Is Cursive Handwriting Doomed For Extinction?

July 30, 2014 Michelle Griep

I was one of those wicked homeschool moms -- albeit snappily dressed -- who forced her kids to learn cursive. Yeah, I know. Children today will enter a workforce that's more than ever dependent upon typing and texting, so why bother with the little curly-ques and sweeping lines of cursive? Why can't people just write in block letters and call it good enough?

Because to me it's the death of a skill that requires hand/eye coordination and involves a bit of thought. . . and that's what separates us from the apes, folks. Unless, of course, you subscribe to the simian flu virus. In that case, never mind.

Back to cursive. Why am I taking a stand on this debate? Because, duh, I'm a writer. I write in cursive. Well, not entire manuscripts anymore, but I used to. This issue is near and dear to my heart (yes indeed, I do have one). I'm on a mission to shed some light on this often maligned art form.

5 REASONS WHY CURSIVE IS CRUCIAL

1. It connects us to the past.

Okay, so not everything about the past is romantic. No toilet paper. Lack of potable water. And for crying out loud, Pop Tarts hadn't even been invented yet. But, like it or not, cursive writing links us to a heritage that would be impossible to read first-hand if one were not able to decipher such script. Most historical American documents are written in cursive. Deal with it.

2. Cursive develops motor skills.

No, I'm not talking idiot drivers who cut you off because they happen to think they own the freaking road. Cursive writing requires and uses different hand muscles than printing, which in turn activates a different part of the brain. It's all scientificky and neural and other goofy-butt Latin terminology.

3. You can capture thoughts faster.

A professor at the University of Washington, Virginia Berninger, PhD, reports findings that elementary-aged children wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand vs. with a keyboard. I could've told you that, but I don't have any letters after my name so this is way more valid.

4. Disabilities are disabled.

Because cursive letters vary in shape much more than block letters, this gives dyslexic students other options to learn language in a different format. 'Nuff said.

5. You'll stomp on the competition at Spelling Bees.

In the earliest grades, handwriting is linked to reading and spelling achievement. When children learn how to form letters, they are also learning its sound. It's like a complete package deal, dude.

I'm not saying we need to go back to the dark ages with quill pens and bottles of ink. Way too messy, plus I'll never part with my handy dandy G3. But let's keep cursive alive and well, or we won't be able to mock doctors handwriting anymore.