Dive Brief:
- Cursive — a handwriting approach where letters are conjoined in a flowing manner for faster penmanship — is enjoying a resurgence as states including New Hampshire, Utah and, most recently, California embrace handwriting requirements in their educational standards.
- Including handwriting as part of curricula can bring several physical, emotional and academic benefits to students regardless of their grade level.
- “Cursive can be introduced at any age. Even adults can easily learn cursive,” said Lauren Mooney Bear, president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation. “The earlier the better of course, as we know that the formative years make learning anything easier.”
Dive Insight:
To Bear, handwriting offers the most benefit when the skill is an ongoing part of curriculum — and while teachers can find their style for introducing this into classrooms, the practice doesn’t need to occupy a large part of the school day.
“There are curriculums which are simple and easy to implement and only take a few minutes per day,” said Bear, who added that AHAF offers examples on its website.
The organization, founded in 1967, also launched a push in 2013 called Campaign for Cursive. The initiative began after AHAF found states were implementing a core curriculum that did not include the skill, Bear said, with the result “having a long-term detrimental effect on students.”
Part of the mission includes an annual handwriting contest called Cursive is Cool. The event opens every year on National Handwriting Day, Jan. 23, and runs through April 15, awarding prizes to students grades K-6 based on prompts such as “Write about your day if you were the pen or pencil of your favorite person.”
Among cursive’s benefits, Bear said, the skill can bring about “an increase in eye-hand coordination, social adaptability and self-confidence.” Bear also notes handwriting is a tool that, once learned, can serve students as they travel throughout their educational journey and beyond.
“Studies have found that when students have taken notes by hand, their memory tends to be more consistent and longer lasting,” she said. “Thus, the students do better on exams and in future endeavors, as in college exams.”
