Many LHS students may fondly (or painfully) recall tracing A’s and B’s into their cursive workbooks in elementary school. This was seen as an essential skill when learning how to write, a skill which would become the building block for signatures used on important forms and documents. Yet, the evolving technological age has bestowed upon us the electronic signature: identification by way of typing one’s name on a digital document. These forms often ask just for one’s initials. Many high school seniors have certainly used this new form of signature before, as the Common Application, a software that many colleges in the United States use during the admissions process, requires students’ signatures before submission. Thus, all of this raises the question: Is learning cursive still necessary?
Today, the New York State Education Department does not require cursive instruction in schools. This change occurred in 2010, when the Common Core State Standards Initiative was created, and it did not include cursive handwriting in its curriculum. However, local districts can still choose whether they would like to implement cursive into their curriculum regardless. While learning cursive is a part of Lynbrook’s third grade curriculum, this is note the case elsewhere. Speaking for myself, as a former New York City public school student, I was given my first cursive workbook in fifth grade. But for nearly 15 years, the U.S. schools have been on completely different pages about the need to teach cursive, which has led to a gap in cursive comprehension.
Senior Aurore Baptiste attended school in Haiti, where she learned cursive at five years old in her third year of kindergarten, learning cursive before print. Baptiste remarked, “It wasn’t really a choice, and since everybody was learning how to write, they gave us the book to practice with and then it became homework.”
Recent studies have proven that handwriting notes in cursive instead of print results in faster and smoother note-taking, as cursive does not require a writer to pick up the pen as often. Studies show that students also retain more information when they handwrite their notes instead of typing. The few qualms with this is that cursive handwriting is often illegible due to a student’s fast speed. “The only benefit in learning to write print [was] so that others will be able to understand what I write,” Baptiste noted. “I don’t really see an advantage in writing either cursive or print. I think writing in cursive makes you look fancy, nothing else after that,” she added.
The National Education Association (nea.org) published a 2022 article entitled, “The Great Cursive Writing Debate,” which describes how “learning cursive not only improves retention and comprehension, it [also] engages the brain on a deep level as students learn to join letters in a continuous flow.” Senior Charisse Cueto, who learned cursive before third grade, supports this research: “I think knowing how to write in cursive and print helps me see the relationship between both kinds of letters and make similar connections between other pictures or characters. It’s a nice exercise for the brain,” she explained.
Ultimately, science has proven cursive assists the development of fine motor skills, the precise movements made with the small muscles in our fingers and hands. When writing in cursive, multiple muscles in the hand are engaged to produce continuous and coordinated movements, which instills better muscle control. Furthermore, the intentional and fluid movements also enhance hand-eye coordination and improve cognitive functions relating to memory. “I like cursive and print almost equally, but cursive suits my hand slightly better because it’s a little more flexible, thus allowing my hand to relax a little bit more,” Cueto said.
Apart from writing in cursive, there are many benefits to knowing how to read it. While the issue of not being able to read the documents can easily be rectified with modern-day transcriber tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI), one would be missing out on the deeper connection and perspective obtained from reading the original handwriting. This deeper understanding is crucial when examining historical documents, often written in cursive, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Conversely, the transcribed versions of these documents are never rewritten exactly like the original, and this flaw in technology can then hinder the experience of reading information critical to our nation’s past.
Cursive is a necessary part of everyday life; each individual has his/her own unique signature. The entire reason why signatures are so unique lies in the fact that they are written in cursive. Using them as a means of authorization is better than a digital signature, as anyone can type in someone else’s initials, but a cursive signature is far more difficult to replicate. Even with the advanced technologies that enable a person to customize his/her electronic signature, security risks remain.
This form of script is an essential skill for surviving both in and outside of a classroom environment. Cursive should be mandatory in the elementary school curriculum from grades one through five. Afterall, research proves the great benefits procured while learning it. In fact, technology is still too new to be the sole determinant in allowing cursive to die. Cursive must survive.
