Let’s Keep Cursive in School

For many years, the Common Core Curriculum in US schools included cursive writing. However, starting in 2010, cursive handwriting was taken out of the curriculum.

Before the development of technology, cursive handwriting was important for students to master, but now it’s largely considered unnecessary. From my experience, it appears that the majority of students in the US today are incapable of reading or writing in cursive. I think this is an issue because cursive writing can be utilized for so many different things. Further, cursive writing should still be taught in classrooms.

Cursive writing has many benefits; let me list a few. In addition to being beneficial for the brain, it is essential for people to know in order to be able to sign important documents. Learning cursive can help a child’s nervous system by enhancing their fine motor skills. Students who use it can also write more effectively and legibly. According to a 2018 study by a South Korean research center, teaching these students cursive dramatically increased the readability of their handwriting.

As far as my own experience is concerned, I started learning cursive at a very young age and have not stopped using it since. In my elementary school years, cursive writing was a major component of the curriculum at my small private school. I had to develop my ability to read and write in cursive throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

I began learning this skill in the second grade. In my opinion, this is a highly useful ability to have. The ability to freely flow my thoughts is what I find most helpful about this skill. Due to the fluid-like nature of cursive, it makes it easier for my brain to comprehend the information that I am trying to convey in a short period of time.

I also like writing in cursive since, visually, it is neater and more aesthetically pleasing than standard print. Writing in cursive can help you take more organized notes for class, which will improve the legibility of your standard print handwriting. This can aid in retaining important information for your academic work.

I asked junior communication student, Sarah Eidelman, for her opinions on this subject. As Sarah explained to me, she supported cursive education in schools for several reasons. “I think cursive should be taught in public schools because if it’s not, no one will go out of their way to learn it on their own. Knowing how to write your signature and being able to read and write cursive is an important skill to have. It can be really helpful to create a sense of formality in addition to reducing the amount of time it takes to write letters or notes,” said Eidelman.

Sarah makes an extremely compelling point that I had not even thought of – cursive is a quicker alternative to writing than print. It cuts out a lot of the unnecessary time that writing in print takes up. Junior student, Ally Erriane, had similar thoughts as well. “I think cursive needs to be taught because in the professional world, cursive is used more often than normal writing. I also feel that older adults use cursive more often so it’s harder for younger generations to read birthday cards or other important handwritten documents,” explained Erriane.

I think that writing in cursive has many positive aspects to it and should be utilized in educational spaces as much as possible. Hopefully one day cursive will be brought back into elementary school curriculums for generations to come.