Posted on 06/26/2025 3:51:06 PM PDT by CFW
ATLANTA — When younger students return to Georgia public schools this fall, they will learn an old-school skill: handwriting.
New changes to the state standards for English Language Arts will require the teaching of cursive writing in elementary school. The state Board of Education approved the standards overhaul two years ago but gave teachers until this fall to prepare.
Georgia is joining other states, from Alabama to Texas, that are resurrecting a skill that had seemingly gone the way of the dodo after the proliferation of laptops and touchscreen devices. Even California, the cradle of computer keyboards, passed a law requiring cursive in schools in 2023.
Compulsory cursive writing has been tucked into dozens of pages that describe the standards for English in elementary school.
The state board approved the revised standards in a 13-1 vote in May 2023.
In third grade, students will have to learn how to read phrases and sentences in cursive, and they will practice forming letters and word connectors. By fifth grade, they will be called on to write whole texts in cursive, “legibly and efficiently,” with appropriate spacing throughout. All along, they will be working on fine motor skills that some feared had gone extinct.
(Excerpt) Read more at capitol-beat.org ...
Are they learning to read an analog clock too?
The horror.
In Indiana, we learned it in the second grade and it was expected to be used in all writing assignments from third grade onwards. Cursive writing was seen as a “grown up” skill and we were all eager, as little kids, to do the things grown-ups could do.
For those of you that don’t read the articles the first question should be WHY?
The article addresses the question and is worthy of thinking about.
MAGA
Who actually hand wrote the U.S. Constitution?
Jacob Shallus or Shalus (1750–April 18, 1796) was the engrosser or penman of the original copy of the United States Constitution.
Five pages handwritten on parchment.
Madison (and Hamilton): “Jake, pal. We’re gonna need you to rewrite it, with ten additions. Some of the guys are being a little difficult.”
Jake: “Are you kidding me? No can do. Do you know how much work, time ... Dude, we’ll just append them OK.”
“Whatever.”
Need to teach them shirthand, too!
Shorthand
Will this be American cursive? details are important.
Going back to pen and paper in general is going to be needed in the age of AI - both to combat cheating, and actual learning in general.
Even if someone uses AI to cheat, they will still in a way be forced to learn the material when they have to hand-write the stuff the AI wrote for them vs. just copy pasting and printing it out.
Good change. The act of writing in cursive has been shown to be mentally beneficial.
Good!
Expressing ideas this way makes you think about problems in a different way.
AI becomes a tool, not a solution.
Good now bring back phonics
Before you know it, they’ll be learning about punctuation ...
I don’t think I’ve written anything in cursive except my signature in at least 50 years. I’m not at all sorry to have learned it back in the day, though.
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“At a state school board meeting last month, Richard Woods, the elected state school superintendent, introduced a new initiative to promote those loopy letters: the John Hancock Award will go to schools that demonstrate excellence in cursive.
“Cursive writing is more than just a skill — it strengthens fine motor development, improves literacy, and connects students to historical documents in their original form,” the award description says.
Woods got big applause when he mentioned the new requirements at the Republican state convention in Dalton in early June.
People clapped when he announced that students would have to learn about personal finances. But the audience erupted when he said cursive writing was back.
“Every student will own their signature. Every student will know how to read our original documents in their original script,” Woods said, adding that children should be able to read the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and other texts handwritten by the nation’s founders.”
I had to teach my granddaughter...also times tables...
I’ve been training myself in Spencerian Penmanship with fountain pens to keep my fine motor control. It’s soothing.
;)
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