Have you wondered why public schools have dropped cursive? If so, you are not alone. The real question is whether parents will ask their local school boards to bring it back.
by Kelly Himes Brolly, author of “Laws, Rules, and Rights: A Guide to Protecting Children in Public Schools,” Double Umbrella Publications, LLC (2023).
Why Don’t Public Schools Teach Cursive Handwriting?
There are several reasons why public schools have stopped teaching cursive handwriting. First, technology and the ever-increasing number of devices in the classroom have placed the focus on typing instead of handwriting. Second, the declining quality of public schools have caused them to focus on subjects that can be tested. Higher test scores bring in more money, justify taxes and increase votes for eSPLOSTS. Third, charter schools and charter school systems must demonstrate continued improvement with test scores.[1] Skills such as cursive handwriting, which are difficult to test and quantify, have been dropped. Fourth, public schools have largely distanced themselves from our nation’s history and roots, sometimes not wanting to read the original source documents because they refer to God. As a result, the importance of these documents is discounted along with the need to read the cursive writing. Yet, by failing to pass on our cursive handwriting, what are our children losing?
The Benefits of Cursive Handwriting
For young children, one of the benefits of leaning cursive is that it follows the child’s early natural movements. Just give a child a crayon and paper and watch them draw swirling circles all over the page. This is one of the reasons why many Montessori[2] programs teach children cursive before they teach printing – it follows the child’s natural movements. Plus, in cursive it is much easier to distinguish the letters “b” and “d,” and “p” and “q.” In the natural world, a chair is a chair whether it is facing forward or backward, sitting up or laying down. Yet, printed letters and keys on a laptop are not the same. This can be difficult for some children to distinguish these letters. Cursive, on the other hand, helps clarify these differences.
Cursive handwriting is also good for grownups. According to the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,[3] handwriting engages at least 14 different areas in the brain, including memory recall, mental attentiveness, visual focusing, awareness with concentration, and eye-hand coordination. As we age, handwriting notes and letters can keep these skills sharp and keep people socially connected to one another. It can also be a stress reducer. The focused and deliberate process of handwriting is known to help calm racing thoughts, help process emotions, and reduce stress. It is just another simple, inexpensive, and practical way to improve our well-being.
The Benefits of Handwritten Notes on Learning
According to scientific evidence, handwritten rather than typed class notes during a lecture helps student learning, even when the typed notes are longer and more detailed. In 2014, three studies were conducted at Princeton University to compare the effectiveness of notetaking using longhand writing versus typing.[4] The researchers, Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer discovered that “students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand.” The flaw with typing was that the note takers “tended to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words,” which was detrimental to learning. Handwriting involves deeper processing than typing, and nuances in writing are more easily retained. In other words, the rush for digital convenience may have significant cognitive costs.
The Benefits for the Nation
Finally, the failure to teach cursive handwriting to our children distances them from our nation’s history. The public schools have already dropped history and replaced it with social studies. They no longer require students to read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which are the source documents for our nation. Now, they have stopped teaching cursive. It makes one wonder whether our public school leaders are fulfilling their intended purpose.
For parents who care, you can write to your local school board to request change. You can also attend a school board meeting and speak during public comment. Even if you do not get the results you want from the school, you can always teach your own children cursive handwriting at home using an inexpensive cursive handwriting kit, which may have added benefits as you connect and have fun together.
Kelly Himes Brolly is an attorney, author, consultant, and the Managing Member of Double Umbrella Publications, LLC, d/b/a Double Umbrella Consulting. For more information see Kelly’s book, “Laws, Rules, and Rights: A Guide to Protecting Children in Public Schools,” Double Umbrella Publications, LLC (2023). To order Kelly’s book on Amazon, go here. To hear Kelly’s podcast on ThinQ Media titled “The Informed Parent,” go here. To learn more about parental rights and public schools in all 50 states, go here or to www.doubleumbrellapublications.com.
[1] In Georgia, there are 180 school districts. The vast majority (178 school districts) are charter school systems or strategic waiver school systems, which are another form of charter system. These school districts have a “waiver” of the majority of Georgia’s School Laws in Title 20 of the Georgia Code. Instead, these school districts operate under a Charter Contract with the Georgia State Board of Education. Only two school districts, Webster County School District and Buford City School District, are traditional public school systems that operate under all the state’s school laws in Title 20. For more, see “Laws, Rules, and Rights: A Guide to Protecting Children in Public Schools,” Double Umbrella Publications, LLC (2023), Chapter 7: Charter Entities.
[2] There are two accrediting bodies of Montessori programs: Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), and the American Montessori Society (AMS). AMI programs tend to be the purists that teach cursive handwriting beginning in the early years.
[3] Marieke Longcamp, Céline Boucard, Jean-Claude Gilhodes, Jean-Luc Anton, Muriel Roth, Bruno Nazarian, Jean-Luc Velay; Learning through Hand- or Typewriting Influences Visual Recognition of New Graphic Shapes: Behavioral and Functional Imaging Evidence. J Cogn Neurosci 2008; 20 (5): 802–815. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20504
[4] Mueller, Pam A, and Daniel M Oppenheimer. “The pen is mightier than the keyboard: advantages of longhand over laptop note taking.” Psychological science vol. 25,6 (2014): 1159-68. doi:10.1177/0956797614524581.
