If you went to elementary school before 2010 than you remember the days of trace, copy, recall, worksheets that introduced cursive writing designed to help kids with their penmanship. Although cursive is not mandatory, some believe it is obsolete, thanks to technology; seven states are fighting for cursive.
The associated press reported that a new Common Core educational standard that does not mandate cursive writing has been adopted by 45 states, but seven of those states are fighting to save cursive.
The Common Core standard makes the learning of cursive optional rather than mandatory, leaving it up to the state or district to decide.
To a representative from Idaho, Linden Bateman, cursive helps children with creativity and intelligence. “Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard. We're not thinking this through. It's beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards."
Earlier this year, the Washington Post noted that cursive handwriting was disappearing from the school curriculum. Michael Hairston, president of the Fairfax Education Association considers cursive an art that has been replaced, “Cursive writing is a traditional skill that has been replaced with technology.”
The lack of requirement for incursive writing is not only taking place in American schools but also in Indian schools where English is taught.
Times of India reported in October that most Indian school children are not learning cursive at a young age or at all.
“We lay no emphasis on teaching cursive as correct print writing and accurate use of English is what matters most," said Ashok Pandey, the principal of Ahlcon International School in India.
Since technology can help one imitate cursive, it will be interesting to see whether the seven states can bring cursive back into the curriculum as a whole, or simply in their own states.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
