What Is Happening to Cursive Writing? Should We Care?

The lefties among us recall our cursive writing instruction as a pain. While those right-handed classmates were seeing gold stars on their lines of ovals, we were seeing “Try harder” or “Work on this!” We thought ovals were the goal, but maybe they were just a small part of the whole cursive writing picture.

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The Issue:  So is the slide away from cursive writing instruction, even in the lower grades, a good idea or a bad thing? The requirements of No Child Left Behind have limited the time a teacher can spend on those subjects not tested, and the rise of computer accessibility would seem to indicate that cursive writing is a dead subject.

In fact,Valerie Baurerlien comments that,” The common core state standards, a set of math and English goals agreed upon by 45 states and now being implemented, sends cursive the way of the quill pen, while requiring instead that students be proficient in keyboarding by fourth grade.” (The New Script for Teaching Handwriting Is No Script At All, WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323644904578272151551627948.html).

In Baurerlien’s words, what was mandatory when we went to school has become "optional and, so far, few schools have opted for it.” (A version of this article appeared January 31, 2013, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The New Script for Teaching Handwriting Is No Script at All.)

However, Julia Layton, writing for HowStuffWorks says, “ Is cursive obsolete? ...Some students will continue with cursive if they prefer the format.”

“Most, however, don't. As a widespread writing style, cursive may indeed have passed its prime: As of 2007, 85 percent of high school students printed their SAT essays” [source: Breen].( Layton, Julia. "Is cursive writing obsolete?" 23 February 2010. HowStuffWorks.com. 16 February 2013.)

Why Do We Care?  So, why should we want our children to become proficient in cursive if they will then revert to printing later in their academic careers. Although the new Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew, has one of the most illegible series of loopy squiggles as  his signature,we can’t really point to having to read the Treasury Secretary’s name on US currency as the reason.

What’s the upside of children in elementary schools becoming acquainted with, being able to read -even becoming proficient in cursive writing? After all, they might abandon it as a form of communication when older-some of us have to admit to moving completely away from the flowing script.

The Benefits:  Wendy Bounds, (How Handwriting Trains Your Brain and Everything Else. The Wall Street Journal, Business, October 5, 2010) points out benefits of cursive instruction that new research has reinforced.

What research?  How was the research conducted? The magic of those MRI’s that we take for granted in the diagnosis of medical issues is invaluable for watching brain activity.   Bounds points out that, “using advanced tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, researchers are finding that writing by hand shows it can benefit children's motor skills and their ability to compose ideas and achieve goals throughout life.”

And she further states that, “Recent research illustrates how writing by hand engages the brain in learning. During one study at Indiana University published this year, researchers invited children to man a "spaceship," actually an MRI machine using a specialized scan called "functional" MRI that spots neural activity in the brain. The kids were shown letters before and after receiving different letter-learning instruction. In children who had practiced printing by hand, the neural activity was far more enhanced and "adult-like" than in those who had simply looked at letters.

Lead Researcher, Karin Harman James  assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience is quoted as reflecting, " 'It seems there is something really important about manually manipulating and drawing out two-dimensional things we see all the time.'"

Bounds cites Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, who says, "'Handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding involves selecting a whole letter by touching a key.' “

Berninger observed that "'pictures of the brain have illustrated that sequential finger movements activated massive regions involved in thinking, language and working memory—the system for temporarily storing and managing information.'”

Bounds describes another of Berninger’s studies that “ demonstrated that in grades two, four and six, children wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard..”(Bounds, WSJ, October 5, 2010).

Another Important Upside: Those of us with elementary- level children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews recognize a significant cultural value: we have seen firsthand the excitement that children demonstrate when first introduced to cursive writing. It’s a watershed moment.

Layton observes“When kids start learning cursive, which is typically around third grade, it's kind of a big deal. First graders print. Second graders print. Third graders write. The fluid, fancy letters and words are a sign of growing up. Of course, these days, it may not be how mommy writes. But the "rite of passage" aspect of learning cursive remains a fairly strong force in the 9-year-old crowd. It holds value as a longstanding component of the curriculum.”

Layton refers to Raina Kelley’s previous account of cursive as “The focus on cursive in and around third grade reflects the developmental connection between writing and thinking. The two don't become truly separated until later. Children who excel in handwriting skills tend also to excel in other academic pursuits.”(Kelley, Raina. "The Writing On The Wall." Newsweek. Nov. 12, 2007.http://www.newsweek.com/id/67956/)

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The Positive Impact of Technology:  If that’s not enough to convince you that cursive writing matters, consider Layton’s list of iPhones, iPads and other tablets, apps and emerging technology …"all contributing to successful cursive writing.

Some high-tech allies also are giving the practice an unexpected boost through hand-held gadgets like smartphones and tablets. Dan Feather, a graphic designer and computer consultant in Nashville, Tenn., says he's ‘never adapted well to the keypads on little devices.. Instead, he uses a $3.99 application called "WritePad" on his iPhone. It accepts handwriting input with a finger or stylus, then converts it to text for email, documents or Twitter updates.”

Preschoolers are also using apps. Bounds recounts a 4-year-old's refusal to practice his letters before being introduced to his mothe’s iphone app. “Apps are helping Zane Pike-The Cabot, Ark. boy won't put down his mom's iPhone, where she's downloaded a $1.99 app called "abc PocketPhonics." The program instructs Zane to draw letters with his finger or a stylus; correct movements earn him cheering pencils.”  Not surprising-Zane loves it!

In spite of the obvious decline of cursive writing instruction in many schools, we might keep our children in mind and  remember Layton’s sobering comment, “ To abandon handwriting lessons is potentially to interfere with the learning process as a whole.”

(Our thanks to Barbara R. for forwarding Baurerlien's article in the WSJ to us.)