As the world continues to move more and more online, many schools have stopped teaching cursive all together. Many schools are instead spending time on developing kids' typing skills. Many of us remember writing the same sentence or copying a paragraph the throughout third grade, honing our loops and skill to never lift the pencil up. But, most of us do not use cursive in our day to day lives.
This week, we'll take a closer look at some legislation from around the country aimed at requiring cursive instruction in public schools as more and more schools are phasing it out of their curriculum.
Why does cursive matter?
Although becoming proficient typers may help children more later in life (be able to write for school more quickly or their future profession requiring proficient typing), scientists believe learning cursive does more than teach students how to sign their name with some pizazz or read the United States Constitution.
Some researchers believe cursive writing is important to cognitive development and the brain’s sensorimotor region. In a study titled "The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children", scientists Karin H. James and Laura Engelhardt examin differences in brain activation in children when they are "typing or tracing" vs when they are handwriting letters and how it could facilitate reading acquisition in pre-literate children.
Idaho representative Linden Bateman had this to say about the importance of learning cursive back in 2014, "more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard. The fluid motion employed when writing script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor skills, in turn promoting reading, writing and cognition skills."
But, when there is only so much time in a year, and the world is clearly moving more digital, what serves kids the most? Morgan Polikoff, an assistant professor of K-12 policy and leadership at the University of Southern California, says "If you just stop and think for a second about what are the sorts of skills that people are likely to be using in the future, it's much more likely that keyboarding will help students succeed in careers and in school than it is that cursive will."
A look at some legislation
Over the last eleven years, there have been 169 bills introduced related to cursive (see the stakeholder page on our mobile app using Mobile Access Code: YCNIFX). Not all of these bills are related to teaching cursive in schools, there are some related to authenticating signatures on voting ballots. The bills break down like this: 6 are currently sitting in "introduced", 14 are currently in committee, 14 have crossed over, 119 are dead/failed, 3 have passed, and 19 have been enacted. Mississippi is the leader and has introduced 33 bills related to cursive, Indiana is in second at 19 bills, and New Jersey and Missouri are tied for third at 12. Let's look at what some of the passed legislation aims to do.
School related legislation
Not surprisingly, these bills require cursive be part of elementary school curriculum at some point.
Arkansas passed a bill in 2015 that requires "very public elementary school shall teach cursive writing as a component of English language arts by the end of grade three."
Alabama passed Lexi's Law in 2016 which states "In every elementary school there shall be taught at least reading including phonics, spelling, handwriting, arithmetic, oral and written English, geography, history of the United States and Alabama, elementary science, hygiene and sanitation, physical education, the arts, including musical and visual arts, environmental protection, and such other studies as may be prescribed by the local board of education. Instruction in handwriting shall include cursive writing so that students are able to create readable documents through legible cursive handwriting by the end of the third grade." Louisiana's bill requires instruction to cursive be introduced by the third grade, and, requires cursive incorporated into the curriculum in grades four through twelve. Tennessee's bill also follows this third grade trend as well.
Delaware's passed 2017 bill requires every public elementary school to teach cursive writing by the end of grade four as a component of English language arts. North Carolina's bill requires it be introduced before the end of fifth grade along with requiring students to memorize multiplication tables.
Voting related legislation
Passed California legislation states "The elections official may consider characteristics of the written signature that are specified in regulations promulgated by the Secretary of State. For purposes of this subparagraph, characteristics include the slant of the signature, letter formation, and whether the signature is printed or written in cursive."
Passed Colorado legislation states "The election judges must compare the signature on the self-affirmation on each return envelope with the signature provided by the Secretary of State. Election judges must research the signature further if there is: (I) an obvious change in the signature's slant, (II) A printed signature on one document and cursive signature on the other document." California also proposed a bill that crossed over this year which requires the same inspection.
Type of writing (hand printed, cursive, or mix), is included in West Virginia bills as a reason that requires the signature in the voter registration record to be reviewed by at least two different elections officials.
I used to write in cursive, but sometime between elementary and high, teachers asked me to switch to print writing. I also am of a generation where I learned how to type in Media (library class). These days, I switch between using print and cursive, but mostly stick to print. I do think there is value to learning cursive, but also believe that typing is the superior skill for our future. With articles like the "Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive" circulating around, I think this debate is not yet over.
Cover Photo by Pablo Gentile on Unsplash
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