Cursive is a type of handwriting that has been used since the first century BCE, which stands for “Before Common Era.” It is when symbols and letters are conjoined and flow together. This generally makes writing faster and easier. Writing in cursive enhances brain development in both young and old individuals. 

Many schools across America have stopped teaching cursive since around 2010, as the Common Core standards have dropped it as a requirement. This affected over 40 states but many have reintroduced it within the past five to ten years. There have been many schools that have continued to use cursive, knowing the positive outcomes from it.

Many schools have replaced cursive handwriting with keyboard skills, and some have gone to the extent of even replacing print handwriting with the same. Schools have largely stopped teaching cursive due to the rise of digital technology and a change in educational priorities, as seen in the shift to keyboard skills. Although typing is a resource used in many workplaces, being able to write is just as important.

Teachers are split on the issue of not teaching cursive anymore. However Ms. Mackenzie Paulson, an English teacher at Owatonna High School, says, “It gives good practice and an idea of what it looks like and what that experience is like, makes them use motor skills more than basic typing, kinda learning a new alphabet, it gives more experience with language.” From a teaching point of view, it can help students with motor skills and learning.

Many students have had points deducted from assignments for not writing it as instructed. However, some schools taught students to use a computer for typing and tools like the talk-to-text feature. Teachers in the past have said that they won’t need to learn writing because everything will be online. Not teaching cursive has stopped some schools from teaching writing in general.

Cursive helps students learn fine motor skills, focus better, and improve their memory. Cursive has also been proven to boost activity in language; it creates stronger neural connections than typing, and it can potentially help with dyslexia. Cursive is a very good technique to learn how to write and read due to the fact that most historic artifacts are written in cursive.

Having cursive become a standard again can very well positively impact students now and in the future.