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Should schools be required to teach cursive handwriting?

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Ohio has joined many other states in reestablishing cursive in their schools' curricula.

Research shows the value handwriting has for developing children's fine motor skills and a connection between words and memory.

But experts seem split on whether it's a question of print vs. cursive, or cognitive fluency vs. disconnect.

Cursive is set for a comeback.

Last month, the Ohio State Legislature added cursive to the Ohio Department of Education's English language arts standards. House Bill 58 requires the department to include supplemental materials on developing handwriting "as a universal skill," with print learned by third grade and legible cursive by fifth. With this bill, Ohio joins the more than a dozen states who have adopted such legislation after Common-Core standards dropped cursive as a requirement.

"It seemed we had made a decision that was arrogant on our part that we didn't think these kids needed something that we had taken for granted, that was our way of communicating for generations," Beth Mizell, a Louisiana state senator, told the Washington Post. In 2016, Louisiana passed an even more thorough bill than Ohio's, requiring cursive instruction continue through the 12th grade.

Cursive's purpose in an era of typing and voice recognition software has dwindled. Even the signature, cursive's seemingly unassailable bastion, has proved less sound thanks to PIN numbers and touchpads that turn any autograph into a symbolic work of abstract art.

For most of us, that thought elicits one of two responses. Either we bristle at the thought of a future generation's not knowing cursive's lovely, flowing script. Or we cheer at the idea, remembering the jeers of teachers past at our blocky, yet readable, print.

Unfortunately, such reactions are seldom derived from an understanding of the research and more often the joy or trauma we experienced when learning cursive. That goes for the legislators, too.

Of course, we can teach children cursive, but does it provide any developmentally benefit to do so?

Handwriting and its proponents

Handwriting, whether in cursive or not, has been shown to help students develop conceptual understanding better than those who use laptops to take notes in class. Image source: Flickr

To start, it's worth pointing out that some people conflate cursive and handwriting as synonymous, and that's not the case. Handwriting is as an ink-bound idiolect; everyone's is different. Some people print exclusively, others use cursive, and many have formed an amalgam of the two (a category that can broadly be called D'Nealian).

If we look at handwriting, not explicitly cursive, there's little doubt that it is important to child development. A study published in Trends in Neuroscience and Education has preliterate five-year-old children either print, type, or trace letters and shapes. They then underwent an MRI scan while being shown the image again. The researchers found that a "reading circuit" fired up only in the children who drew the letter or shape freehand-not the children who typed or traced it.

The brain activity exhibited by the handwriting children was in the same areas of the brain adults use to read and write. Study author Karin James notes that handwriting required the children to first plan and then execute the action, steps not necessary when typing or tracing. The end results were also messy and variable, which James believes may provide a learning benefit.

The advantages of handwriting appear to extend beyond initially learning to read and write. A 2014 paper in Psychological Sciencecompared students who took notes longhand to those who took them on a laptop. The laptop students performed worse on conceptual questions. The researchers theorized the difference resulted from the way longhand notes force us to process and then reframe information.

They were also careful to compare notetaking with notetaking. The laptop's ability to curb our conceptual capacity through multitasking and distraction was well-documented in other studies.

"I think this may be another case where we should be careful that the lure of the digital world doesn't take away significant experiences that can have real impacts on children's rapidly developing brains," wrote Perri Klass, M.D., for the New York Times. "Mastering handwriting, messy letters and all, is a way of making written language your own, in some profound ways."

None of this is to say that typing is detrimental. Handwriting proponents simply argue that students shouldn't skip over handwriting and go directly to typing.

For her article, Klass spoke with Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology, University of Washington. Berninger recommends children become "hybrid writers," learning first print for reading, then cursive for spelling, and then typing for speed. Berninger also points out that typing may strengthen cross-communication in the brain since children use both hands.

Arguments against cursive

Some argue that if students don't learn cursive they won't be able to read historical documents like the Declaration of Independence. But does learning cursive really make that easier? Image source: Flickr

Cursive is considered to grant three advantages to students: speed, comprehension, and fine motor skills. As the theory goes, when writers lift the pen from the page less frequently, they can write more words per minute, getting their thoughts on the page faster. The comprehension argument supposes students who cannot write cursive cannot read it, hindering them from understanding historical documents.

"But the real reason cursive is fading is that the arguments in favor of it are pretty weak," writes Vox news editor Libby Nelson. "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 for speed, typing is significantly faster once mastered.

Anne Trubek, author of The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting, argues that early education should supplant cursive with "cognitive automaticity" - that is, "the ability to make letters without conscious effort." She suggests that keyboards are excellent tools for such learning and grant additional benefits to students with poor handwriting and those with fine-motor disabilities. To back up her claims, she points to studies showing students are writing longer, more rhetorically complex essays than past generations, despite fewer writing in cursive.

"People talk about the decline of handwriting as if it's proof of the decline of civilization," writes Trubek, in a New York Times op-ed. "But if the goal of public education is to prepare students to become successful, employable adults, typing is inarguably more useful than handwriting. [And] there seems to be no difference in benefits between printing and cursive."

The cursive quandary

Is cursive writing obsolete? Perhaps a better question is whether cursive is important to helping children communicate ideas clearly. Image source: PxHere

But does cursive offer more cognitive boons than print, or is it simply more pleasing to the eye? Here experts have struggled to make a definitive case, but there is some evidence to suggest that cursive may bestow developmental gains.

One study showed that cursive predicted better spelling and composing in fourth to seventh graders. Another made the case that it benefited children with developmental dysgraphia.

A study published in Language and Literacy found that cursive demonstrated improved students' spelling, text construction, and graphic-motor skills. Interestingly, study author Professor Isabelle Montésinos-Gelet noted that children were better off learning either print or cursive, as the print-cursive method demonstrated the worst results for students by limiting the acquisition of automatic motor skills.

It's worth pointing out that these findings aren't robust (yet). They can be contradictory, too. Dr. Berninger's "hybrid writers" idea seems in opposition to Montésinos-Gelet's argument against a joint approach. One of the reasons for this, as noted by Karin Harman James, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, is that it is difficult to find children whose educational backgrounds only differ in handwriting style.

"There is no conclusive evidence that there is a benefit for learning cursive for a child's cognitive development," she told .

What are we to do then when it comes to schools' curricula? Scott Beers, an associate professor and chair of the master of education in literacy program at Seattle Pacific University, has a suggestion.

"I want to reframe the question," Beers writes. "Instead of asking which form of writing to teach, we should ask what we most want for our students as they learn to write. What's the end goal?"

For Beers, that end goal should be to help students express their ideas clearly. How they transcribe those ideas is less important than the ideas themselves. He argues that students need to learn to write by hand and develop handwriting fluency-whether that fluency come from print, cursive, or an idiosyncratic D'Nealian script.

"I don't think one form is 'better' than the other - research is thin and far from conclusive - but mastering two forms requires twice the time and effort, and is particularly challenging for those with writing difficulties," he adds.

In this light, Ohio and Louisiana's legislation is far too sweeping. It may be worth introducing students to cursive, and students who find it appealing can certainly master it, but requiring legible cursive by fifth grade-let alone mandating it until twelfth-says more about the legislative's desire to polish the patina off a cultural artifact than an understanding of child development.

Related Articles Around the Web

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Is cursive writing important to child development?

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Ohio State added cursive to its education standards last month, but even experts are split on whether cursive is important to child development or not. While cursive may be seen as less important, handwriting has many proven benefits for child development and student comprehension later in life.

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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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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.

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Why we should teach cursive writing to all kids

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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.

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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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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.