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Article 1

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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of cursive claim it's still important that children grow up and be able to sign checks, write thank you notes, or read historical documents.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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Common core and why they don't include cursive writing.

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Common core and why they don't include cursive writing.

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Article 2

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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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Article 3

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The Great Cursive Writing Debate: Lost Art or Vital Skill?

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Where do you stand on the great cursive writing debate?

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5 reasons cursive writing should be taught.

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5 reasons cursive writing should be taught.

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Article 4

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Article 5

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Kids today can Skype, build a blog, and tag a friend. But how many of these modern communicators can still read and write cursive?

Fewer than ever before, studies show. Penmanship is going the way of a lost art, even in homeschools.

"Handwriting is 50 percent of literacy, but children are seeing less and less formal handwriting instruction," said Toni Schulken, a child occupational therapist who is dedicated to increasing writing literacy.

Vanderbilt University research reveals that children spend just ten minutes a day practicing print and cursive. In many homeschools, parents are simply too buried in lesson plans to squeeze in penmanship. In an effort to keep up with core subjects, some teachers are asking themselves, "What lessons can I forgo?"

With so much pressure to preserve penmanship, is the struggle worth the results? Consider the pros and cons of teaching a child to read and write cursive:
Pros of Teaching Cursive to Children
- Students are more literate if they can read and write cursive, and it allows them to communicate with older generations, like family members.
- Students can sign their names, a standard requirement as an adult.
- Students will have a tool they can apply later in life that gives them more options.
- Students can gain a practical life skill that is becoming a lost art.
- Students will be able to take notes faster in college. Printing letters, which requires raising and lowering the pencil or pen point for each letter, slows you down, as opposed to cursive, where you only have to raise and lower the point at the beginning and end of each word.

Now, let's look at reasons to skip penmanship.
Cons of Teaching Cursive to Children
- It can take time away from core or more "relevant" subjects.
- It can be time-consuming and frustrating for parents.
- If students don't use the skill regularly, they could forget it.
- Penmanship is not as valued in education and society as it once was.
- Because cursive is faster to write, it can appear less legible than print and create confusion. Every year, up to $95 million in tax refunds aren't delivered correctly because of unreadable tax forms.

Another quandary facing the fate of handwriting: If technology advances to the point that students use electronic or digital gadgets to write their names, do their school work, and communicate, will teachers eventually decide that preschoolers shouldn't bother learning to write their ABC's?
Teach Cursive in Four Steps
Schulken says penmanship is crucial to a child's education, and offers four steps to help parents teach cursive.

Step 1 - Students cut and connect dots to exercise eye-hand coordination.
Step 2 - Students practice motor patterns needed for forming capital letters, numbers, and lowercase letters.
Step 3 - Students master writing words on traditional primary paper.
Step 4 - Students work on consistent spacing, letter size, and margins.

"The idea is that each mastered skill builds on the next as children first tackle pre-writing tasks and eventually build sound writing habits," Schulken explained.

"The gap leads to frustrated kids, stressed parents, and discouraged teachers who often don't know how to help."

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The Pros and Cons of Cursive - AOP Homeschooling

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Kids today can Skype, build a blog, and tag a friend. But how many of these modern communicators can still read and write cursive? Fewer than ever before, studies show. Penmanship is going the way of a lost art, even in homeschools.

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Article 6

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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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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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picture of boy writing in cursive

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State legislatures across the country are springing to the defense of a skill that most adults rarely use: cursive handwriting.

A bill in the Washington state legislature would require students in the state to learn cursive. If it passes, Washington would join states as politically diverse as Tennessee, North Carolina, California, Georgia, Idaho, and Massachusetts that in the past few years have passed bills requiring schools to teach students to write in cursive.

Even more states have tried to reaffirm cursive's place in the curriculum. The Kansas Board of Education reaffirmed in 2013 that students should learn to write cursive. And similar bills have been proposed in Indiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, and other states.

These defenders of cursive writing say they're spurred into action by the Common Core - new standards for what students should know and be able to do in language arts and math. The Common Core doesn't require students to learn to write cursive.

But the Common Core really just reflects a longstanding trend: cursive handwriting has been on its way out for two generations, long before texting became the preferred way for young people to communicate. The search for a simpler way to teach children to write goes back a century. The slow death of cursive is just the latest version.

The history of cursive in the classroom

In the 1860s, as elementary education became more universal, the most widely used form of handwriting was the Spencerian Script - the loopy, ornate cursive most commonly seen now on formal invitations and college diplomas. Students never learned to write in print; they started writing cursive from the beginning.

Spencerian Script was beautiful, but not practical; it took a long time to write. So when a new, much simpler method of cursive was developed in the 1920s - the Palmer Method - it quickly became universal in American classrooms. If you've ever gotten a letter or card from a grandparent, you've probably seen the Palmer Method:

Around the time the Palmer Method was introduced, children also started learning to print before they learned cursive writing. That made it easier for the youngest children to write in class, but it started paving the way for the downfall of cursive altogether.

Still, handwriting was considered a major skill worth learning; penmanship was usually a separate class, graded separately on report cards. In the 1960s, the Palmer Method was later supplanted by two other forms of cursive - the Zaner-Bloser Method and the D'Nealian method.

Then, in the early 2000s, handwriting lessons started disappearing entirely as computers became more widespread.

State legislatures probably can't save cursive

The Common Core didn't kill cursive. Cursive was already dying. In 2003, according to a Vanderbilt University report, teachers spent less than 10 minutes per day on handwriting instruction - down from up to two hours in the 1950s.

In 2006, when the SAT began requiring students to write essays, 15 percent of students used cursive - although the students who used cursive got slightly higher scores. The PSAT requires students to write a paragraph in cursive saying that they won't cheat, a requirement that has produced plenty of angst even though today's test-takers learned to write in class long before the Common Core. "Students who aren't sure how to write in script should do the best they can," the College Board counsels teachers in its guide to the test.

But the real reason cursive is fading is that the arguments in favor of it are pretty weak. They usually center on students being able to read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence (which were originally written in copperplate script, and are hard to decipher even for people who studied cursive in school) or on developing fine motor skills, which can also be cultivated in other ways.

As teachers devote more and more time to preparing students for standardized tests, the amount of wiggle room in the curriculum for cursive will probably decrease - just as simpler handwriting styles replaced the elaborate cursive of the 19th century. Legislation can forestall that, but not forever.

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There's no reason for kids to learn cursive, but politicians keep trying to make them

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State legislatures across the country are springing to the defense of a skill that most adults rarely use: cursive handwriting. A bill in the Washington state legislature would require students in the state to learn cursive.

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Statistics chart

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A recent national survey of 612 elementary school teachers in the United States, conducted by teacher supplies retailer Really Good Stuff, reveals that 41 percent of elementary school teachers no longer incorporate cursive writing instruction into their curriculum - an indication cursive writing may be heading for extinction.

Could this be a result of mandated state-approved curricula? Since 2010, 45 states have adopted the Common Core State Standards - an education initiative that aims to align state curricula along national standards. The Common Core standards do not contain any requirement for cursive instruction, leaving it up to individual states and districts to decide whether or not to include cursive writing instruction in their curricula.

While only 59 percent of teachers reported that they covered cursive writing instruction in their classroom, 67 percent of teachers said they plan to teach cursive in the future - signifying the possibility of a comeback for cursive writing. Additionally, 63 percent of teachers regarded cursive writing skills as either "Important" or "Very Important," while 71 percent felt there would be long-term negative consequences associated with discontinuing cursive writing education. The consequences cited by teachers include poor fine motor skills development, and inabilities to accurately read cursive writing or develop a legal signature.

Responses from teachers included:
"The worst thing for me to see is that more and more children have writing accommodations, when simply a good foundation in basic handwriting throughout elementary school would have served him/her better in preparing and training for the more rigorous academics in the upper grade levels. So much emphasis is placed on critical thinking skills before children have mastered the basics (math, grammar, spelling, handwriting)." - Secondary Teacher, Texas

"Students are unable to read cursive writing in middle school and my students enjoy the ease of using cursive over printing - once they thought writing was a chore, but as they learn cursive they see that writing can move more quickly. I think they should learn cursive so that they have a choice in the future as to how they'd like to write. Without at least being exposed to it, they don't have a choice. Even with computers, cursive has a place." - 4th Grade Teacher, Florida

"Everyone needs a signature. Furthermore, there are many students who prefer cursive because it is easier and faster to write. Overall I find the quality of students' work is better when they use cursive handwriting. In elementary school there are still a lot of paper and pencil tasks." - 4th Grade Teacher, New Hampshire

"Learning cursive writing requires time, patience, and perseverance. It helps build small motor skills and teaches attention to detail. Twenty-first century learning is fast paced and tech-oriented. Students are more apt to type their assignments than write them with paper and pencil, so handwriting is becoming more and more an unnecessary skill. Hopefully the skills I mentioned above will find a place in our new world of technology, because the time to thoroughly teach and learn the art of cursive writing is no longer available in today's school day." - 3rd Grade Teacher, Minnesota

"Children learn natural spacing when learning cursive. Some will have long-term difficulty without it. Students will not be able to write as quickly when they need to (note-taking from lectures)." - 4th Grade Teacher, California

"I believe that the brain needs small motor skill practice and that our children get very little of this. Also, I am concerned that they cannot read cursive (notes from elders) and that they will not have legible signatures when they grow up." - Secondary Teacher, Michigan

"I use D'Nealian cursive (lowercase connectors) with large motor (using whole arm) & fine motor movements when teaching phonics patterns in decodable words. For dyslexics, this is crucial to "seeing" words as units of language, rather than random letters stringing across a page. My son has used this method since 1993, and I have taught it to my special education students since that time, as well." - 3rd Grade Teacher, North Carolina

Since the 1970's, the emphasis on cursive writing education in the classroom has diminished in order to make room for a greater proportion of class time spent preparing students for standardized tests, teaching them word processing skills or spending time on more meaningful educational content. However, 82 percent of teachers stated that their school does not implement keyboarding instruction in place of cursive writing instruction - suggesting that in general, less time is being spent educating students on the writing process.

While 59 percent of all elementary school teachers surveyed taught cursive writing in their classrooms, 74 percent of second and third grade teachers, the two grades where cursive is typically introduced, taught cursive. A 2007 nationwide survey on writing instruction by researchers at Vanderbilt University revealed that 50 percent of second grade teachers and 90 percent of third grade teachers offered cursive writing instruction. Comparatively, the 2013 survey conducted by Really Good Stuff found that 65 percent of second grade teachers and 79 percent of third grade teachers offered cursive writing instruction in their classrooms.

About Really Good Stuff Inc.
Really Good Stuff® is an award-winning teacher supplies retailer located in Monroe, Connecticut. They strive to improve the classroom experience for teachers and students by developing creative teaching tools that apply to grades K-8. For more information about Really Good Stuff, please visit: http://www.reallygoodstuff.com/

The survey conducted by Really Good Stuff sampled 612 K-5 teachers from 48 states. The survey data represented herein has a confidence level of 95% with a confidence interval (margin of error) of +/- 3.96. These statistics are based on a population of approximately 1.7 million U.S elementary school teachers [2010 Census]. This data is filtered from an original sample of 902 respondents.

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National Poll Reveals That Cursive Writing Education Is In Danger

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A recent national survey of 612 elementary school teachers in the United States, conducted by teacher supplies retailer Really Good Stuff, reveals that 41 percent of elementary school teachers no longer incorporate cursive writing instruction into their curriculum - an indication cursive writing may be heading for extinction.

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writing of "Learning"

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When it comes to the ways people communicate, the writing is on the wall - and it isn't handwriting.

Each new generation relies less on pen and paper to put down words and more on keyboards and keypads. The trend is reflected, even encouraged, by U.S. educators. Once a staple of elementary school, learning cursive isn't part of the new Common Core curriculum adopted by 45 states.

California is one of seven Common Core states where efforts are being made to keep cursive in the lesson plans.

Our Question of the Week for readers is: Should school kids still learn to write in cursive, or is flowing penmanship no longer useful?

Those who argue against teaching cursive say such lessons would take up classroom time better spent teaching kids to "keyboard." They say learning to communicate effectively with computers, tablets and smartphones will be more applicable in the workplace. When notes are taken by hand, it's likely to be done in print script or block letters, or a hybrid of printing and cursive. As for nonwork communication, they say, who hand-writes letters anymore?

Defenders of cursive point out that kids of the past were able to learn both handwriting and "keyboarding" - what many of us called "typing." They note that even if workers of the future may rarely have to write by hand, many may have to be able to read things that were written in flowing script. There are still plenty of older people who do hand-write, and many appreciate a beautifully written letter or thank-you note. Research even suggests that writing in cursive promotes eye-hand coordination, motor skills and brain function.

In Los Angeles Unified schools, cursive writing is still expected to be taught in third and fourth grades but is not a "requirement."

Should cursive get more or less emphasis in California schools?

Send your thoughts to opinion@langnews.com. Include your full name, and your city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number for verification. If you prefer, use the comments section that accompanies this article online.

If you would have preferred to hand-write and mail your letter, sorry - we're afraid it wouldn't arrive in time to be included in Sunday's newspaper, where as many responses as possible will be published.

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Should school kids still learn cursive writing? Question of the week

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When it comes to the ways people communicate, the writing is on the wall - and it isn't handwriting. Each new generation relies less on pen and paper to put down words and more on keyboards and keypads. The trend is reflected, even encouraged, by U.S. educators.

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Cursive handwriting is disappearing from the list of required courses at U.S. schools, so one New Jersey grandmother is making sure her grandson's schoolmates know how to loop their Ls and curl their Qs.

At first, 45 students signed up for the cursive club that Sylvia Hughes founded last fall at Nellie K. Parker Elementary School. But then the club grew to 60 8- and 9-year olds.

Some states require cursive handwriting instruction, but in New Jersey, it's optional. That was news to Hughes. "I was shocked because every legal document requires a signature. And do we expect the parents to teach it? Do we expect kids to learn on their own?" Hughes says.

Hughes says she learned this while helping her grandson with his homework. She asked Principal Lillian Whitaker why cursive handwriting wasn't part of the curriculum. "It's not that we don't want to. It's just that with all the state mandates, we don't have time," Whitaker says.

Mike Yaple of the New Jersey School Boards Association says the state adopted the Common Core State Standards Initiative to provide consistent learning requirements for students across the nation. Common Core has been adopted by nearly every state and the District of Columbia, and the standards don't require cursive.

"Even New Jersey's state standards have said students are expected to write legibly in manuscript or cursive, but there really never was a mandate for cursive to be taught in all schools," Yaple says.

Students are now required to take nine subjects in preparation for a state-issued standardized test this spring. He says many people support teaching cursive handwriting to improve eye-hand coordination and teach students how to understand documents in cursive.

"But when push comes to shove, some parents might want their child to have an edge when it comes to other subjects like technology or speaking a second language," Yaple says. "And that's when you see the push toward fewer hours for cursive."

Hughes says it made the students happy. "When I come to the school now for different programs they have, they come up to me and say, 'Hi, Miss Hughes.' I mean, it really does my heart well," Hughes says.

Alexandra Solomon, 9, says the feeling is mutual. "Ms. Hughes is kind of like my hero, sort of, because without her I wouldn't be able to write cursive and I wouldn't be able to read cursive," Solomon says.

Parent Helen Burgos remembers spending 45 minutes a day learning cursive in parochial school. She didn't hesitate to sign up her daughter for the club.

"I do things the old-fashioned way. I do not pay my bills online. I still write thank you letters instead of sending an email," Burgos says.

By popular demand, Hughes and her cursive club will return in September.

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Cursive Club Tries To Keep Handwriting Alive

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The writing may be on the wall for cursive handwriting. With a growing number of schools opting not to teach cursive, it may be on its way to becoming a disappearing art. So one New Jersey grandmother is making sure her grandson's schoolmates know how to loop their Ls and curl their Qs.

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Reading, writing, and arithmetic: these were the foundation of what you learned growing up in school. One of the "Three R's" is missing from many school curriculums today. Out of the 43 states that currently follow Common Core educational standards, only seven of them include cursive handwriting in their curriculums. Cursive handwriting lessons are being replaced with more instructional time focused on standardized test preparations and teaching students how to write computer code. While it is important to adapt lesson plans for a new era in education, here are some reasons why cursive handwriting should still be taught.

We Learn Better When Writing Things Down

Practice makes perfect. This saying is especially true when it comes to writing. A recent study from the Boston Globe shows that students remember their notes better when writing them down, compared to typing them. With many schools emphasizing on preparing students on their test taking skills, encouraging them to write in script can help them excel on their next quiz. Writing in cursive will require some practice, and it can teach students that hard work and determination will allow them to succeed.

It Reduces Distractions & Prevents Multitasking

When you try to write something on the computer, do you find yourself catching up on today's news instead? The Atlantic reports that students feel less distracted when they take notes by hand. The same article also says that students feel better about their studies when they are not using laptops or tablets to take notes. For younger students, spelling out words and writing them in cursive can help them remember how to spell certain words they may have trouble with.

Students Will Still Need to Create a Signature

Think about how many times a day you sign a check or a piece of paper. You probably would not know how to create a signature if you were never taught to write in script. Although you might now be signing on a tablet, it's important to differentiate your signature from other peoples. Students should practice writing their name in script and develop a unique signature that would be hard to replicate to prevent fraudulent signatures.

It Helps Students with Dyslexia

The Dyslexia Research Institute reports that 10 to 15 percent of the entire US population suffers from dyslexia. Cursive handwriting is often used to help dyslexic students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. According to a report done by PBS, cursive handwriting has been proven to improve dyslexic students spelling and sentence structure.

It Helps Us Connect With Past Generations

Many of our past generations have written in script. Ancestral records, personal diaries, and other artifacts about loved ones can help future generations understand their family's history. If students are not being taught cursive, how are they supposed to view history? Many of our nation's most important documents have been written in script and it's important that our nation's students are able to read documents in script.

Want to test your script? See how well you can write "Gorilla Office Supplies" in cursive with our current contest.

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Should Cursive Handwriting Still Be Taught in Schools?

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Reading, writing, and arithmetic: these were the foundation of what you learned growing up in school. One of the "Three R's" is missing from many school curriculums today.

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kids not understanding what is on the board.

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why students should learn cursive.

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Cursive debate resurfaces: Should technology trump handwriting?

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Just a few short years ago, cursive was something all kids were taught in schools. Not anymore! In many parts of the country, cursive is becoming a dead relic of the past. But Laci shows us why educators might be smart to keep teaching kids those loopy letters.

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How To Improve Your Cursive | Plan With Me