Contracts, letters, checks – a signature is an important tool that defines a person’s identity. People sign things every day. Whether it’s the bill at a restaurant or papers from school, everyone has to use their signature sometime. However, in recent years, what was once an elegant stroke of a pen unique to every person has devolved into a scribble anyone can replicate. Why is that? It’s simple – because schools stopped teaching cursive.
Cursive is a system of writing where all of the letters in a word are connected by a single stroke of a pen. It’s seen as more professional and elegant because it makes the words appear prettier. The most common use of cursive is in a signature.
Schools used to teach cursive when students were learning how to write, but with the rise of the digital age, schools are phasing out cursive in favor of other technological advancements. With typing being far more common now, penmanship has become more and more of an afterthought. So, cursive has faded from the view of schools.
This is unfortunate because studies show that learning cursive can help to develop better hand-eye coordination, improve handwriting, and it helps reinforce connections in the brain. By teaching cursive, schools are literally improving the brain functions of their students.
For students who struggle with writing in print due to messy handwriting, cursive can be an amazing tool because it allows for messy work but has clearly defined shapes for each letter to minimize confusion or struggle when writing.
Students can also use cursive to train hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills because cursive requires a greater level of hand control in order to write elegantly. This means that writing in cursive helps students gain both muscle memory and precise control of their hands.
Many teachers argue against cursive because they value typing more or think students need to develop their print writing instead. Some young students struggle with print and write illegibly, while many students don’t take to typing naturally and are at a disadvantage when compared to their peers. So, teachers want to prioritize those skills.
However, there’s no reason why schools can’t teach all three at once. Many schools already offer typing and other computer based courses as electives. There’s no reason a school can’t dedicate time to learning print in the first few years of a child’s schooling, then add in extra classes for cursive later.
Cursive as a tool is an important skill used for more than just signing documents. It has real benefits for the students who learn it, but schools overlook that simply because it’s outdated.
