Cursive Writing Is Coming Back to Schools

KCRA ^ | Mar 5, 2017

[nickcarraway]

Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schools

Cursive writing is looping back into style in schools across the country after a generation of students raised on keyboarding, texting and printing out letters longhand.

Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schools, the latest of 14 states to require cursive. And last fall, the 1.1 million-student New York City school system encouraged teaching cursive to students in the third grade.

Penmanship proponents contend writing words in a single line is just a faster way of taking notes. Others say students should be able to understand cursive documents. And research suggests cursive helps students master spelling and sentence construction because they don't have to think as much about forming letters.

[cynwoody]

Years ago, one of the marks of an educated person was beautiful penmanship.

Years ago, doctors were considered highly educated persons.

Yet their penmanship writing prescriptions was a standard joke.

[independentmind]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-hand-could-make-you-smarter

[teeman8r]

It’s not how one writes, but how one thinks that matter....

And yes, I think in cursive terms and undertones

[bravo whiskey]

I think teaching cursive to children is very important for development. It teaches patience, hand eye coordination, and develops new neural pathways in the brain

[dila813]

Now you can just talk to your phone

[Don W]

When I’m at work I write (in cursive) in a logbook that is a legal document. Only the youngest engineers use block printing, which is what I was trained out of by halfway through grade 3. And their letter forms are often atrocious!

Because you don’t use it does not mean that it is unnecessary to all.

You also inadvertently made the point as to why learning cursive is important: If you can’t read or write it, how are you going to know what any and all documents written using cursive actually say?

[luvbach1]

The absence of cursive writing would not be so bad if those who “printed” knew the difference between upper and lowercase letters.

[luvbach1]

You also inadvertently made the point as to why learning cursive is important: If you can’t read or write it, how are you going to know what any and all documents written using cursive actually say?

Such an excellent point!