Cursive Should Be Taught In Schools

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When I was in sixth grade, my science teacher made us practice cursive every class before we touched anything related to science. We were required to copy different letters and words, then write a sentence of our own in the flowing and loopy characters. Personally, I did not mind the exercises; copying some letters greatly surpassed science for me. Some complained, however, wondering why they needed this seemingly outdated skill. After all, our research papers we had to write in the class had to be typed, rather than handwritten. But I, like my teacher, believe cursive should be preserved and taught in schools as it connects us to our past, helps our motor skills, allows legibility, and makes forgery difficult. In this digital age, cursive is a skill that ties us to our past. Historical documents, like the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, along with letters from grandparents are in cursive. If cursive ceases to be taught to younger generations, will we lose the ability to read these documents of our past? According to library director Valerie Hotchkiss of The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Many young people entering college cannot write or read cursive.” Some may argue this isn’t a big deal, due to …show more content…

Plus, there is the added need to educate kids on new technology. However, I only needed one school year to learn how to write in cursive and I now write in a hybrid of cursive and manuscript. Furthermore, although it has been disproven by Steve Graham in The Journal of Educational Research that cursive is faster than manuscript, it was found “papers written with mixed-mostly cursive letters generally receive[] higher ratings for legibility than papers written with [manuscript, cursive, or mixed-mostly manuscript] did” (290). The College Board also found SAT essays written in cursive received a slightly better score than those in

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