Since technology replaced pens and papers in classrooms, cursive has become to many students the same as Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Despite many schools eliminating cursive from its curriculum, the artform is making a slow comeback with many institutions flipping the script.
This could be, in part, a result of a viral social media post where a teacher shamed a seven-year-old girl for using loopy connected letters to sign her John Hancock on an assignment. Keep reading to learn more about this student and why schools are bringing back cursive!
Previous research shows that handwriting improves spelling accuracy, memory recall and conceptual understanding.
In fact, scientists say the slow process of tracing out letters and words increases brain activity, allowing people more time to process and learn.
“There is a fundamental difference in brain organization for handwriting as opposed to typing,” says Ramesh Balasubramaniam, a neuroscientist at the University of California. “Even when the movements are very similar, the activation seems much, much higher in handwriting. It shows that there’s more involvement of these brain regions when you’re handwriting, which might give you some specific advantages.”
Boosts brain acitivity
As technology evolves, our dependence on it grows and experts say that handwriting shouldn’t be lost in the digital age.
“[Schools] need to bring in more writing into curriculum design,” Balasubramaniam says.
Supporting his opinion is a new study – “Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom” – shows handwriting, over swiping or typing on a device, boosts brain connectivity, particularly in learning and memory.
Audrey van der Meer, a lead author of the 2024 study explains “When writing by hand, most of the brain is active.”
Van der Meer, who teaches neuropsychology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, says handwriting “puts the brain in a state that helps both children and adults learn more and remember better…Typing, on the other hand, requires mechanical and repetitive movements that trade awareness for speed.”
In summary, the study finds that “the ongoing substitution of handwriting by typewriting in almost every educational setting may seem somewhat misguided as it could affect the learning process in a negative way.”
Functional illiteracy
In 2010, several states were “misguided” when they adopted the Common Core standards initiative, which does not require students to learn cursive writing.
Unfortunately, eliminating cursive penmanship from learning is leading to functional illiteracy across the U.S. where “hard-to-read handwriting” is causing problems for people performing basic adult tasks.
According to a 2021 study, a staggering 70% of Americans struggle to reading notes or reports from their colleagues and 45% claim they can’t even make out their own.
The survey also reveals that the most common items to be misread are shopping lists, notes to colleagues, birthday cards, and thank you notes.
Others said without the ability to write in cursive, that signing important documents is stressful.
“My 20-year-old granddaughter struggles to sign a check,” Kimberly Jacovino of Monroe, Connecticut, tells the Daily Mail. “It is very important, and [cursive] should be brought back to all schools.”
Understanding the need to preserve and practice the flowy handwriting, 24 states – as of 2024 – reversed earlier decisions to remove cursive handwriting from curriculum and now mandate it.
Still not all schools are teaching cursive, and some are even reprimanding young children for using it.
Student warned for using cursive
In 2015, seven-year-old Alyssa handed in her assignment on short vowels and was scolded for writing her name in loopy flowing letters.
Her teacher wrote in red pen at the top of her lesson sheet: “Stop writing your name in cursive. You have had several warnings.”
Brenda Hatcher, a friend of Alyssa’s mom, took a photo of the child’s assignment and shared it on Facebook, a post that has since been deleted.
Hatcher captions the photo, “Share this everywhere… Alyssa is 7!!! Not only is her mother a military veteran but, she took the time to teach her very young child how to write in cursive.”
According to PopSugar, the incident reportedly happened in Kansas where there’s currently no legal requirement for students to learn cursive.
The outlet reports that the social media post divided users, some suggesting the teacher was wrong for reprimanding the child while others said the child “needs to follow directions.”