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Cursive and the Educational Standards
If you haven't been in the field of education . . . there are educational standards-things that should be taught at the various grade levels. Currently, those standards are called Common Core, and they are national, although states have the right to not adopt them. Prior to that, states had their own standards. One thing is for certain: the standards change, or at least change in name every few years or so. I suspect it is because many people's jobs are at stake: those who develop the standards.

Common Core is silent on cursive, but it prioritizes computer use and keyboarding skills because its tests are taken on computers. However, even beginning in the 1990s, cursive writing got less and less instructional time. Currently, at least 41 states do not require public schools to teach cursive reading or writing.

Since 2010, 45 states 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. So what are the pros and cons of cursive?
Pros and Cons of Teaching Cursive
The obvious "con" is that cursive is outdated. Computers have taken over, and most people use them to write. Otherwise, people can print. Who needs to learn cursive? It is not a "21st century skill."

Here are some of the pros:

Experts have said cursive training helps small children develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and other brain and memory functions. Such skills could be important for children who might become surgeons, painters, or other occupations requiring laser-like precision with their hands.

Some teachers say that students like cursive writing because it is artistic and restful to practice.

A second grade teacher said that for some students being able to write like grown-ups is a rite of passage. And, she adds, "It promotes perseverance."

Advocates for learning cursive argue that "more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard."

An academic therapist said cursive writing helps 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."

Some experts say that nice handwriting can lead to better grades in school. 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.

And what about the time when a keyboard is not available (is there ever such a time????)? It is faster to take notes in cursive than by printing letters.

Some parents have been surprised at the lack of cursive training. Some are teaching it at home. Some schools are teaching it more as art than as a straight academic subject. So, in this case, cursive is a tradition, and, for some, a more personal way to communicate.

And then there are the arguments:

Cursive improves eye-hand coordination . . .But there are other ways to build good eye-hand coordination other than writing in cursive.

The Constitution is written in cursive . . . But you can certainly find printed versions of it to study!

You won't be able to read Grandma's letters . . . But Grandma's letters probably aren't even written in cursive any longer. She is probably using e-mail or Skype to communicate. (maybe)

An online poll by Harris Interactive showed 79 percent of adult respondents and 68 percent of kids ages 8-18 think cursive should still be taught. Nearly 49 percent of adults and 35 percent of youth say practicing reading and writing in cursive improves literacy. Okay, the survey was paid for by a pencil maker (really).

When asked what they assume about people who can't read or write cursive, 30 percent of adults polled and 25 percent of children judged the person as less literate, and 7 percent of adults and 11 percent of children assumed they are "just not smart."

Kids gave a couple of good reasons why cursive is important:

"It's cool and fancy. It's faster because you write all the letters together."

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

A couple of problems arise with teaching cursive. (1) If people are not learning it, teachers will no longer be able to teach it. Already, newer teachers have less experience with cursive and teaching it. (2) With more and more to be taught, increasing technology, and more time taken for standardized testing, cursive is one of the easiest things to eliminate from the curriculum because it is deemed not necessary for today's world. (3) Cursive needs to be taught, but it also needs to be used and practiced lest it be forgotten. In some school districts, it is taught in third grade and never touched again.
What Are the States Doing About It?
Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia are now trying to keep cursive in the curriculum.

A few Washington, D.C. traditional public and charter schools offer cursive; most others don't.

Bills have been introduced in state legislatures in North and South Carolina, Indiana, and Idaho mandating cursive instruction. (In some cases, the bills were supported by companies that sell writing materials.)

Catholic schools, long known for emphasizing penmanship, are still teaching it, but are devoting less time to it.

The Virginia Department of Education mandates that third-graders should be able to read and write legibly in cursive. However, it is not always taught.

Georgia has laws mandating cursive instruction.

Responding to parent complaints, some states are revising the national standards and adopting their own rules. Arkansas lawmakers made cursive writing instruction mandatory in the state's public elementary schools beginning in the 2015-2016 school year.

Tennessee passed a similar bill last summer. The Florida Department of Education approved updates to Common Core last year, adding cursive writing as part of fourth- and fifth-grade standards.
What I Think
I was an English teacher in middle school until 2015. Cursive was on the way out, and my entire department was very pro-cursive. We could teach it, students could use it . . . however, we were no longer permitted to require it.

Now I wonder about its actual value, apart from it being part of our writing tradition,an additional skill (it is faster than printing), and an art. I notice that many of the states (not California and Massachusetts) that are trying to bring back cursive are conservative states, states where traditional values are important. I don't fit in with these beliefs generally. I am all for progress. But maybe cursive isn't exactly the same as a progressive political agenda. I just somehow wonder when I see the states that are trying to keep cursive in the curriculum. Are they just trying to keep the "good ole days" around? I haven't come to a conclusion about that. But here is what I do believe:

Printing is the first type of writing children learn. It is important. Keyboarding is also important in this world: actually it is crucial. Cursive is good for brain development and coordination; it is also faster than printing and it looks lovely if done right.

Back when I went to school, we learned to print. Then, in second grade, we learned cursive, which we kept learning and using all the way through high school. I never took typing in high school (I did teach myself), but lots of students did. So they learned all three modes of written communication. Why can't kids do that now? Too few days of school? Too much time taken up for disciplining unruly students? Too much time taken for standardized testing? Fundraisers?

Someone has said, "In the 21st century, you teach kids to be multilingual by hand." I agree.
Thank you to the following websites for helping me put this piece together.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/12/is-cursives-day-in-classroom-done/2642071
http://www.eonline.com/news/481596/cursive-handwriting-will-no-longer-be-taught-in-schools-because-it-s-a-big-old-waste-of-time
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/cursive-handwriting-disappearing-from-public-schools/2013/04/04/215862e0-7d23-11e2-a044-676856536b40_story.html
http://www.today.com/parents/cursive-comeback-handwriting-lessons-return-some-schools-t41081
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1114/Cursive-handwriting-Seven-states-fight-for-cursive-writing-in-school-video

Grammar Diva News

My newest book, The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! is now available on Amazon, all other online retailers, Kindle, and soon all other e-readers.

My next book, The Best Little Dictionary of Confused Words and Malapropisms, will be out within the next two or so months.

I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this November ( National Novel Writing Month), writing a sequel to my first novel. Yup, I do have a novel for those of you who didn't know I tried writing fiction! I am going to change the title and author of my fiction book, getting rid of my pseudonym and making the book the first in a series. Here it is on Amazon. The new title will be Trashy Novel Book One: Four College Girls and a Purple Boa. The one I am about to begin will be the first sequel, Trashy Novel Book Two: Cybil. I have an undeveloped Facebook page for my novels, and will probably develop a new website for novels. My pseudonym, JoJoBaker, will be changed to A. Miller.

As Grammar Diva, once again, I will be participating in the first annual West Sonoma Book Faire at the Sebastopol Grange on Thursday, November 10, from 6 to 9 p.m. Free to the public.

I will also be participating in the Writer's World Vendor Faire, sponsored by the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association at the Next Key Center in Novato on Saturday, November 12, from noon to 3 p.m. Free to the public.

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Should Cursive Writing Be Taught in the Schools? - bigwords101

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This blog post talks about the status of teaching cursive writing in Amican schools: the pros and cons of teaching cursive; the benefits of writing in cursive; the reasons cursive is dying out; and the states that want to keep it in the curriculum.

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TULSA - You may want to hold off before sending that handwritten note to your grandchild.

That's because a growing number of young people can no longer read cursive.

Since the U.S. adopted Common Core standards in public schools back in 2010, cursive has declined and even disappeared entirely in some school districts.

But, is erasing cursive to the detriment of future generations?

We're doing some homework on the collapse of cursive in this Denver7 360 report, talking with a calligrapher who says there's still benefits to knowing cursive, a professor who teaches future teachers, a tutor who says good riddance and another who says it still has some practicality.

Let's begin with keeping cursive alive - in the home studio of Srujana Nimmagadda, owner of Menakshee Designs.

"Learning to write well is something that you're never going to regret," said Nimmagadda, whose day job is working at Ball Aerospace as an aerospace engineer. "I know it's unique that I also do calligraphy," she said.

For her, it's not a cloudy issue at all; good handwriting has value.

"I think there's just a different sort of connection that you have receiving a hand-written letter," Nimmagadda said.

And she argues there's a quiet confidence projected when communicating in cursive.

"If there's a way to keep it in schools, I think they should," she said.

That brings us to Dr. Krista Griffin, a literacy professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

"There isn't a lot of research supporting cursive one way or another," Griffin said.

She has 25 years of experience teaching future teachers.

"There's no one-size-fits-all anything in education," Griffin said. "That's what I tell those future teachers."

Griffin says in the 21 st century, with high stakes standardized testing, cursive isn't always worth valuable classroom time, especially given the demands put on teachers today.

"If I'm a teacher and I know my job is dependent on how well my students do, cursive isn't on the test," she said.

But, she also sees strong cognitive learning with reading and writing in cursive.

"When I'm taking notes, I can't move as quickly as when I'm keyboarding," Griffin said. "So, I'm going to be thinking about what the professor is saying and paraphrasing, which is a higher-level cognitive skill."

Other experts agree.

"There's a myth that in the era of computers we don't need handwriting," said a leading national researcher. "That's not what our research is showing. What we found was that children until about Grade 6 were writing more words, writing faster and expressing more ideas if they could use handwriting - printing or cursive."

But - Victor Camacho questions the time-commitment given to cursive.

"I learned cursive when I was in 3 rd grade," Camacho said. "And I haven't used it since. There was no real practical reason to use it."

Camacho is now the owner of High Performance Tutoring, with 35 Denver-based tutors. His tutors put a heavy emphasis on STEM disciplines.

"Art is practical in that it kind of feeds our soul in a sense," Camacho said. "But, it's not practical in the sense that, 'Oh - you need to eat.'"

He believes a greater emphasis on things like statistics, personal finance and computer programming would be much more beneficial in school than teaching cursive.

Camacho believes higher proficiency in those skills could also alleviate many ongoing societal issues.

"If we replace cursive with helping people manage their finances, I think that would go a long way," he said. "How to manage money and how compounding interest works and how investments work and risks vs. returns. That's what children should be learning."

Stephanie Rosalky is the owner of Wash Park Tutoring, and she doesn't disagree.

"Cursive is not a skill that is needed today to be successful," Rosalky said. "Everything has really moved to a technology platform."

But, Rosalky says cursive does have practical applications, for example, it can help with disorders like dyslexia on a case-by-case basis.

"It kind of limits some reversals that are happening for students," Rosalky said.

"I have a friend who has dyslexia and she will do less reversals and omit fewer letters when she uses cursive," Griffin said.

Both Griffin and Rosalky also respect the argument that cursive is a long-forgotten, elegant form of writing that is appreciated more by older generations.

"They see it as a very personal way of communicating that gets lost," Griffin said.

"It is beautiful," Rosalky said. "It looks very nice."

And that brings us back to Nimmagadda.

"There's something very grounding about picking up a pen and paper," Nimmagadda said. "There's a lot of history and tradition. You can tell what's happening in a society through the years as you study a style of script."
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Should cursive still be taught in schools?

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TULSA - You may want to hold off before sending that handwritten note to your grandchild. That's because a growing number of young people can no longer read cursive. Since the U.S. adopted Common Core standards in public schools back in 2010, cursive has declined and even disappeared entirely in some school districts.

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Should All Schools Teach Cursive? (Published 2019)

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A 10-year-old cursive champ makes an argument in its favor. Is he convincing?

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Five Reasons Kids Should Still Learn Cursive Writing

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Lawmakers continue to fight to keep handwriting in the classroom, despite the growing power of the keyboard

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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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Of all the challenges our schools face, the Legislature has decided, for now, to focus on just one: cursive writing.

You read that right.

Wisconsin is last in the nation when it comes to supporting special education. Our English Language Learners are struggling with an "alarming" achievement gap, often with no help at all.

We have a state education budget that, after a lot of wrangling between Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-led Legislature, only partially restores the nearly $1 billion in cuts made by Scott Walker, leaving 40 percent of school districts with less state aid this year than they got last year.

We have rural schools going to referendum, begging local voters to dig in their pockets and make up the gap. And we have voters in some districts, most recently Palmyra, saying no, and schools closing down as a result.

So what are state legislators talking about in the Assembly and Senate education committees? A bill to require that "each elementary school curriculum must include the objective that pupils be able to write legibly in cursive by the end of fifth grade."

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards opposes the cursive-writing bill as an unfunded mandate and an incursion into individual school district's rights to set their own curriculum.

But mostly, it's just dumb.

What's next? Butter-churning? Lessons on cutting kindling to the right size to stoke the wood stove?

I have nothing against good penmanship. I admire it. It's pretty. I notice it on the very rare occasion I actually receive a real, handwritten letter.

But if there's one thing kids don't need to be prepared for the jobs of the future, it's cursive writing class. The backward-looking cursive writing bill might improve the legibility of thank-you notes (that's the only piece of actual handwritten mail I can think of that my kids still write), but it's not going to go a long way toward the college and career readiness our district and others are always talking about.

Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), who introduced the cursive writing bill, was also co-chair of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding, which came up with recommendations last January based on hearings held all over the state. Those included increasing funding for English Language Learners and special ed, as well as school mental health services and helping rural districts struggling with low enrollment and high transportation costs.

A lot of those things were in Gov. Tony Evers' original budget proposal. But the Republican legislative leadership threw the governor's budget in the trash and handed back their own, stripped-down budget. Then the governor used his line-item veto to modestly increase public-school funding over the two years of the budget by vetoing the lower funding number for the first year.

None of that revived the specific, thoughtful proposals in the Blue Ribbon Commission report. For a little while it looked like those proposals might re-emerge, piecemeal, in standalone bills that came up in committee. But they didn't make it to the floor in the fall session. And now we have a Senate Education Committee busy with its Little Rascals revival, making kids practice cursive "Os" in their copy books.

No wonder Wisconsin schools are falling behind.

The good news is, school districts in Dane County did very well on the recently released school report cards, which the state has been required to produce every year since 2011 - the same year Walker took his meat axe to state school funding.

Every school district in Dane County met or exceeded expectations. Madison schools improved their scores overall, with Madison East High School moving from two stars to an "exceeds expectations" four-star rating.

But overall, between the tough budget environment, the failure to address structural inequities, and the expansion of public funding for private school vouchers, which will be coming into Madison in a big way in the coming year, "Wisconsin is FAILING its students," notes Grandparents for Madison Public Schools (GRUMPS). "It's amazing that our teachers and support staff are doing as well as they are with our students," the group noted in an email to its members. "Our students are succeeding despite the odds. We must fund our schools in a more equitable and adequate manner."

On the same day DPI released the school report cards, the Wisconsin Public Education Network, a public-school advocacy group, released its own report cards, rating state legislators on their support for public schools.

The report cards assess lawmakers' budget votes in each of five categories: the overall K-12 budget, special education, bilingual/bicultural needs, mental health and public funding for private schools.

"We need to connect the dots between student needs and legislative performance," says Heather DuBois Bourenane of WPEN.

Start connecting those dots. But please do it with your calligraphy pen.

Ruth Conniff is editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner.

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Of all the challenges our schools face, the Legislature has decided, for now, to focus on just one: cursive writing. You read that right. Wisconsin is last in the nation when it comes to supporting special education. Our English Language Learners are struggling with an "alarming" achievement gap, often with no help at all.

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Can you picture not being able to sign your own signature on a check or an important document? Much to her dismay, this last scenario came true for Kelli Davis's daughter. In an article written for the Associated Press, Davis recalls how she had to sign a document for her daughter because she did not know how to write cursive. Unfortunately, Davis's daughter may not be the only young person unable to read or write cursive. Across the country, schools are either minimizing the time they spend on cursive instruction or eliminating it all together (Breen).
Cursive Disappearing-
Over the past several years, forty-two states have adapted the Common Core State Standards for English, which do not require cursive lessons as mandatory. Because of this, a number of these states have already dropped cursive entirely from their curriculum (Braiker). Another reason why cursive is being diminished in schools is because of the No Child Left Behind Act Of 2001. This act makes standardized testing a focal point in classrooms and since cursive is not accessed on the tests, it is seen as irrelevant to many educators. In the TIME article Mourning the Death of Handwriting, Professor Tamara Thronton explains that "in schools today, they're teaching to the test" and that "if something isn't on a test, it's viewed as a luxury" (Suddath).

The amount of material teachers have to fit into their lesson plans is also pushing cursive aside. In the USA Today article Schools debate: Is cursive writing worth teaching, elementary school teacher Jennifer Cockrell and Principal Carl Brown explain that "kids have a broader education than they did 20 years ago," and "with all the other subjects we must teach, we just don't have time to spend a lot of effort on cursive" (Downs). This and the increasing amount of work children have to do on computers (especially with the PARCC) make cursive seem less vital in a world of modern technology (Gillis). However, schools should still consider teaching cursive to children and students everywhere because it hasmany benefits.
Benefits In ELA-
Handwriting in general, whether cursive or manuscript, has a myriad of advantages that can significantly help young children. Handwriting is still used and needed in many different classes and subjects (Spear-Swerling). According to research, handwriting will also help students improve their reading, writing, and language skills (Oberholtz, Smith, Anderson). For example, in the online article The Importance of Teaching Handwriting, Louise Spear-Swerling explains that "handwriting in the earliest grades is linked to basic reading and spelling achievement... when children learn how to form the letter m, they can also be learning its sound. Attention to the linkage among handwriting, reading, and spelling skills can help to reinforce early achievement across those areas."
Memory Improvement-
Another positive is that handwriting is supposed to improve memory and brain function (Rodriguez). According to the ABC article Tossing the Script: the End of the Line for Cursive, this was proven to be true in an experiment. Brian Braiker explains that two groups were given a foreign alphabet and letters to learn, one group writing them down and the other group typing. When tested on this material a few weeks later, the group that had handwritten the alphabet scored significantly higher. Also, when the handwritten group was scanned for brain activity, the scans showed "greater activity in the part of the brain that controls language comprehension, motor-related processes and speech-associated gestures." The results of this experiment demonstrate how handwriting is helpful in learning and memory recognition.
Fine Motor Skills and Perseverance-
However, cursive alone has even more advantages. One of the most notable is the fact that cursive is excellent for developing children's fine motor skills because of the dexterity it requires (Zezima). Lisa Faircloth, mentioned in the earlier ABC article, explains how cursive has positively affected her son's muscle control: "I feel like it has helped him with his fine motor skills... he is able to form things he hadn't before and has new muscle movement that he didn't know before" (Braiker). Kristen Chase, another mother and homeschooler, says that teaching children cursive helps them learn perseverance because it is more difficult to master. She explains that if a child can persist through learning cursive, they will be more confident when facing other tough subjects (The Pioneer Woman).
Helping Learning Disabilities-
Another benefit is that cursive is more efficient for writing quickly or fluently. The connected, flowing letters can be written faster (LITHBTH Educational Services), which helps students take notes or get their thoughts down more swiftly. "Some students have more ideas in their heads than they can (print) on paper," says Anthony McGrann, writer of an education blog (Rodriguez). Perhaps the most impressive aspect of cursive is that it can help people who suffer from dyslexia. The Huffington Post article Schools Debate Cursive Handwriting Instruction Nationwide explains that the connected letters of cursive help students read from left to right and prevent them from reversing letters or words (Gillis). LD Online, a website dedicated to learning disabilities, says that handwriting can also help with reading, writing, and nonverbal learning disabilities (Spear-Swerling).
Unable To Read and Sign Important Documents-
Moreover, if children are not taught how to write cursive, they may not be able to read it. The original Declaration of Independence and other historical documents, like the Constitution, will be lost to them (Zezima). Also, they may not be able to read sentimental things such as letters or diaries. In the USA Today article from before, Alex Heck explains that her grandmother left behind journals for her to read, but she was unable to read them because she was not accustomed to cursive (Downs). These are just two examples of the many things that students may not be able to read in the future. As I mentioned earlier, there is also the issue of signatures. Without cursive, not only will someone not be able to write an ample signature, it will also be easier to forge. Manuscript is less complex while cursive is harder to copy and duplicate (Zezima).
Implementing Cursive Into Lesson Plans-
For those who believe there is not enough time to incorporate cursive into lesson plans, handwriting experts say that only fifteen minutes a day is all the time needed for proper instruction (Downs). This is a minimal amount of time. There is also the possibility of integrating cursive into other subjects as McCrann suggests: "I think teachers need to figure out how to integrate whatever they're teaching together. So if you're teaching cursive, the words you're teaching the kids to write should be their spelling words" (Rodriguez). This is just one example of the many teachers could use to combine cursive with other subjects.

Even so, cursive is gradually disappearing from America's schools. Standardized tests, too many subjects, and modern technology are making cursive instruction fall by the wayside. Despite its many benefits, the truth is that, in a world of modern schooling and technology, we are slowly losing a useful and beautiful skill.
Works Cited- (Click on the underlined title to be sent to the original article).
Anderson, Amy, Chris Oberholtz, and DeAnn Smith. " Should Cursive Handwriting Still Be Taught in School?" KCTV News. KCTV News, 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Braiker, Brian. " Tossing The Script: The End Of The Line For Cursive?" ABC News. ABC News, 24 Jan. 2011. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Breen, Tom. " Cursive Writing Is Fading Skill, but so What?" NBC News. NBC News, 19 Sept. 2009. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

Chase, Kristen. " Cursive Handwriting Begone." The Pioneer Woman. Pioneer Woman Homeschooling, 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

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Cursive: More Than Just Fancy Handwriting

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Can you picture not being able to sign your own signature on a check or an important document? Much to her dismay, this last scenario came true for Kelli Davis's daughter. In an article written for the Associated Press, Davis recalls how she had to sign a document for her daughter because she did not know how to write cursive.

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here.
Our elementary school said goodbye to cursive as of this year. Fen's 4th grade teacher mentioned it at the beginning of the year's meet-the-teacher evening, and I didn't hear much of what she said after that. It made me so sad to hear, because I know how much fun it is to learn cursive- it's loopy, fast, beautiful.

The two questions I'm wondering the most are: How are kids going to sign their names? And, How are kids going to be able to read any of the Declaration of Independence? (This is a question my hairdresser brought up that I hadn't even considered.) (!)

I started to wonder if there were any other benefits to learning to write in cursive, besides the prettiness and quickness, and here's what I uncovered:

Handwriting helps with fine motor skills and muscle control.

Handwriting helps younger kids (5ish) learn their letters faster, thereby learn to read faster.

Handwriting styles and variations help express who you are.

Not many students before college age use only computers to take notes in school, and cursive is much more efficient than printing.

The focus on cursive in and around third grade reflects the developmental connection between writing and thinking. The two don't become truly separated until later. Children who excel in handwriting skills tend also to excel in other academic pursuits (source: How Stuff Works)

I can't help but equate this with doing away with art education in schools- sort of like an extension of the whole school of thought that anything visual is simply that; visual. Not educational, necessary, intellectual, or in any way more important than a basic skill.

So, fine. It's one more thing we have to pick up the slack for at home. For those of us who are already motivated to complement our kids' education at home with extra stuff, we'll just add it to the list. But I'm thinking not a lot of parents have the time/energy/inclination to do so, and this is just one more thing that's hurting the kids who are left behind.

Why am I getting so riled up about cursive writing? I suppose it's just another little loss to the educational system that may not seem like a big deal on the surface to many people, but it's another chink in the armor. It's another piece of public schooling being dropped in favor of dry, testing-focused learning standards. I'm really not sure many of the things being dropped by public schools are looked at closely before being deemed 'droppable'.

Yes, I will miss cursive writing, but more importantly, I think a lot of kids will be missing out on an important skill.

I've learned from my husband to never complain about something without also offering solutions, so here are some resources for you to check out if you want to work with your kids at home on cursive writing:

Crayola has individual letter practice sheets that include a space to draw things that begin with that letter at the bottom! Drawing and cursive together! Sweet.

This site has lots of free cursive writing printables where you trace over the words.

Here are a bunch of worksheets to practice writing words grouped by letter.

Look how cool this is - a practice sheet for preschoolers to get them in the habit of forming the basic cursive connected lines.

I found out when researching this post that only Illinois, Indiana and Hawaii have thus far done away with cursive in schools. What do you think? Are you pro-cursive, anti-cursive or indifferent?

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here. Our elementary school said goodbye to cursive as of this year. Fen's 4th grade teacher mentioned it at the beginning of the year's meet-the-teacher evening, and I didn't hear much of what she said after that. It made me so sad to hear, because I know how much fun it is to learn cursive- it's loopy, fast, beautiful.

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new jersey bill would require children be taught cursive handwriting - cnn

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A New Jersey bill would require schoolchildren to be taught cursive handwriting

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A proposed law would require New Jersey elementary schools teach kids how to read and write in the graceful, flowing loops taught to previous generations.

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Advocates for learning cursive (including Idaho representative Linden Bateman, 72) argue that "more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard."

Bateman continues, "The fluid motion employed when writing script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor skills, in turn promoting reading, writing and cognition skills."

And if that's the reasons schools taught cursive, sure, fine. That's great. Also, there are plenty of other ways that kids can develop hand-eye coordination that doesn't involve spending a year of their prime development time learning a new alphabet.

But Bateman also argues that forgoing cursive may have much more consequential results: He argues we "will lose the ability to interpret valuable cultural resources-historical documents, ancestors' letters and journals, handwritten scholarship - if they can't read cursive."

"The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive. Think about that," Bateman said.

The Constitution of the United States is also available online, typed out. Not in cursive. Soooooo...We're probably good.

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Cursive Handwriting Will No Longer Be Taught in Schools Because It's a Big, Old Waste of Time - E! Online

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Advocates for learning cursive (including Idaho representative Linden Bateman, 72) argue that "more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard." Bateman continues, "The fluid motion employed when writing script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor skills, in turn promoting reading, writing and cognition skills."

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Starting in the 1970s, and under the recent implementation of the Common Core, a former pillar of elementary education has been largely forgotten. But there's a feeling that learning cursive still has value, even in the age of typing and texting. The NewsHour's April Brown reports from North Carolina, one of a handful of states that's moved to make learning the formal, curlicue letters mandatory.

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Why some schools still insist on lessons in elegant cursive

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Starting in the 1970s, and under the recent implementation of the Common Core, a former pillar of elementary education has been largely forgotten. But there's a feeling that learning cursive still has value, even in the age of typing and texting.