learning cursive offers an incredible array of well-documented benefits.
Below are ten reasons all children should be encouraged to learn cursive:

1. Improved neural connections in the brain. Cursive handwriting stimulates the brain in ways that typing cannot. It improves the dynamic interplay of the left and right cerebral hemispheres, helps build neural pathways, and increases mental effectiveness. According to Virginia Berninger, a researcher and professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, "Pictures of brain activity have illustrated that sequential finger movements used in handwriting activated massive regions of the brain involved in thinking, language, and working memory. Handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential finger strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding only involves touching a key."

2. Increased ability to read cursive. Learning to write in cursive improves a student's ability to read cursive. Many high school students cannot read cursive. They are cursively illiterate in their own language.

3. Increased speed. The connectivity of a simple cursive style is faster to write than the stop and start strokes of printing.

4. Improved fine motor skills. "Cursive handwriting naturally develops sensory skills. Through repetition the child begins to understand how much force needs to be applied to the pencil and paper, the positioning of the pencil to paper at the correct angle, and motor planning to form each letter in fluid motion from left to right. This physical and spatial awareness allows them to write, but more importantly, builds the neural foundation of sensory skills needed for a myriad of everyday tasks such as buttoning, fastening, tying shoes, picking up objects, copying words from blackboards, and most importantly, reading. To quote first-century Roman writer, Marcus Quintilanus, 'too slow a hand impedes the mind,' and we cannot afford to have our children be any slower." Cutting Cursive, The Real Cost. Candace Meyer, Minds-in-Motion, Inc.

5. Improved continuity and fluidity of written communication.Cursive handwriting involves connecting letters, which has been shown to increase both speed of writing and attention span during writing. This increases continuity and fluidity in writing, which in turn encourages greater amounts of writing.
6. Ease of learning. Printing is more difficult due to the frequent stop and start motion when forming letters. In addition, some printed letters look similar and are easily reversed, like the 'b' and 'd', which is often confusing to children. This is of particular value to children with learning challenges like Dyslexia and A.D.D.

7. Improves reading and spelling ability. When printing, some children write so erratically that it is difficult to determine where one word ends and another begins. Cursive, on the other hand, requires children to write from left to right so that the letters will join in proper sequence; therefore, it is easier to read. It also aids with spelling through the connectivity of the letters. This helps the child to see words as a whole instead of seeing separate letters (as in printing). Additionally, the hand acquires knowledge of spelling patterns through movements that are used repeatedly in spelling. This is the same phenomenon that occurs when pianists or typists learn patterns of hand movements through continued repetition.

8. Self-discipline. Cursive handwriting is complex, and is inherently associated with the development of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Learning cursive prompts children to also develop self-discipline, which is a useful skill in all areas of life.

9. Higher quality signature.Cursive handwriting can improve the attractiveness, legibility, and fluidity of one's signature.

10. Increased self-confidence. The ability to master the skill to write clearly and fluidly improves the student's confidence to communicate freely with the written word.

Handwriting is a vital life-skill. Before the 1940's all American children were taught cursive in the first grade.
BTW: Recent studies show that students who take handwritten notes retain information better than typing it on their computer and have higher test scores. Not bad for an "old school" skill.
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You are probably aware that most schools no longer teach cursive handwriting. Why? Because computers and technology don't need it. Because it's "old world". Because it's not "21st Century". Well we came across a list of 10 reasons why teaching cursive is GOOD. Take a read.

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C- The article was posted in August of 2015. This article was then updated on December 30, 2019
R- This article does not answer my question. This information disagrees with my claim.
A- The author of the article is Ben Stegner. The URL is .com so can possibly have mistakes.
A- I found a few mistakes in the article.
P- This article is used to inform.

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American schools are slowly phasing out cursive handwriting, which is an unambiguously good move. Cursive is an archaic form of communication-one best left to history.

Let's take a look at some common arguments for teaching cursive in schools, and why they don't hold up.

Note: In February 2015, former author Justin Pot wrote an opinion article titled Cursive Writing Is Obsolete; Schools Should Teach Programming Instead. Then, in August 2015, he wrote this follow-up article to respond to some of the most common arguments.

The article needed an update, so we've brought it up to modern standards. While the author performing the update agrees with the sentiment that cursive writing is not worth teaching in schools today, we've preserved as much of the content and tone of Justin's original article as possible.

Defining Cursive Writing

To be clear, when we talk about "cursive handwriting" we speak mostly of the Palmer Method, a simplified form of script popularized in the early 20th century. It was designed specifically with speed in mind (in part to better compete with typewriters).

This kind of writing is, in our humble opinion:

Slower than typing.

Harder to learn and read than print handwriting.

Ugly when compared to more stylized scripts.

There's literally no reason for schools to teach the Palmer Method, outside of nostalgia. While we feel that cursive should not be taught in schools, we want to respond to the other side who thinks cursive is far from pointless.

Many Made Good Arguments in the Comments

Plenty of educators agreed with some of the original premise and critiqued the finer points. We welcome these conversations.

We can concede some of the arguments for why teaching cursive writing makes sense. For example:

Feel free to disagree with us on these or other reasoned points-we invite the conversation. But what we won't invite is any variation of the following arguments, which are pretty much complete gibberish.

There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with learning cursive.
While this is true, we think teaching a beautiful, pre-Palmer script in art class is a better way for kids to get that feeling. Let's stop pretending this is a practical skill.

Being able to read old letters from relatives is extremely valuable.
Of course, but you can learn to read documents like this without spending dozens of hours learning to write an obsolete script yourself. It's still English, even if it takes a little longer to decipher.

1. Kids Will Be Cut Off From History!

A number of people claimed that not teaching cursive cuts people off from their history. The typical comment goes like this:

Some went a little bit further, submitting speculative fiction for our consideration:

Ridiculous as this might seem, there is a certain logic here. Learning to write cursive means you can also read it, meaning you can better understand documents like this:

You probably know this as the original version of the Declaration of Independence, right? Surprise: that's not what most people read at the time. Most historians agree that this engrossed copy of the declaration was signed in August of 1776, a month after the document was famously ratified on July 4th, 1776.

The first published copies of the document, known as the Dunlap broadsides, looked like this:

That's right: in July of 1776, Congress approved the original Declaration and people immediately started reading it in print. This shouldn't be surprising; the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, over three hundred years after Gutenberg's printing press.

Kids not taught cursive would have no trouble reading this. If you want to argue that Americans in July of 1776 were less connected to history than someone who read a cursive version later on, we don't know what to say to you. The fact is that printed copies of America's founding documents are widely available today, just as they were in the 1700s-in many cases before the handwritten "originals" we know today.

In addition, none of these documents were written using the hideous Palmer Method, which wasn't popularized until the early 20th century. Go ahead and dig through some old newspapers, and you'll see the difference.

One does not need to learn cursive in order to read America's founding documents. It wasn't the case in the 1700s and certainly is not now. Consider that most people alive today cannot read religious texts or other historical documents in their original languages, either.

2. When the Apocalypse Comes, We'll Need It!

Some of the silliest comments revolved around what would happen if someone took out the electrical grid, such as this one:

The obvious counters for this argument are as follows:

3. Kids Need to Have a Signature!

One subject came up again and again: everyone in today's society needs to have a signature.

This seems like a good point, but we don't think it holds up. Here are some of the reasons why:

4. Technology Is Destroying Something Real

Print handwriting works just fine without electricity.

Assuming we're going to make surviving post-apocalyptic scenarios part of the curriculum, we should probably prioritize trapping, fishing, farming, and log cabin construction over letters with loops.

A number of comments made nostalgic arguments, saying that something real is being lost in this transition. This one, left under an article on Justin Pot's personal website, represents this argument best:

We respect what this person has said, but think these arguments miss a key point. Comments like this imply that cursive handwriting is some innate part of being human, but it isn't. It's an invention.

Cursive writing is a technology.

There's nothing natural about handwriting: it's a tool that we used for a particular period of time to communicate. Today people are using it less and less because they've deemed the alternatives as better.

In a sense, that's too bad-something is lost every time a technology is replaced. The compass meant fewer people learned how to navigate using the stars, while GPS has resulted in fewer people knowing how to use a compass.

But this doesn't mean we should give up on the GPS, or teach everyone how to navigate by the stars. Some people will pursue this knowledge for fun, or because it's been passed down by their family, but mandating everyone learns it just isn't realistic.

The fact that people use cursive writing less often today isn't because schools have stopped teaching it. The opposite is true: schools aren't teaching cursive because students don't use that skill later in life. Many haven't been for decades.

Ours isn't the activist argument. The other side wants to keep something irrelevant in the school systems out of nostalgia, while that time could be used for teaching something productive. We're not the one who needs to leave well enough alone.

But hey, maybe we're just lazy and uncoordinated.

Better Uses of Time Than Teaching Cursive Writing

We close with a few ideas on what students could learn that's a more productive use of time than antiquated cursive writing. While some schools may teach the following, they're not as ingrained in the schooling system as cursive writing has been:

Should Cursive Still Be Taught in Schools?

Progress takes place over centuries, meaning something that seems like part of the natural order when you're a kid was alien to prior generations.

The Palmer Method was harshly criticized and resisted in its early days, but its speed meant it ultimately won out over better-looking scripts. Over one hundred years later, this method is on the way out, because the alternatives are better.

Making predictions about technology is impossible, but so is trying to prevent an obsolete technology from sticking around. And that's exactly what anyone trying to keep cursive handwriting in the school curriculum is trying to do. Why dedicate so much time to something most people barely use anymore? You'd be hard-pressed to find a job interviewer who finds handwriting at all relevant.

But this, of course, is our opinion. We'd like to hear yours too. And if this has inspired a drive to return to cursive for you, check out the best resources to improve your handwriting How to Improve Your Handwriting: 8 Resources for Better Penmanship Believe it or not, legible handwriting is still important today. Start practicing your handwriting today! Read More .

Affiliate Disclosure: By buying the products we recommend, you help keep the site alive. Read more.

Computer programming. The ubiquitous nature of computers today means that learning a bit about how to program them is extremely useful. Learning to code also teaches logical thinking.

Civics. A 2019 study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 22% of sampled Americans cannot name a single branch of the government. This is, frankly, pathetic-any country would do well to educate its citizens on how the government actually works.

Personal finance. Many kids graduate from school not understanding basic financial principles, like how interest rates work or how to save for retirement. WalletHub found that some 10 percent of people think it's worth going into debt for a new iPhone. Surely learning to manage money, which is something you use every day, is more important than writing letters in a certain style.

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The 4 Worst Arguments for Teaching Cursive in Schools

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American schools are slowly phasing out cursive handwriting, which is an unambiguously good move. Cursive is an archaic form of communication-one best left to history. Let's take a look at some common arguments for teaching cursive in schools, and why they don't hold up.

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C- This was posted on February 20, 2017.
R- This article is supporting my claim and answers my question.
A- The author of this article is Bethany Mandel. The URL to this article is .com and is a new york post.
A- I did not find any grammar and spelling issues.
P- The purpose of this article is to inform

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When Jack Lew was nominated to be Treasury secretary in 2013, President Barack Obama joked that as a condition of the appointment, Lew would have to learn to sign his name more legibly. The secretary's signature, after all, was going to appear on US currency.

Lew, a New Yorker, was a city public-school student. And now the school system that produced him is hoping to iron out that particular wrinkle for any future potential Treasury secretary: New York is bringing back cursive instruction.

Thanks to our education system, few Americans are learning cursive, and thus, are unable to legibly sign their own names. As the federal government has become more involved in the day-to-day workings of the American classroom, a focus on test prep has become teachers' main objective. That means useful skills that fall outside the testing pattern often are neglected.

Which is what makes a decision last week from the New York City Department of Education so refreshing. When federal education standards called Common Core were adopted by the city, penmanship classes were dropped. But the current instructional handbook includes a manual for teaching cursive, and according to NBC4, many schools have already begun to implement cursive instruction.

They should be cheered for it - even if they don't grasp just why it's so important.

In a statement last week, Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island assemblywoman who pushed for the change, said the reason to add cursive was so that students would "know how to write a signature of their own to identify themselves, and have the ability to sign a legal document, check or voter-registration form."

But this policy change is actually more beneficial for the students than school officials appear to realize. Learning how to write cursive isn't just useful for its own sake - as valuable as it is to be able to sign one's own name.

As the city Department of Education rightly pointed out, "evidence reveals an advantage for handwriting using pen and paper over keyboarding for students in grades 2 to 6 for amount written, rate of word writing, and number of ideas expressed."

In other words: Kids were better at processing information when doing so by handwriting as opposed to typing.

In addition, scientific research (and common sense) indicates learning how to write cursive helps the development of motor skills. Writing for Psychology Today, Dr. William Klemm explains, "The benefits to brain development are similar to what you get with learning to play a musical instrument."

These benefits apply to writing more generally and cursive specifically, according to Klemm.

That's because in "cursive writing, compared to printing . . . the movement tasks are more demanding, the letters are less stereotypical and the visual-recognition requirements create a broader repertoire of letter representation."

Yes, kids could use a computer and type more legibly than they can write. But the end product is just as important as the lesson itself. Test prep and academic pressure are increasingly crowding out previously essential classes like music, art and physical education. Recess has been shortened considerably for children compared to their parents' generation, as has instruction in subjects not considered "core curriculum."

There's a larger point here: Cursive writing is far from an exception. Teachers and school administrators have learned both through studies and their own experience that, for example, the erosion of recess time has negative effects on student behavior and performance, never mind happiness. Activities tossed overboard for their perceived frivolity turned out to have a point.

Reverting to older methods of education isn't the "hipsterization" of the classroom. Instead, it's educators merely casting off prior poorly researched and executed trends in education.

The New York City Department of Education might have taken only a small step in that reversion with its decision to restart cursive instruction, but parents should cheer it nonetheless. Perhaps it's the beginning of a curriculum counterrevolution that will restore a sense of balance to children's education.

And if not, well - at least future Treasury secretaries from New York will be able to sign our currency with pride.
Bethany Mandel, a stay-at-home mom, is a senior contributor to The Federalist.

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Why we should teach cursive writing to all kids

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When Jack Lew was nominated to be Treasury secretary in 2013, President Barack Obama joked that as a condition of the appointment, Lew would have to learn to sign his name more legibly. The secretary's signature, after all, was going to appear on US currency. Lew, a New Yorker, was a city public-school student.

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American Cursive Handwriting | For Beginners

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Should cursive writing be taught in our schools?