# data[].attributes.body
C- This article was posted on November 6, 2012. This article was updated August, 2018.

R- This article agrees with the opinion that kids should learn cursive writing in school.

A- This article is by a team a writers in Concordia University. The domain reveals that the article is from a educational website.

A- There are no spelling of grammar mistakes in this article.

P- The purpose of this article is to inform teachers that teaching cursive writing can help kids develops many different skills.

# data[].attributes.body
C-  This article was posted on February 20, 2017. It has been updated since.

R- This article agrees with the opinion of teaching handwriting by staying that is an important to learn how to sign.

A- The author of this article is Bethany Mandel. The domain reveals that this article was posted on a community website.

A- There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this article.

P- The purpose of this article is is to inform people that learning cursive is not just beneficial to learning how to sign your name, which is an important skill, but how learning to handwrite in a different way is beneficial to your mind as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why we should teach cursive writing to all kids

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

# data[].attributes.body
C- This article was posted on October 16, 2016.

R- This article States boths sides of the topic stating why and why not cursive writing should be included in schools.

A- This article is by Liana Heiltin from the education week.

A- There are no spelling or grammar errors in this article.

P- The purpose of this article is stating that yes, cursive writing would be great in being a part of ELA, but there is the argument of having not enough time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why don't the common-core standards include cursive writing?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Should schools teach cursive handwriting? The question is a polarizing one in the K-12 education world.

# data[].attributes.body
C- This article was posted on October 7, 2019.

R- This article States boths sides of the topic stating why and why not cursive writing should be included in schools.

A- This article was posted by the scholastic news.

A- There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this article.

P- The purpose of this article is to show what some kids think about the topic.

# data[].attributes.body
C- This article was posted on January 6, 2018.

R-This article agrees with the opinion for cursive writing.

A- This article was posted by a guest on Memorial post.

A- There are no spelling or grammar errors in this article.

P- The purpose of this article is to list reasons why to learn cursive writing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive - Memoria Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.body
C- This video was posted on May 6, 2014

R- This video agrees with the opinion that cursive writing should still be tout in schools.

A- This video was posted by the  PBS news hour.

A- There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this video.

P- This video states that cursive handwriting helps with the learning process and helps kids with dyslexia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why some schools still insist on lessons in elegant cursive

# data[].attributes.body
C- This video was posted on May 9, 2016.

R- This video agrees with the opinion that cursive writing should still be tout in schools.

A- This video was posted LogicofEnglish.

A-  There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this video.

P- The purpose of this video is to inform you that cursive writing is writing of the hand. This video states that cursive is much more natural than print handwriting and better to learn.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Teach Cursive? - 2015 Master Teacher Training, Part 5

# data[].attributes.body
C- This image was posted on October 7, 2019. It has not been updated since.

R-This image agrees with me by showing that when the teacher is using cursive none of the kids can understand.

A- N/A

A- There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this image.

P- this image is showing that Kids are going to get confused with reading notes because the teacher writes in cursive writing.Not learning cursive writing has set them back in the learning process.

# data[].attributes.body
C- N/A

R- This image neither agrees or disagrees with my opinion with it stating that cursive writing is getting thrown out for newer ways of writing.

A- N/A

A- There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this image.

P- This image is showing that people are getting rid of cursive for innovation while ignoring its original purpose.

# data[].attributes.body
C- This image was posted in 2018 and it has not been updated.

R- This image agrees with my topic showing that you do need to learn cursive to sign contracts.

A- N/A

A- There are no spelling or grammar errors in this image.

P- This image shows that people are going to sign contracts and they need to learn cursive for that.

# data[].attributes.body
C- N/A

R- This image agrees with my opinion showing that not knowing cursive will misinform you when looking at important documents or other pieces of writing that have cursive in them.

A- N/A

A- There are no spelling or grammar errors in this image.

P- This image shows that not learning cursive will cripple you when talking about important subjects.

# data[].attributes.body
C- N/A

R- This image neither agrees nor disagrees with my opinion.

A- N/A

A- There are no spelling or grammar mistakes in this image.

P- This image is showing how many states have dropped cursive writing as a requirement and it also shows how close the country is to dropping cursive writing all together.