by Michael J. Leppert
As of 2023, 17 state legislatures have decreed that teaching of Cursive handwriting will be mandatory in their public schools. Critics of the teaching of cursive handwriting, like to envision the time when typing or thumbing make cursive obsolete, but there are many “hidden” instances where cursive is important.
For instance, a member of the Louisiana legislature sponsored that state’s bill, that ultimately became law, to require cursive in schools after a friend of his, a land surveyor, noted to the statesman that the surveyor was unable to find candidates for positions in his company because too many were unable to older surveying documents that had been written in cursive.
Then, there are the “brain” issues: Recent neurological studies have demonstrated that learning to write cursive improves motor skills in hands, arms and brain! Those who learn cursive have improved brain function in other areas. Brain imaging studies show that cursive writing activates areas of the brain that do not participate in keyboarding. Cursive stimulates the entire brain – which printing and typing do not. One reason seems to be that in cursive, one must pay attention to what s/he is doing and think about it beforehand. This concentration aspect is beneficial in other endeavors, which means that the states requiring cursive education are doing their students a favor beyond merely being able to read the Declaration of Independence or other great cursive documents.
Here is a list of the states currently requiring cursive instruction in public schools:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana—Public and charter schools must begin teaching cursive by third grade and must incorporate it in the curriculum through 12th grade. The law was introduced when a surveyor told a Republican state legislator that he could not find young people who could read notes on old land documents.
Maryland
Mississippi
Ohio
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
Beautiful Learning series offers both Cursive and Printing instruction books and drawings of flowers or fruits and vegetables for the child to learn. Visit www.beautifullearningeries.com for full information.
