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Currency- The information was published in 2022 and last updated in 2022.
Relavance- Yes, the information supports my claim because it gives reasons why cursive should be taught to students.
Authority- The author is Resilient Educator. They have a team of professionals who do research for the articles they write.
Accuracy- The info is factual and verified, there are links to sources in the article.
Purpose- The purpose of the article is to inform people about the importance of cursive.

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5 Reasons Cursive Writing Should be Taught in School | Resilient Educator

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While many school districts teach keyboard skills instead of cursive writing, there are still many reasons students should learn cursive writing.

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Currency- Published in January 2021. Last updated in January 21, 2021
Relavance-The info does answer my question. It supports my claim by giving reasons why cursive should and shouldn't be taught in school.
Authority- The article was written by TIME for kids. TIME for kids is an extension of TIME magazine.
Accuracy- The article has facts that are verified by the Texas board of education.
Purpose- The purpose of the article is to inform.

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Even in the age of computer keyboards, the ability to write neatly on paper is an important skill. Children are taught to print their letters, or write each one separately. That writing looks like what you're reading right now. But what about cursive writing?

Many schools no longer teach cursive. Some people think it's a dated form of writing and that school hours are better spent on other subjects. Others say learning to write in cursive is still useful. In 2019, the Texas state board of education reintroduced cursive as an essential skill.

Should cursive be taught in schools? We asked TIME for Kids readers to share their thoughts. Here's what four of them had to say.

Yes

COURTESY PADDY IVENGAR
Jayita Iyengar, 12 East Rutherford, New Jersey
Putting pen to paper has benefits that typing can't replace. Research shows that learning to write by hand is a key to good spelling and composition skills. Plus, cursive writing could be considered an art form all on its own. It's one way for students to develop the side of their brain that isn't developed by basic reading and writing skills.

No

COURTESY DENISE DELGADO-KERMAN
Keith N. Kerman, 10 Pelham, New York
Cursive shouldn't be taught in schools anymore. It's hard to do, and it's a waste of time. The letters are so complicated and fancy that practically nobody's able to do it accurately. And with all of this technology around nowadays, such as computers and phones, why should cursive still exist? Besides, who cares about cursive?

Yes

COURTESY VICKY NING
Justin Lining, 9 Bellevue, Washington
Cursive writing looks more glamorous than printing. Its letter formation has extraordinary curves and arches. Some parts are wide, while some parts are narrow. That will naturally appeal to people's eyes and impress people. You can write in cursive faster because you connect the words. Your pen doesn't pause. Cursive can let your thoughts flow.

No

COURTESY PRADEEP SEETHRAM
Spriha Pradeep, 10 Fremont, California
Learning cursive can take away time from subjects we use every day. Typing is increasingly important. Cursive writing is slower, harder to read, and harder to learn. Due to technology, cursive has become insignificant. We hardly use handwriting. There's no reason to teach students a skill that they won't use and will most likely forget.
The Next Debate! Should people be rewarded for recycling? Email your opinion to tfkeditors@time.com by March 8, 2021. Your response might be featured in an upcoming issue.

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Even in the age of computer keyboards, the ability to write neatly on paper is an important skill. Children are taught to print their letters, or write each one separately. That writing looks like what you're reading right now. But...

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Currency- Published 2020. Updated April 5, 2020
Relevance- The info does answer my question. It supports my claim because it gives reasons to why cursive should still be taught
Authority- The author is Alex Frost. She is a freelance writer and journalism teacher
Accuracy-The facts are verified by history.com
Purpose- The purpose is to inform about cursive writing.

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A variety of educators and politicians across the country are pushing back against the death of cursive, resurrecting the rite of passage. Here's why.

Ask anyone who completed third grade in the 1980s or earlier and chances are they will have a memory of trying to get that capital G loopy enough or have a favorite letter to swoop and scrawl. Then a generation of Americans skipped this rite of passage as teaching cursive writing was phased out of the curriculum, making it one of 9 school subjects that you took that your kids won't, at least for now.

Where cursive came from: A brief history

The concept of cursive dates all the way back to the 5th century when the ancient Romans developed something that "flowed like modern cursive," according to History.com. Centuries later it became expected that men and women use different handwriting from each other, as well as people from different classes. Various professions had their own signature style of handwriting as well.

Two methods prevailed in America. In the 19th century, it was the Spencerian method (the original Coca Cola logo is an example) and then the D'Nealian script starting in the 1970s.

The decline of handwriting began in the 1980s as computers and their associated keyboards became commonplace and learning to type took precedence over beautiful handwriting.

Where did all of the cursive go?

A decade ago, during the surge of Common Core State Standards' popularity, cursive writing took a backseat and was eliminated from most curricula across the United States. (Common Core is a set of educational standards established by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in 2009. They are followed by 41 states.) "The Common Core standards seemed to spell the end of the writing style in 2010 when they dropped requirements that the skill be taught in public elementary schools," reported a 2019 article in the New York Times. Common Core demands a sufficient grasp of keyboarding skills by the fourth grade and doesn't have any specific cursive writing requirements; this initiated the shift away from cursive.

Can cursive work with Common Core?

iofoto/Shutterstock

While it's true that the Common Core standards do not specifically list cursive writing as a required testable skill, some, including Todd Misura, a former fourth-grade teacher and occupational therapist with Learning Without Tears, believe that learning cursive complements the standards. "Cursive handwriting supports students' efforts in areas the Common Core Standards measure, including written expression and critical thinking," he tells Reader's Digest.

Benefits of cursive education in elementary schools

Learning to write cursive has many benefits, that handwriting in print does not, notes Misura. "Cursive is faster and more efficient than printing and offers students a life skill that is valuable for brain development, note-taking, and test-taking and is valued in many careers," he says. "Learning cursive builds upon the strong motor and cognitive skills established with printing mastery."

The link between cursive and reading

That extends to reading, and Misura points to reading specialists he has worked with who believe the use of cursive helps writers visually "chunk" spelling patterns. "For example, the -ing, -eigh, -ough endings in words become a visual pattern that our amazing brains can instantly recall to assist writers when quickly responding. The physical act of forming the letters helps cursive writers cement these spelling patterns in a way writing in print doesn't." Indeed, various studies have shown a positive association between writing by hand and reading fluency.

Cursive and test-taking

One of the key arguments against cursive is that it doesn't align with mandatory testing students are required to pass to move through grades and ultimately to graduate high school. However, Misura feels that the opposite is true, as the College Board found that students who wrote in cursive scored slightly higher than those who printed on the handwritten section of the SAT the first year that they added this section, according to an interview with a test developer that appeared in the New York Times. Aside from testing, research shows that writing by hand, in general, can make you smarter and help your recall even more.

The problem of not reading and writing cursive

In addition to the benefits of learning cursive, students who don't know cursive can hit a few roadblocks. One of the main areas of concern is that they can't read primary source documents (such as the original Constitution, written in cursive) or teacher/adult handwriting. Many also worry that these children won't be able to "sign" their name in an official capacity. While this may be true, there are no state or federal laws that mandate a signature must be in cursive; print signatures are acceptable.

States that are bringing cursive back

With the above in mind, 18 states now require cursive be taught in some way; there is a particularly high resurgence in the South, most recently in Texas.

The case against cursive

While no one is arguing that teaching cursive is a bad thing, some are resistant to its reintroduction because there is a concern about where it would fit in the curriculum. "There are a finite number of instructional hours in the school day," says Goldie Grossman, PhD, the director of educational development and product safety at Fun and Function and a former assistant principal. "In recent years, we've been devoting more classroom time to social and emotional learning, coding, financial literacy, and free play. Which of those should we take away to teach cursive?"

Learning cursive outside of school

If you live outside of one of the 18 states that require cursive, you still have options for learning the skill. Some students are taking matters into their own hands, and reviving cursive as an art form through clubs, competitions and free time. The New York Times reported on a 10-year-old who won a national competition for his cursive writing, after being self-taught from a workbook rather than at school. Other students have found outlets for their interest in beautiful handwriting of all kinds by joining or creating a school calligraphy club. The takeaway? Computers may be the wave of the future, but cursive doesn't seem to be-and shouldn't be-going away anytime soon. Next, read on to discover what your handwriting reveals about you.

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Should Schools Bring Back Cursive Handwriting?

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A variety of educators and politicians across the country are pushing back against the death of cursive, resurrecting the rite of passage. Here's why.

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Currency- Published in 2017. Last updated March 10, 2017
Relevance- The info answers my question and supports my claim by giving backed up information to inform the reader about cursive writing.
Authority-  The author is Tom Berger, who was a former high school and college teacher.
Accuracy- The info is factual and there are many links to trusted sources.
Purpose- The purpose of the article is to inform

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Should cursive writing still be taught in our schools? The old debate is back with a vengeance as schools shift resources from the intricate, painstakingly rendered script to keyboard skills.

The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 42 states and the District of Columbia, call for handwriting instruction in kindergarten and first grade only, and teaching in keyboard skills after that. The standards don't mention cursive. But 14 states require cursive instruction, and the skill inspires fierce loyalty, with some going so far as to argue that the founding fathers would disapprove of our abandonment of the script-students must learn cursive in order to decipher the intent of the original Constitution, for example-and others suggesting that our very identities are compromised when we can't create identifiable signatures.

That bill was signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley, undoubtedly in a flourish of cursive, and went into effect in May 2016. But it was just one salvo in an old battle that is picking up a new head of steam. In the fall, for example, New York City's public schools-"the country's largest school district, with 1.1 million students-encouraged teaching cursive to elementary school students." And media outlets from The Economist and PBS NewsHour to The Huffington Post continue to write about the revival of cursive, as parents, teachers, and researchers have publicly-and volubly-questioned the wisdom of killing it off.

Cursive was historically associated with good character and virtue-it was widely taught in the 19th century as " a Christian ideal... occasionally credited with disciplining the mind." But that was the high point, and the use of cursive declined throughout the 20th century as people shifted to typewriters -the first mass-market typewriter was the Signet, produced in the 1930s by Royal-and then to rudimentary computers and now, of course, to powerful smartphones.

Instruction in cursive has been declining since the 1970s, and many teacher education programs don't address handwriting instruction, thereby isolating the skill from its most natural advocates. But removing cursive from school curricula is part of an ongoing evolution, according to Anne Trubek, author of the 2016 book The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting. New modes of communication and sense making have come and gone, she says, and "proclaiming the virtuousness of one way of forming a 'j' over others is a trope that occurs throughout handwriting's history."

Is it all just nostalgia, then? Are parents and teachers who are caught up in the controversy merely reliving old glories and trying to resurrect a useless relic? Is the battle over the future of cursive, in other words, really all about the past?

Proponents of the script clearly don't think so. In the case of cursive-and more broadly, handwriting in general-there's plenty of evidence of cognitive and academic benefits. Brain scans reveal neural circuitry lighting up when young children first print letters and then read them. The same effect is not apparent when the letters are typed or traced. Intriguingly, according to reporting in The New York Times, "block printing, cursive, and typing each elicit distinctive neurological patterns," implying a deep, underlying sensitivity in the brain to even minor changes in the way letters are rendered on the page. When reading and writing, we appear to be hardwired for versatility.

I think your cursive writing identifies you as much as your physical features do.

Virginia Berninger, a psychologist at the University of Washington, confirms that point, arguing that it's not a case of either/or-there are good reasons to teach handwriting, cursive, and keyboard skills. " In one recent study, she and her coauthors reported that cursive in particular had measurable positive effects on older children's spelling and composition skills"-because cursive is faster than print (though the speed argument is itself a disputed point). And there is some evidence that cursive helps students with dyslexia learn to read and write because it "integrates hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and other brain and memory functions." Other studies broaden the benefits to handwriting generally while suggesting limitations to computer-based literacy, concluding that "teaching handwriting improves students' composition, reading comprehension, brain function, and motor skills," and that students who take notes by hand instead of on a laptop process the information better.

If these findings are accurate, they form a powerful argument for continuing to teach handwriting, though not necessarily cursive. But digital technology has clearly emerged as a powerful democratizing force, knocking down barriers to access for students with special needs. If some studies show that cursive helps dyslexic students learn to read, for example, others-like a study from the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity-conclude that students with dyslexia will be " big winners" from a switch to keyboarding because that skill helps them improve on the volume of words used, written clarity, spelling, and editing. And there's another benefit, according to Steve Graham, an education professor who has studied writing instruction for three decades: When "teachers rate multiple versions of the same paper differing only in terms of legibility, they assign higher grades to neatly written versions of the paper." Keyboards render that deeply unfair bias moot.

The continued pace of technological change doesn't bode well for the future of handwriting-the assault on all forms of manual writing is likely to continue. Artificial intelligence and language recognition are rapidly growing fields, putting powerful, marvelously simple communication tools in the hands of millions of consumers. But given all of the compelling research on handwriting, and the deep cultural and historical meaning of the practice, we should ask whether the Common Core has abandoned the teaching of handwriting and cursive too hastily. As Anne Trubek notes in her book, "We will lose something as we print and write in cursive less and less, but loss is inevitable." So the question remains: What precisely are we losing-and what is it worth?

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What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive

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Technology is gradually replacing cursive instruction-but have we taken stock of what we're losing?

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Currency- It was posted in 2013 and last updated April 4, 2013
Relevance- The article supports my claim and is relevant to the topic
Authority-  The author is T. Rees Shapiro. He was a reporter for The Washington Post
Accuracy- The article is factual, there are quotes from the Fairfax Education Association and info from the Virginia Department of Education.
Purpose- The purpose of the article is to inform.

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The curlicue letters of cursive handwriting, once considered a mainstay of American elementary education, have been slowly disappearing from classrooms for years. Now, with most states adopting new national standards that don't require such instruction, cursive could soon be eliminated from most public schools.

For many students, cursive is becoming as foreign as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. In college lecture halls, more students take notes on laptops and tablet computers than with pens and notepads. Responding to handwritten letters from grandparents in cursive is no longer necessary as they, too, learn how to use email, Facebook and Skype.

And educators, seeking to prepare students for a successful future in which computer and typing skills have usurped penmanship, are finding cursive's relevance waning, especially with leaner school budgets and curricula packed with standardized testing prep. So they're opting not to teach it anymore.

"It's seeing the writing on the wall," said Patricia Granada, principal at Eagle View elementary in Fairfax County. "Cursive is increasingly becoming obsolete."

Michael Hairston, president of the Fairfax Education Association, the largest teachers union in the county, called cursive "a dying art."

"Cursive writing is a traditional skill that has been replaced with technology," Hairston said. "Educators are having to make choices about what they teach with a limited amount of time and little or no flexibility. Much of their instructional time is consumed with teaching to a standardized test."

Since 2010, 45 states - including Maryland - and the District have adopted the Common Core standards, which do not require cursive instruction but leave it up to the individual states and districts to decide whether they want to teach it. A report the same year by the Miami-Dade public school system found that cursive instruction has been slowly declining nationwide since the 1970s.

"The Common Core State Standards allow communities and teachers to make decisions at the local level about to teach reading and writing . . . so they can teach cursive if they think it's what their students need," said Kate Dando, a spokeswoman for the Council of Chief State School Officers, which promotes the Common Core. "The standards define the learning targets that need to be met to ensure students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and careers. . . . The decision to include cursive when teaching writing is left to states, districts, schools and teachers."

A few D.C. traditional public and charter schools offer cursive; most others don't. In Montgomery County, cursive is part of the curriculum, school officials said, but in most cases, it is up to educators to make the time to teach it.

The Virginia Department of Education mandates that third-graders should be able to read and write legibly in cursive. Although cursive is technically part of the curriculum in Fairfax County, the reality is that it's not widely taught, teachers said.

Proponents of cursive say that many of the country's historical documents were written in the fancy script, including the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They say that future historians who lack the ability to read cursive might not be able to study original historical documents.

Steve Graham, an education professor at Arizona State University and one of the top U.S. experts on handwriting instruction, said he has heard every argument for and against cursive.

"I have to tell you, I can't remember the last time I read the Constitution," Graham said. "The truth is that cursive writing is pretty much gone, except in the adult world for people in their 60s and 70s."

He said that today's teachers value typing more than handwriting, and that by the 12th grade, about half of all papers are composed with computer word processing.

"When you think about the world in the 1950s, everything was by hand. Paper and pencil," Graham said. "Right now, it's a hybrid world."

Graham said the argument for keeping cursive around centers more on tradition than practicality.

"What I typically hear for keeping cursive is how nice it is when you receive a beautifully cursive-written letter. It's like a work of art," Graham said. "It's pretty, but is that a reason for keeping something, given that we do less and less of those kinds of cards anymore?"

Deborah Spear, an academic therapist based in Great Falls, said cursive writing is an integral part of her work with students who have dyslexia. Because all letters in cursive start on a base line, and because the pen moves fluidly from left to right, cursive is easier to learn for dyslexic students who have trouble forming words correctly.

"You will find people who say, 'Why teach cursive anymore because we have keyboarding,'" said Spear, who taught special education in Fairfax County before starting her own business in 2009. "They'll say, 'Who cares if my kid can read Grandma's letters when Grandma is beginning to Skype anyway.' Yes, needing to read cursive is greatly diminishing in our society, but it's still very applicable as an instructional tool."

Several states have tried to resurrect cursive. California, Georgia and Massachusetts all have laws mandating cursive instruction, and last month, legislators in Idaho passed a bill instructing the state Board of Education to include cursive in the curriculum.

Some experts contend that nice handwriting can lead to better grades in school. Laura Dinehart, an education professor at Florida International University, recently conducted a study that found that children with neater handwriting developed better reading and math skills than their chicken-scratch peers.

According to a 2006 College Board report, SAT essays written in cursive received a slightly higher score than those with block print. But only 15 percent of the essays were written in cursive.

At Broad Acres Elementary in Silver Spring, students receive minimal cursive instruction, reading specialist Liz Fasulo said. The children spend more time learning to read it than write it.

"We don't want them to be boxed out of it," Fasulo said.

At St. Francis International School, which is across the street from Broad Acres, cursive receives more prominence.

"Cursive is traditionally a very Catholic school subject," Principal Tobias Harkleroad said, noting that penmanship is rated on students' report cards through eighth grade.

On a recent morning, children hunched over dry-erase boards and traced curlicue letters with colored marker during a morning cursive lesson in Harolyn Slaughter's fourth-grade classroom at St. Francis.

Jude Muraya, 9, said he had the most trouble with the lowercase "f."

"It's got a lot of loops," Muraya said. "It's the hardest."

The children practiced the lowercase "q." Slaughter told them: "Start at the top. Make a 'c.' Bring it around. Up. Bring it down. U-turn and walk it out."

Carter Rodia, 10, had neat loops and curls on his board.

"I like doing it," Rodia said. "It's cool and fancy. It's faster because you write all the letters together."

Slaughter, who attended Catholic schools as a child, played a cursive rap song on a boombox while the students continued to practice.

"If you're going to be a famous soccer player, you need a signature for autographs," she told the children.

Harkleroad said cursive and neat handwriting have played a crucial role in the preservation of history. For centuries, Harkleroad said, monks in monasteries cared for fragile books and labored making copies of the manuscripts by hand.

"It's for their benefit to be able to write well," Harkleroad said. "It's tempting to cut it, but no one has given me a compelling reason for why it's worthless to teach cursive."

Graham, the Arizona State professor, said that for classroom educators, the cost for teaching cursive is precious time.

"The question is why teach two forms of writing when one will do the trick?" Graham said. "Something's gotta give. Cursive handwriting is under pressure."

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Cursive handwriting is disappearing from public schools

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The curlicue letters of cursive handwriting, once considered a mainstay of American elementary education, have been slowly disappearing from classrooms for years. Now, with most states adopting new national standards that don't require such instruction, cursive could soon be eliminated from most public schools. For many students, cursive is becoming as foreign as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.