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Writer's pictureAndy McIlvain

The Decline of Cursive Handwriting and Students Inability to Communicate

The Decline of Cursive Handwriting and Students Inability to Communicate

America continues to dumb down.

My grandchildren cannot read cursive, it is a foreign language to them.

Twenty-one states still require the teaching of cursive. Many people have decided it is now obsolete. Yet as I have seen with children and some adults when they need to read a cursive document for school or their jobs they cannot.

Cursive writing like art makes connections in the brain that are necessary but not obtainable through keyboards and computers.

Watch the following two videos for a more in-depth examination of this debate.


The lost art of handwriting in cursive

Video from CBS News


"{Jan 24, 2023, Tuesday marks National Handwriting Day, which is held on John Hancock's birthday. Michael George looked at which schools are still teaching the art of cursive, and tested out his skills with Lilia Luciano and Lana Zak." from the video introduction


What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive

Technology is gradually replacing cursive instruction—but have we taken stock of what we’re losing?

"Should cursive writing still be taught in our schools? The old debate is back with a vengeance as schools shift resources from the intricate, painstakingly rendered script to keyboard skills.

The Common Core State Standards, adopted by 42 states and the District of Columbia, call for handwriting instruction in kindergarten and first grade only, and teaching in keyboard skills after that. The standards don’t mention cursive. But 14 states require cursive instruction, and the skill inspires fierce loyalty, with some going so far as to argue that the founding fathers would disapprove of our abandonment of the script—students must learn cursive in order to decipher the intent of the original Constitution, for example—and others suggesting that our very identities are compromised when we can’t create identifiable signatures..." from the article: What We Lose With the Decline of Cursive


The Power of the Pen: How Handwriting Enhances Brain Connectivity - Neuroscience News



"Explore the intriguing findings of a Norwegian study that reveals how handwriting boosts brain connectivity, enhancing memory and learning.

Dive into the science behind why writing by hand is more beneficial than typing and how this impacts educational practices and cognitive development." from the video introduction







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