The decline of Cursive Writing
The decline in cursive handwriting began in the 1980s when computers and keyboards became commonplace and typing took precedence over beautiful handwriting. In the 21st century, cursive writing has become the exception rather than the rule. Since 2010, when most states adopted Common Core Curriculum Standards, which say nothing about handwriting, tuition has declined.
Since computers have become the main source of writing, many administrators feel that cursive writing is unnecessary and believe that one should spend time teaching keyboard skills instead. However, many students and parents believe that language teaching is still relevant and should not be discarded.
Teaching connected handwriting, also known as cursive handwriting, has gone out of fashion in many curricula. In the fall of 2016 the nation’s largest public school district, the New York City Schools, began promoting cursive writing in the curriculum. Last fall, 1.1 million students in New York City schools were encouraged to teach Cursive from the third grade onwards.
One of the most frequently cited criticisms of the Common Core State Standards is that they do not require students to write cursively. Older generations may be shocked that young people today cannot sign their names on official documents or read handwritten notes. In some schools in Ontario, for example, teachers have been introduced to cursive, but it is not mandatory.
States such as Tennessee and California have added italics to Common Core state standards. Louisiana seems to have gone the furthest, requiring students to receive cursive classes every year from third through 12th grade.
Alabama and Louisiana, which passed laws requiring cursive skills in public schools in 2016, are the latest of 14 states to require cursive courses. At least 10 other states, including Virginia, California, Florida, and Texas, have italics in their state educational standards. Last month, Louisiana passed a law that enacted traditional public schools and public charter schools to teach cursive from third grade up until 12th grade.
Schools in the United States are not required to teach cursive writing following the 2010 Common Core State Standards, which set standards for English-language arts and math in grades K-12. Not only are fewer teachers introducing cursive into their classrooms, but the digital age has also prompted many schools to emphasize keyboard skills in earlier classes than in the past. The greater use of technology for communication and the feedback of teachers themselves, explained Sue Pimentel, one of the leading authors of the English Language Standards, to Education Week 2016.
Experts say students need to print italics, not just keyboard strokes on computers. Cursive promotes fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, say, experts, stimulates brain activity, increases writing speed, and improves bonding and self-discipline. It is another way for students to develop the side of their brain that has not developed yet for basic reading and writing skills.
Advocates of cursive classes say students need to learn to read historical documents like the U.S. Constitution. Many historical documents are available in printed form, but not all. Others say Cursive helps students write in print because they need it to develop signatures.
While it is true that the Common Core Standards do not list cursive writing as a required or testable skill, some, including Todd Misura, a former teacher and occupational therapist who learned to rip, believe that cursive learning complements the standards. Learning to write in italics has many advantages that handwriting and printing do not, Misura notes. Beyond reading, Misura points out that reading specialists he has worked with believe that the use of italics helps authors break through spelling patterns.
Principal Carmen Farina distributed a cursive writing manual in September and encouraged principals to use it. She cites research suggesting that fluent italics helps students master spelling and sentence-building tasks because they don’t have to think so much about the letterform.
Malliotakis notes that students who cannot read in italics will never be able to read historical documents. Many schools have removed cursive handwriting lessons from their curricula. The general curriculum states that students must use Cursive to give oral presentations until grade 5.
The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 42 states and the District of Columbia, require handwriting lessons from kindergarten through to the first grade and then keyboard skills to be taught. Only 14 states require cursive instruction, and it generates fierce loyalties: some go so far as to argue that the Founding Fathers disapproved of our use of scripture (students must learn italic to decipher, for example, the intent of the original Constitution), while others claim that our identity is at risk if we cannot produce identifiable signatures. Many schools across the country and even private schools in D.C. have left the decision of including Cursive in the curriculum to individual principals and teachers.
As he prepares for a fifth grade this fall, he will learn to write in cursive, which is not taught at the public school in Montgomery County that he attends. Although Kincaid no longer uses the cursive she learned at boarding school, her students don’t understand it either. Believing that cursive as a writing style would never disappear, she decided to teach her grandchildren the imaginative script.
A 2013 national survey of elementary school teachers found that 40 percent of them do not teach cursive writing in the classroom, according to education provider Good Stuff. The survey also showed that educators are worried about the long-term consequences of no longer teaching writing students in italics.
In a viral video shared on Facebook, it is claimed that schools have suspended classes for pupils to prevent them from reading founding documents like the Constitution. However, no evidence removing the course from the curriculum prevents children from reading the founding documents.
