Here is an excellent bipartisan bill: bring back the teaching of cursive writing in elementary schools. Politicians of both parties have supported the teaching of cursive. In the last ten years, ten states have passed laws that mandate the teaching of cursive handwriting. Now 24 states support the teaching of cursive. Other states are considering the legislation.
The campaign against cursive was started more than ten years ago when many states adopted Common Core State Standards, which emphasized keyboarding over handwriting. There are multiple reasons why student scores have dropped over these years, but dropping cursive did not help students succeed.
Opponents of teaching cursive, which include the teachers’ unions, claim that no one needs to write by hand and that modern communication is all electronic, including signing checks. On the contrary, cursive is good for the brain. First, it reinforces that reading and writing are from left to right. Then, by handwriting, the brain has the opportunity to learn the lesson. The brain absorbs and holds the information much better when the time is taken to write by hand. The keystrokes do not contribute stickiness to the brain.
When I type, I often confuse homonyms and I accidentally type “right” instead of “write” or “knew” instead of “new”. The fingers quickly learn and repeat the patterns of typing words without thinking. But when writing by hand, I never confuse the homonyms. Keyboarding is careless and handwriting is careful. When we handwrite the lesson, the concepts stick with us and we remember the information.
If students do not know how to write cursive, then they cannot read cursive. If you only look at printed text, then handwriting looks like a jumbled mess.
Besides academic success, there is another very important reason to learn cursive: to be able to write a love letter. A handwritten mash note is cherished. And what good is a handwritten profession of love if the recipient is unable to read it?
