elementary
Longhand Lessons Debate continues over returning cursive to the classroom BY VALERIE FINHOLM
80 BACK TO SCHOOL | 2020
an education professor at The University of Southern California in a New York Times opinion piece published in 2013. Cursive, however, has not gone quietly into the history books. Instead, a simmering debate continues today. Proponents say children who can’t read cursive miss out on a world of knowledge when they can’t read historical documents or even a handwritten letter from a relative. They also cite recent research that shows forming letters by hand in grades K-2 positively affects a child’s brain development, motor skills, comprehension and memory — the basis for learning to read and write. They’ve lobbied legislators across the country to return cursive instruction to elementary schools. So far, more than 25 states have restored funding for teaching cursive writing in their schools, according to the National School Boards Association. Ohio is one state that has decided that cursive isn’t obsolete. A law passed in 2018 requires students to write legibly in cursive
by the end of fifth grade. But the battle continues elsewhere in the U.S. After nine attempts at introducing a bill that would require Indiana elementary schools to teach cursive handwriting, state Sen. Jean Leising finally got the Indiana Senate to pass it in March. Whether or not it becomes law will be decided this summer. Leising argues that cursive writing is a critical skill for tasks such as signing important legal documents. In New Jersey, some schools teach cursive, but a bill proposed by Assemblywoman Angela McKnight would make it mandatory. She received support from Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, who backed the measure for utilitarian reasons: “You may not have your computer with you, or your phone dies. Now you can write in cursive.” BENEFITS OF CURSIVE “We’re bringing back handwriting,” says Virginia Berninger, a retired professor of education at the University of
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n Feb. 17, 1835, Rose Terry Cooke dipped a quill pen into black ink and wrote in flowing script: “This day I am 8 years old. I will make a set of new resolutions but I will not write them down for fear I shall break some of them although I shall endeavor not to.” Rose, who lived in Hartford, Conn., wrote in cursive, a skill she practiced in her journal. An 8-year-old today might not be able to read what she wrote. That’s because many elementary schools stopped teaching cursive writing a decade ago when it was dropped by Common Core educational standards, a uniform set of curriculum requirements for public schools. Educators who support the move say cursive is no longer needed in the computer age when people communicate mostly on screens. They also argue that teaching the skill takes up too much of a teacher’s time. “As we have done with the abacus and the slide rule, it is time to retire the teaching of cursive,” writes Morgan Polikoff,