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The Decline of Cursive Handwriting Cursive handwriting is declining in schools across the country. The next generation of children must forgo their learning of cursive. Schools should absolutely continue to teach cursive, because it stimulates the brain. “I think your cursive writing identifies you as much as your physical features do.” says Virginia Berninger, a psychologist at the University of Washington. (What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive ) Cursive handwriting encourages the fluidity of thought processes when writing, and is also much quicker. This will be useful for any student in exams where time can be limiting. Cursive handwriting also develops hand/eye coordination and motor skills which can help develop skills in other areas of life and work. Cursive handwriting shows character. Cursive should be taught and enforced in schools across America. First, cursive handwriting stimulates the flow of thoughts. When a student is writing in cursive, their brain is working harder and faster than a child writing in print. In fact, learning to write in cursive is shown to improve brain development in the areas of thinking, language and working memory. Cursive handwriting stimulates the brain. In an article titled Why Cursive, it states that cursive improves confidence in a student's academics. (Why Cursive ) The result of their confidence reverberates more participation. Handwriting cursive contributes to greater retention and deeper learning in students. Schools would be more successful in their participation and education if cursive handwriting was encouraged more. In addition, a student's work can be done more efficiently in cursive. In the event that a student has a timed test or writing assignment, the student should write in cursive because it's faster than printing each letter. Researchers found that elementary students who learn cursive are
usually better spellers. ( Here's how Cursive writing practice benefits literacy ) Because the cursive letters are connected, the pen gets lifted less frequently, which cuts down on time spent forming the letters. The flow of cursive means the pen — along with one’s thoughts — doesn't stop moving. Therefore, writing an important, or timed essay, results in faster, more efficient work. Educational psychologist Virginia Berninger, who studied the writing composition of children in grades second through fifth, found that the students “consistently did better writing with cursive when they wrote essays.” (The Importance of Cursive Handwriting ) Compared to the students that typed on a keyboard, the students that hand wrote their essays were able to compose at a faster rate, and they produced longer essays. They also wrote more complete sentences than the kids who typed, and their essays expressed more complex ideas. Subsequently, cursive improves hand/eye coordination, motor skills, and prepares students for their futures. “The learning and use of cursive writing helps to form neural pathways for letter recognition and spatial awareness in your brain.” ( The importance of cursive writing ) Cursive writing helps train the brain to integrate visual, tactile information, and fine motor dexterity. The brain has to develop “functional specialization,” integrating thinking, movement, and sensation. (The Federalist ) “The brain must locate each stroke relative to other strokes, learn and remember appropriate size, slant of global form, and feature detail characteristic of each letter; and develop categorization skills. ” (Psychology Today) Cursive is important for the future. Cursive writing, compared to printing, is even more beneficial because the movement tasks are more demanding, the letters are less stereotypical, and the visual recognition requirements create a broader repertoire of letter representation. The connected letters and fluid motion of cursive handwriting are especially beneficial to students with disorders such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. ( What's lost as handwriting fades .)Printing is more difficult than cursive due to the frequent
Works Cited Doverspike, J. (2015, February 27). Ten reasons people still need cursive. The Federalist. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://thefederalist.com/2015/02/25/ten-reasons-people-still-need-cursive/ Ose Askvik, E., van der Weel, F. R. (R., & van der Meer, A. L. H. (1AD, January 1). The importance of cursive handwriting over typewriting for learning in the classroom: A high-density EEG study of 12-year-old children and young adults. Frontiers. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810/full Berger, T. (2017, March 10). What we lose with the decline of cursive. Edutopia. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-we-lose-with-decline-cursive-tom-berger Why cursive? the importance of teaching students to write in cursive. A faster, more effective way to teach cursive handwriting. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from http://www.cursivelogic.com/why-cursive Konnikova, M. (2014, June 2). What's lost as handwriting fades. The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r= Klemm, W. R. (2013, March 14). Why writing by hand could make you smarter | psychology ... Psychology Today. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-hand-coul d-make-you-smarter
Why do we need cursive writing? The Optometry Center for Vision Therapy. (2019, October 18). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://ocvt.info/why-do-we-need-cursive-writing/ Guest. (2018, January 6). Top 10 reasons to learn cursive. Memoria Press. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/top-10-reasons-to-learn-cursive/ Scholastic Parent Staff. (2020, May 5). Here's how Cursive writing practice benefits literacy. Scholastic. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/cursive-writing- practice.html McManus, E., April 14, 2020, & McManus, E. (2020, April 14). The importance of cursive writing. Spoke. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://spokeonline.com/2020/04/the-importance-of-cursive-writing/
