Kids should learn cursive. Their print needs work, too
Parents dismayed by the sorry state of penmanship, take heart: A decade and a half after most states stopped requiring cursive in public schools, instruction is making a comeback. More than a dozen states have reintroduced cursive mandates in recent years, New Jersey and Pennsylvania the latest among them. The measures come amid rising concerns about the harms of classroom technology — and the…
Parents frustrated by the poor quality of students' handwriting may find comfort in the news that cursive instruction is once again becoming a priority in schools. Over a dozen states have recently reintroduced cursive requirements, with New Jersey and Pennsylvania being the most recent additions. These measures stem from growing worries about the negative impacts of classroom technology and the alarming discovery that many students lack the ability to read essential documents like the Declaration of Independence or sign their names.
Cursive has been a part of American education since the country's birth. By the early 1900s, children also started learning "print," which was believed to aid early literacy skills by mirroring the text they encountered in books. However, the rise of technology has always been a concern for those who value proper handwriting. As early as 1955, the Saturday Evening Post blamed the increasing reliance on the telephone, typewriter, dictation machines, and electronic devices for turning America into a "nation of scrawlers."
Despite these concerns, the 2010s have not seen a significant shift in the importance of handwriting skills.
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