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Should schools be required to teach cursive handwriting?

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Why some schools still insist on lessons in elegant cursive

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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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By Nancy Bailey

Cursive writing is important for many reasons, and its loss in America's classrooms should raise concerns. Cursive not only differs from print in the way it looks, it connects letters to words in a meaningful and productive way. It has been shown to assist children with reading difficulties like dyslexia.

All students benefit by learning how to write in cursive. Scientific American reported on a study which found that students who write notes in cursive during lectures remember much more than if they use their laptop. If students never learn longhand (cursive) it might impede their learning. Print is cumbersome and takes too long when taking notes.

With the advent of the unproven Common Core State Standards, cursive writing fell by the wayside. Common Core is supposed to lead students to mastery, competency-based, or personalized learning on the computer. There's no research to indicate learning only by technology works. But those focused on technology don't see any purpose to cursive writing. They believe if you teach a child keyboarding they'll be set for life.

Those in favor of cursive claim it's still important that children grow up and be able to sign checks, write thank you notes, or read historical documents. While that's important, it misses the most important reasons why students should learn cursive writing. Also, since these reasons hardly make a convincing argument for students to spend time learning cursive, many states no longer require teachers to teach cursive handwriting.

Schools in Louisiana and Alabama, however, are bringing back cursive. Other schools should too, and here's why.

For many children, learning cursive is a pleasurable experience. They are proud of their signature, and of being able to express their ideas in writing in diaries and journals. Cursive writing teaches a variety of skills.

visual-motor coordination.

visual synthesis.

visual perception.

visual memory.

spatial relationship.

focus.

spelling.

reading.

self-confidence.

For the record, keyboarding is also an important skill. But cursive writing should not have to compete with keyboarding. Children can and should get instruction in both cursive writing and keyboarding.

For children who have extreme fine motor coordination difficulties, or dysgraphia, and cursive writing is too much of a chore, keyboarding can be helpful. Children with such difficulties are easy to spot and they should not be forced to do cursive.

However, cursive writing can be helpful to children struggling with reading and writing difficulties. Children with dyslexia might be able to remember words better if they can string letters together in cursive. In 2014, PBS News Hour had a special "How Cursive Can Help Students with Dyslexia Connect the Dots."

I personally write cursive and could not learn well without it. Cursive writing helps me remember. There's something about the kinesthetic, or tactile, movement on paper, reading what I've written, and also sometimes verbally discussing it with others, or I talk to myself, that seals it in my memory. I am also grateful for the semester of typing I took in high school. I am speedy and efficient at the keyboard because of it.

But I still rely on cursive writing for formulating my thoughts and ideas. It is worth repeating. It helps me when listening to lectures. I take notes, listen, read, rewrite, and later repeat the information to myself verbally. It got me through college with good grades.

If your child's school doesn't teach cursive, there are many worksheets available online. Stores like Target and Staples usually have cursive writing practice workbooks. To reuse them, place a clear transparency over the page and give children an erasable pen. Help children do cursive over the summer or when they have free time if it isn't too taxing.
References
In the long run, cursive writing will be a worthy skill that will assist students in many ways, in their future education, or life in general.

Cindi May, "A Learning Secret: Don't Take Notes with a Laptop." Scientific American. June 3, 2014.

Jin Bo, Julia Barta, Hilary Ferencak, Sara Comstock, Vanessa Riley, and Joni Krueger. "Developmental Characteristics in Cursive and Printed Letter-Writing for School-Age Children." Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 2014. 2, 1-8.

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Teach Cursive Writing! Why It's Important for Children Including Those with Dyslexia

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By Nancy Bailey Cursive writing is important for many reasons, and its loss in America's classrooms should raise concerns. Cursive not only differs from print in the way it looks, it connects letters to words in a meaningful and productive way. It has been shown to assist children with reading difficulties like dyslexia.

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This post is part of a new blog series where two authors present the pro and con side of a relevant topic - this week, that topic is whether or not cursive should be taught in school. If you like (or dislike) the format, or just want to get involved in the conversation, please leave a comment below or on our Facebook page!
Pro
by Rachael Tom
Is there a case for cursive? Common Core Standards no longer require students to learn cursive handwriting in an effort to save money and time. As of May 2016, only 15 states continue to include it in their Core Curriculum, leaving parents to create cursive clubs afterschool for students who want to learn. Although writing in print and typing may appear sufficient at face-value, cursive has been proven through numerous scientific studies to improve academic performance and manage dyslexia. Unlike computers, handwriting is accessible to all, while technology isn't. This form of writing is also what our country was founded on and without knowledge of it, deciphering historical documents becomes impossible. When it comes to personal safety, which is more difficult to forge: a cursive signature or a printed one?

Compared to print, the flow of cursive movements comes much more naturally to children, and compared to typing, engages far more cognitive skills. This cognitive development helps students reason, problem solve, conceptualize and make decisions as they get older. Fine motor skills such as coordination, muscle development and synchronization of hands and eyes, are also improved when writing cursive. Additionally, the letter strokes of writing cursive aids in the eyes' left-to-right movement for reading. Cursive is also efficient for note-taking because rather than a series of strokes, a word in cursive is one unit. "It's not a stop and start," Jan Olsen, founder of Handwriting Without Tears states, "Think of yourself in traffic: if you're stopping and starting... you don't do as well as if you can just move gradually down the road." This form of efficient note-taking helps students retain lecture information better than typing. The phrase, "Write it down or you'll forget it," is scientifically true. Neuropsychology shows that the act of listening and handwriting links the verbal and spatial processing regions of the brain, strengthening memory. This ability to transform lectures, thoughts and ideas into written words improves the overall quality of writing and syntax compared to those who type. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook, employers who require skilled writing have noticed that employees whose education relied on typing for written work have a decreased level of writing quality than other staff. With fine motor skill and cognitive development, efficient note-taking, strengthened memory and elevated writing quality, there is a positive correlation between handwriting and increased academic performance across all subjects.

When it comes to dyslexia therapy, cursive is instrumental in helping students read. Those with dyslexia find reading and writing challenging because their brain associates sounds and letter combinations inefficiently. Cursive engages multiple areas of the brain and muscles to help those with learning disabilities remember specific letters. Cathy Ruse, a parent to eight-year old Lucy states, "She would never be able to remember 'd,' but when she started sky writing 'd' and using all these muscles, it helped her brain remember." In addition, the mechanics of cursive teach dyslexic students how to group letters in proper order as one unit, unlike a group of spaced out letters (such as print), which causes dyslexic children to swap letters more frequently.

As of 2013, 79% of American homes had computers. Continuing handwriting instruction levels the playing field for students across all demographics. Those without regular access to technology may find it difficult to type all written work, however, those with access to computers can always handwrite. Despite the rise in technology in recent years, handwriting will always have an important place in this country. America was founded on documents written in cursive, and knowing cursive gives all Americans the ability to read the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other invaluable literature. Cursive is not just a method of writing words: it is a beautiful method of communication with historical, scientific and educational importance to all.

Con
by Kacey Templin
As children, Millennials were taught how to write in cursive in grade school. Then, as these students progressed from elementary to middle school, cursive became less important, and typed documents were the standard. This coincided nicely with the introduction of the personal computer, and the importance of typing skills. By the time these children entered college, many had forgotten how to write in anything but script. It wasn't that these students were obstinate, cursive writing was simply not emphasized or valued. Cursive education has been made nearly obsolete with the emergence of the keyboard. When it comes to 21 st century skills, typing is "in," and cursive is "out."

Reading and writing are fundamental elements of learning. How children learn to read and write is changing, from books and chalkboards, to tablets and computer screens. The online world has become increasingly powerful, to the point that it invades nearly every part of our daily lives. Research conducted in 2015 by the Nielsen found that the average American adult spends over 11 hours a day in front of a screen. Humans and technology are so intertwined; it makes sense that typing skills would be elevated to the level that cursive skills once held.

In today's society, typing is the key to a multitude of jobs, as most now require some level of computer proficiency to succeed. Companies from banks to travel agents to retailers are increasingly shifting to the digital world, and need a computer-literate workforce to help them maintain their online presence. And a basic education in typing just won't do. Employers are much more likely to hire an experienced touch typist than a hunt-and-peck typist.

Some schools, believing that students are already learning to type at home, are foregoing typing classes. Just because children learn to type on cell phones and tablets at an early age, doesn't mean that they know proper typing skills. This assumption has led to a situation where students are coming into their classrooms without the keyboarding abilities they need, leaving the classroom equally unprepared for further educational or professional development. In this quickly shifting world, it just makes sense for schools to devote time to learning proper typing skills than to spend time learning a skill that, while beautiful, is essentially obsolete.

Typing also conveys information at a much faster rate than traditional writing. "What we want from writing ... is cognitive automaticity, the ability to think as fast as possible, freed as much as can be from the strictures of whichever technology we must use to record our thoughts," Anne Trubek, associate professor of rhetoric and composition at Oberlin College in Ohio, wrote some years ago. "This is what typing does for millions. It allows us to go faster, not because we want everything faster in our hyped-up age, but for the opposite reason: we want more time to think." Even when typing with just two fingers, the average typing speed is significantly faster than handwriting in all cases. Information can also be organized easier and disseminated quicker. It's much easier to email notes than it is to send them in the mail or hand them to the recipient in person the next time the sender sees them.

Typing is also less error focused than handwriting. If a mistake is made, students can easily undo or delete the problem and start over, and suggestions are given in applications like Microsoft Word. This can help the student master English skills, and the learning process can feel more rewarding.

Typing is an increasingly important skill that deserves more attention in today's technologically advanced society. Writing with a pen and paper is still important, but it is unnecessary to devote precious time to an archaic device employed by our forefathers. It is logical for schools to replace cursive classes with typing classes, as this prepares students for the jobs of the future.

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Pros and Cons Series Part 3: Should Cursive Be Taught in School?

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This post is part of a new blog series where two authors present the pro and con side of a relevant topic - this week, that topic is whether or not cursive should be taught in school. If you like (or dislike) the format, or just want to get involved in the conversation, please leave a comment below or on our Facebook page!

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Why don't the common-core standards include cursive writing?

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Should schools teach cursive handwriting? The question is a polarizing one in the K-12 education world.