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Thrown for a loop, states are pushing for school to resume cursive lessons

November 15, 2013 at 12:42AM
Jaeden Alvarez practiced cursive writing at Cleveland K-6 School in Dayton, Ohio.
Jaeden Alvarez practiced cursive writing Wednesday at Cleveland School in Dayton, Ohio, a rare sight in many U.S. classrooms. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

COLUMBUS, OHIO – A national fight is brewing to keep cursive writing in U.S. classrooms.

When the new Common Core educational standards were crafted, penmanship classes were dropped. But at least seven of the 45 states that adopted the standards are fighting to restore cursive instruction.

The argument for cursive

Cursive advocates cite recent brain science indicating the fluid motion employed when writing script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor skills, promoting reading, writing and cognition skills.

They further argue that scholars of the future will lose the ability to interpret valuable cultural resources — historical documents, ancestors' letters and journals, handwritten scholarship — if they can't read cursive.

"We're not thinking this through," said Linden Bateman, a 72-year-old state representative from Idaho, who handwrites 125 ornate letters each year.

Why was cursive dropped?

State leaders who developed the Common Core — a set of preferred K-12 course offerings for public schools — omitted cursive for a host of reasons, including an increasing need for children in a digital-heavy age to master computer keyboarding and evidence that even most adults use some hybrid of cursive and print in everyday life.

Cursive restored where?

States that adopted Common Core aren't precluded from deviating from the standards. That's why California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah have moved to keep the cursive requirement. Legislation passed in North Carolina and elsewhere couples cursive with memorization of multiplication tables as twin "back to basics" mandates.

An optimistic note

Kristen Purcell, associate director for research at Pew's Internet & American Life Project, said researchers found it surprising that 94 percent of the 2,462 Advanced Placement and National Writing Project surveyed still said they "encourage their students to do at least some of their writing by hand."

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Teachers gave two reasons, she said: Most standardized tests are still in paper-and-pencil format, and teachers believed that writing by hand helped students to slow down their thinking, encouraging deeper and fuller thinking.

Associated Press

This image provided by the Baseball Hall of Fame shows at letter written by Lou Gehrig on Hotel Cleveland stationary to sportswriter Gordon Cobbledick. In years gone by, penmanship helped distinguish the literate from the illiterate. But now, in the digital age, people are increasingly communicating by computer and smartphone. No handwritten signature necessary. Cursive writing is not being taught in many schools as some 45 states have adopted Common Core standards, which have eliminated the tea
Yes, cursive, used when we wrote letters, like this one by Lou Gehrig. used it in this 19xx lettter. many schools as some 45 states have adopted Common Core standards, which have eliminated the teaching of cursive writing. (AP Photo/Baseball Hall of Fame) (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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