The Importance Of Mascursive Writing In Education

At least 41 states do not require public schools to teach cursive writing or reading. The uses of computers and technology has become even more prevalent in the past decades. More and more school curriculums are demanding the use of typing skills, which has taken a huge toll on cursive writing. Most schools are now neglecting the valuable art of cursive and replacing it with keyboarding classes instead. Schools should not eliminate cursive from their curriculum because with cursive, students will be able to read legal documents and keep in touch with the past generations, students with learning disabilities will benefit, and students will learn many valuable skills.

First, students will be able to read legal documents and keep in touch with

In a recent study entitled, “The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard,” researchers Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer found that students who take notes by had perform better on conceptual questions than students who take notes on laptops (Steinmetz, 2014). Students who type their notes tend to grasp the subject only on a shallow level. Students who take notes by hand digest the content and are able to reword it in their own words. This process using a pen increases both understanding and recall. Additionally, by analyzing numerous studies, researchers have found that teaching handwriting can improve the quality of writing greatly and the student’s penmanship (Steinmetz, 2014). This doesn 't just mean the legibility of the handwriting but also the quality. According to neurologist William Klemm, “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.” Overall, cursive has much more to offer than typing on a computer. It provides many skills and improves learning whereas typing does

However, if cursive stays in schools, it will offer more value than typing or printing. Cursive gives students the ability to learn many valuable skills and helps students with disabilities in ways that typing on a keyboard can not provide. Additionally, cursive writing allows people to see original forms written in cursive, which adds meaning and value to each written document. Learning to write in cursive is shown to improve brain development in areas of thinking, language, and working memory, whereas typing does none of this (Baruch, 2013). These are all reasons why we should continue cursive writing in schools.

In conclusion, schools should not eliminate cursive from their curriculum because it will allow students to read legal documents and keep in touch with the past generations, students with learning disabilities will benefit, and students will learn many valuable skills. Every day, cursive is being dismissed from schools and homes because of computers and technology. If cursive writing is not revived soon, the skills, help, and memories from past generations that the art of cursive writing provides will be lost