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c august 22 2019
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Teaching connected-style handwriting, otherwise known as cursive handwriting, has fallen out of fashion on many school curricula. Older generations have sometimes been shocked that some younger people today can't sign their names on official documents or even read a handwritten note.

Canadian provinces have seen a decline in teaching and learning cursive. In Ontario schools, for example, teachers might introduce cursive, but it's not mandatory.

Such a development is reflective of larger trends of focusing less on teaching and assessing handwriting for itself - and more on what it's communicating.

Alberta's kindergarten to Grade 9 curriculum, for example, stipulates that students learn to "listen, speak, read and write" and also envisions outcomes that require printing, such as connecting prior ideas. But the curriculum doesn't mandate assessing printing skills themselves. In Alberta's 2018 new draft curriculum yet to be implemented, cursive is mentioned, but it's not identified as a competency.

Beyond a nostalgia for the pre-digital age, there are good reasons why cursive handwriting needs to make a comeback. As a researcher who has studied the relationship of handwriting to literacy, along with other scholars, I've found that developing fluency in printing and handwriting so that it comes automatically matters for literacy outcomes. Handwriting is also an elegant testimony to the human capacity for written literacy and an inspiring symbol of the unique power of the human voice.

Too difficult?

In today's age of digital literacy, many think handwriting is irrelevant altogether and a waste of precious instructional time. But touching a "d" on the keyboard, for example, does not create the internal model of a "d" that printing does. Keyboarding can wait.

Some may associate cursive with any number of outdated formats of handwriting that may have indeed seemed like a curse to master - loopy, twisty and hard on little hands in terms of muscle movement and also for visual memory.

But handwriting is only difficult if it is not automatic and, in turn, offloaded into long-term memory. Evolving research in the neurosciences underscores the importance of developing automatic skills in relation to what educational psychologists call the cognitive load.

Lessons learned from sports or the performing arts highlight the importance of establishing neuronal connections that promote fluid movement. With reading and writing, too, the keys to unlocking creativity or interpretation of story elements are also related to being able to write automatically.

Lack of fluency

By Grade 4, the cognitive demands of curriculum quickly accelerate: students must produce more, faster and better. Students who have fluent handwriting consequently have more working memory capacity available to plan, organize, revise and retrieve sophisticated vocabulary.

In a study I conducted with my colleagues of about 250 Grade 4 students in an Alberta school, we found that only about half of the students in our study achieved the necessary threshold in handwriting.

These children's handwriting was insufficient to communicate the complexity of vocabulary and ideas expected in Grade 4. Most students had vocabulary they were not able to mobilize onto the page. Students' failure to reach the required threshold of expression at this level is associated with a phenomenon recognized by researchers as the Grade 4 slump, a drop in outcomes from which students may not necessarily recover.

Improving literacy outcomes

Schools must and can do better, starting early. The key is not only teaching cursive, but a greater focus on all printing to cursive handwriting, spelling instruction and fine motor skills. These developments are essential for literacy foundations in the kindergarten to Grade 3 years.

Read more: Summer play that enriches kids' reading skills - 8 fine motor activities for little fingers

Building on these earlier skills, the key to improving academic outcomes in Grade 4 is teaching young students to connect their letters, resulting in a style of handwriting that is legible and fluent.

Steven Graham, an expert in special education, writing and literacy at Arizona State University, advocates for beginning with printing or "traditional manuscript" and transitioning to what he calls mixed mostly manuscript, whereby the child is learning a continuous stroke.

Similarly, an example from early literacy scholar Sibylle Hurschler Lichtsteiner of Germany shows a transition from manuscript letters to joined letters. It evolves naturally, with support, from children's initial style of print in grades 2 to 3. Once young students have internalized stable, mental models of letter shapes, they can generalize and recognize various types of cursive script with a bit of practice.

Power of the pen

Testimonies draw attention to the power of cursive handwriting. The film Saving Private Ryan made famous the historical Bixby Letter written to the mother of sons killed in the American Civil War. While historians debate whether Abraham Lincoln or a member of his staff actually wrote the letter, ongoing interest in the letter through history suggests how human handwriting conveys personhood, care and captures imagination.

In our own era, Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate ever, reminds us:

"One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world."

Although Yousafzai first came to global attention via blogging, through her book Malala's Magic Pencil she suggests a connection between the elegance and craft of a child's handwriting and their personal agency.

Yousafzai's handwriting has become a symbol of her advocacy. It demonstrates the power of written literacy, its intimate relationship to human identity and existence and its potential to remind the world of ultimate belief in human agency for good. Generations before, the young diarist Anne Frank did the same.

Our society impoverishes children if we don't learn from those who have gone before us. People who learn how to spell and to develop legible, fluent handwriting will have tools at their avail to confidently express themselves and circumvent inconveniences like losing power on one's digital device.

It's high time to put cursive skills back on the curriculum across Canada.

[ Like what you've read? Want more? Sign up for The Conversation's daily newsletter. ]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why cursive handwriting needs to make a school comeback

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teaching connected-style handwriting, otherwise known as cursive handwriting, has fallen out of fashion on many school curricula. Older generations have sometimes been shocked that some younger people today can't sign their names on official documents or even read a handwritten note. Canadian provinces have seen a decline in teaching and learning cursive.

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Cursive Handwriting: How to Write the Alphabet

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c august 21 2019
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a dave bautista
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cna
r to show different signatures
a tupunato
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p to show the reader different ways signatures look

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c may 11 2016
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a author is marshall
a no
p to teach the reader how to catch people that forge names

# data[].attributes.body
c 2018
r n/a
a bts jungkook
a no
p to inform?

# data[].attributes.body
c july 22 2013
r it agrees and disagree with my claim.
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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Just like summertime temperatures, the cursive debate is heating up - especially now that the newly established Common Core standards don't include the curly, looped handwriting style children have learned in penmanship classes for generations.

In response, some state legislatures are seeking to make it compulsory, like North Carolina where the senate passed a bill to make cursive a requirement in public schools. Supporters of the "Back to Basics" legislation, which passed 37-8 and also requires North Carolina students to memorize multiplication tables, said that cursive is important to know even in the age of keyboards and digital devices.

"[Students] have the right to know the same types of things we knew when we were coming along," Republican Sen. Austin Allran, the bill's sponsor, told the Charlotte Observer.

Those who argue for cursive insist that it teaches fine motor skills, is faster and more efficient than printed handwriting, and that it enhances the creative process and has other cognitive benefits. In addition, many historical documents will be illegible if people can't read in cursive.

"Cursive writing is a long-held cultural tradition in this country and should continue to be taught; not just for the sake of tradition, but also to preserve the history of our nation," Jimmy Bryant, director of archives and special collections at the University of Central Arkansas, told The New York Times.

Opponents say it's time to let cursive be written into the pages of history.

"As we have done with the abacus and the slide rule, it is time to retire the teaching of cursive. The writing is on the wall," Morgan Polikoff, an assistant education professor at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, argued in a New York Times opinion piece.

While the topic is polarizing, there are some people who fall into the middle, like Kate Gladstone, a handwriting expert and educator quoted on the topic of handwriting in publications as diverse as The New York Times to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Gladstone believes that cursive should be taught in our schools - but only to be read, not written.

"Reading cursive can be taught in just 30 to 60 minutes - even to five- or six-year-olds, once they read ordinary print," Gladstone says. "Writing cursive, however, takes much, much more time and effort to master, even sketchily."

Should educators take the time to teach children how to first draw and eventually to write these elaborate letters when there is so much more substantive curriculum? Gladstone says no because it's not a worthwhile return on the investment of time and energy.

What's more, most adults abandon cursive writing for a hybrid of mostly print letters joined occasionally in a cursive style. In 2012, handwriting teachers were surveyed at a conference hosted by Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of cursive textbooks. Only 37 percent wrote in cursive; another 8 percent printed. The majority, 55 percent, wrote a hybrid: some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive.

"When even most handwriting teachers give up cursive, why would anyone else continue to exalt it?" Gladstone asks.

Handwriting matters, she says, and offers fine motor skills and cognitive benefits whether in cursive or not. But she insists that children should be taught efficient handwriting, which research shows is most legible and efficient when it combines print, or manuscript, and cursive letters.

Cursive isn't required for legal documents, either. In state and federal law, Gladtone says, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over any other kind.

So is the writing on the wall for cursive? Neatoday.org asked its Facebook fans - K-12 educators from all over the country. We got an overwhelming response - almost 800 comments. The verdict? Keep cursive writing in schools. Here's what some of our fans had to say:

Get the high stakes testing out of elementary schools, and we'll have time to teach cursive writing again!

The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive. Think about that. I make my kids at least learn to read cursive.

Not everyone has a computer and printer.

Absolutely teach cursive. Teach everything possible, exercise those brains, grow neurons, every little bit of knowledge helps us THINK!

Handwriting is much more personal and I still prefer it on cards and in mailed letters. I use it for people I really care about on special occasions and other appropriate times.That being said, most of my day-to-day communication, including this post, is on a laptop.

For most of us, cursive is faster than printing. Speed is often the difference between getting the facts down correctly during note-taking, and trying to figure out or remember what the first part of the note referred to. Since note-taking remains part of the academic experience, and notes are often shared/compared, it's nice to have consistency for readability-especially for one's self.

I'm glad I learned cursive and know how to teach it. It is much faster for taking notes in a class and you can write really classy thank you notes. Manuscript is important, too, for clarity in filling out forms. Learn both and don't always rely on a keyboard.

Let us know what you think in the comments below or visit facebook.com/neatoday.

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Does Cursive Need to Be Taught in the Digital Age? - NEA Today

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Just like summertime temperatures, the cursive debate is heating up - especially now that the newly established Common Core standards don't include the curly, looped handwriting style children have learned in penmanship classes for generations. In response, some state legislatures are seeking to make it compulsory, like North Carolina where the senate passed a bill to make cursive a requirement in public schools.

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c December 18 2019
r it agrees with my claim
a the author is Jeremy eagle and Tracey tully
a little to none
pit gives a different viewpoint from a student.

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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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c october 17 2016
r it agrees with my claim
a liana heilin
a no
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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.

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c  November 6,2017
r it agree with my claim
a the author is Matt Grant
a  no not that i saw
p it is no teach and give a different viewpoint

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Any school child knows the three "Rs": reading, writing, and arithmetic. It seems a given that these three skills will always form the backbone of a child's educational development. Yet for students who graduated from elementary school before 2010, visiting a modern-day classroom may contain some noticeable differences.

In particular, one might notice the absence of cursive, the style of penmanship marked by conjoined letters. The adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCS), a set of benchmarks in math and English designed for kindergarten through twelfth grade, has set off a debate over handwriting and cursive and when-or even if-such skills should still be taught.

"The Common Core State Standards were developed through a state-led effort in 2009 and 2010 and published in June 2010," says Olympia Meola, press secretary for the Council of Chief State School Officers, an organization that co-sponsored the standards.

"Since then, states have voluntarily chosen to adopt the Common Core, or chosen to develop other standards that prepare students for college and careers. There is not a standard specific to cursive writing in the Common Core; instead, these standards give schools and teachers the flexibility to teach cursive writing in the classroom. States also have the flexibility to adopt standards above and beyond the Common Core State Standards."

To date, 42 of the 50 U.S. states have adopted the CCS, but only 14 have passed laws requiring cursive proficiency. Everyone from local, state, and federal officials to educators, psychologists, and scientists are sharply divided on the issue. Cursive's defenders say it's a valuable skill and can aid in word proficiency; its detractors call it a waste of time and want more relevant skill building, like keyboarding.

Steve Graham, Warner professor at Arizona State University's School of Education, says that the benefits of handwriting can be boiled down to a few essential elements. "There's different styles of handwriting: there's manuscript, which is a stick and ball; there's cursive, which has joined letters; and there's italics," he says.

"There's other forms as well, but the two that have dominated this country are manuscript and cursive." Graham says that in looking at these two forms of script and considering their benefits, it's helpful to think in terms of reader and writer effects.

There's evidence that suggests if your handwriting is less legible, then people form negative opinions about what you're saying.

"By reader effects, what you're really talking about in terms of handwriting ... is if it's hard to read what's written because the handwriting is not legible or less legible, then that influences the reader. And second, there's evidence that suggests if your handwriting is less legible, then people form negative opinions about what you're saying."

Knowing this, Graham says, the question becomes which is more legible: cursive or manuscript? "If you ask a person on the street, usually they'll say manuscript," he says. "But the reality is that there's not much real difference in terms of legibility, if you have an equal amount of practice in both."

In terms of writer effects, Graham says the thing to look at is automaticity. "The more automatic you are, usually the more fluent you are," he says. "If you're writing something by hand or you're typing it, and your ideas are coming really fast but you're not such a good typist or you're not really quick with handwriting, then ideas might slip away out of your working memory as you're trying to write them down."

Graham points out this is something that happens to all writers, no matter how efficient they are. But it highlights the fact that someone's dexterity with handwriting can interfere with other processes, like content generation.

Do we need to teach two forms of handwriting, or should we just teach one?

"So the question [now] is, which is faster: cursive, or manuscript?" Graham says. "If you ask the typical person on the street, the answer you'll get is, 'cursive's faster.' But when you actually look at the data, as long as there's an equal amount of practice, then there's not much difference. You might get a little edge for cursive for the speed issue, and for the legibility issue, you get a little bit of an edge for manuscript. ...So, the question becomes: Do we need to teach two forms of handwriting, or should we just teach one? My opinion on this, given that's such a crowded curriculum, is we should teach one."

Graham's assertion is that people are overreacting over the loss of cursive. "I think too much has been made of this issue," he says.

In Arizona, you have state legislators passing a law that you have to teach cursive handwriting.

"In Arizona, you have state legislators passing a law that you have to teach cursive handwriting. Come on, give me a break-they don't have anything better to do, that they need to be legislating what teachers teach in terms of ... handwriting? I think this is one of these things [where] we assume we're losing something, and I'm not exactly sure what we're losing by teaching one versus teaching two, as long as we teach one well."

Yet Virginia Berninger, an experimental and licensed clinical psychologist and professor emerita at the University of Washington, says that the loss of cursive puts students at a real disadvantage, particularly those with learning disabilities. Berninger has been involved in a number of studies that she says show the unique benefits of cursive on understanding letter formation.

For instance, a longitudinal study showed that when comparing manuscript, cursive, and keyboarding from students from grades four to seven, "It was the cursive that was uniquely contributing to [children's] spelling and to their composing quality," she says.

"We think that's because with cursive, there are connecting strokes that link the letters, and we think that helps with creating those word units representing what you need for spelling." Since cursive was originally invented to speed up writing, being able to write faster may have given students a composing advantage.

Berninger goes on to say that for students with learning disabilities in reading and writing, the physical act of handwriting is often beneficial. "What we've learned in our research in the last six years, is that even if a learning disability involves reading, like pronouncing words or reading comprehension, it still has writing problems associated with it," she says.

This correlation between reading and writing in learning disabled children has largely been ignored. "Dyslexia is not just a reading disability," she says. "In addition to word reading, the more persistent problems ... are spelling problems. That can affect [a child's] composing."

Berninger's recommendation then, contrary to Graham's, is that children should be taught to be hybrid writers. "You teach manuscript first for two years, and then you teach them the cursive," she says.

In due time, cursive will help with spelling and composing.

Teaching manuscript alone has its own benefits. "Teaching printing, we found in several studies, transfers to improving your word reading. We think because the production of the letters enhances perception of the letters. So that helps with reading, and in due time, cursive will help with spelling and composing."

Berninger says it doesn't even take that much to teach a student good handwriting. "People say, 'With everything else we have to do, how can we possibly find time to teach handwriting?' Well actually, it only takes five or 10 minutes a day, or even three times a week, and you really can accomplish a lot," she says.

In other fields, like medicine and law, you do have members of the community that more actively participate in making the standards. For whatever reason, we have not accorded that privilege to the teachers.

Part of the issue for Berninger is that the Common Core standards are not written by actual educators. "We have people who are legislators, government regulars, educational policy people ... they're the ones that are writing these standards," she says.

"Rarely if ever have they been classroom teachers, actually working with kids. We do think this is a critical issue-we're not getting enough of the voice of the classroom teacher into making these standards and policies. In other fields, like medicine and law, you do have members of the community that more actively participate in making the standards. For whatever reason, we have not accorded that privilege to the teachers."

One area in which Graham and Berninger agree is that there needs to be more keyboarding taught in the classroom. "It's a changing world in terms of how we compose," Graham says. "If you're not at school, most composing isn't done by hand now, it's done digitally, or by spoken word when you speak into your phone."

But Berninger says that in her research, she found that students don't usually start to see benefits from keyboarding until they get to seventh grade.

This idea that we just need to use the technology, we don't need our 'old fashioned' tools, it's a mindset that we need to be a bit more cautious about in general.

She believes this might be because handwriting uses only one hand, but keyboarding uses both. Developmentally, right brain/left brain myelination doesn't mature until early adolescence. It could also be due to the fact that keyboarding skills are neglected in the classroom. "Schools in general are not teaching kids to use the computers, the keyboarding part," she says. "And so it may just be there hasn't been as much instruction."

Still, Berninger doesn't believe that typing should ever replace handwriting. "Every problem we're going to solve, we're going to create technology for it," she says. "So this idea that we just need to use the technology, we don't need our 'old fashioned' tools, it's a mindset that we need to be a bit more cautious about in general. That's led to the dismissal of the importance of handwriting."

But Graham says the real problem is a myopic focus on handwriting as just one of many skills students need to be good writers. He says that out of 20 or so interviews he does a year on the subject of writing, eight out of 10 of those focus on handwriting alone. Only two are about writing more generally.

"That's an odd balance, to be honest," he says. "Handwriting is one of many skills that one needs to master to become a skilled writer. Students don't write very well, and we don't do a very good job of teaching it in schools. But we seem to be maniacally focused on handwriting." He adds, "I don't want to take away anything from handwriting, but it seems out of balance."

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Should Cursive Still Be Taught In Schools?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Any school child knows the three "Rs": reading, writing, and arithmetic. It seems a given that these three skills will always form the backbone of a child's educational development. Yet for students who graduated from elementary school before 2010, visiting a modern-day classroom may contain some noticeable differences.