What Happened to Cursive?

I remember painstakingly practicing cursive writing in the 2nd grade. Hours were spent on the 3 lined paper, focusing carefully on the middle dotted line. I was really anxious to go into the 3rd grade where I heard you had to do ALL your papers and writing in cursive. This seemed an insurmountable task.

It didn’t hit me until my own kids just COMPLETED the 3rd grade that I realized… they had never even started learning cursive. I thought, is cursive not even taught anymore? As my kids left the 3rd grade this year, their teacher handed them ONE sheet with their name repeated in dotted cursive… and the all familiar 3 lines with the middle dotted line. No instruction of course, but I am assuming they are to practice over the summer and that it will be taught in 4th grade? I decided to do a little research.

“The declining emphasis on cursive writing has been attributed to the increasing use of technology, the growing proportion of class time spent preparing for standardized tests, and the perception that the time students spend learning to write in cursive could be better spent on more meaningful educational content.” (from SHOULD CURSIVE HANDWRITING STILL BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS? )

“Efforts to prevent the extinction of an endangered school subject in North Carolina, Indiana and a few other states have led to legislative mandates that penmanship be taught in elementary school. That delaying action, however, will not alter the eventual disappearance of handwriting from the curriculum.” (from Whatever Happened To Cursive Writing?)

“Yes, there are states that do and don’t require it. However, most states that don’t mandate cursive in the curriculum still allow schools and districts to teach it, if they desire. The controversy is that, if not required, will schools manage to fit the subject in with all of the other lessons taught?” (from The 21 States that Require Cursive Writing [Updated for 2020!])

Now, I don’t know about you, but my own handwriting has evolved since I was a kid to something in-between print and cursive… because it’s just faster to loop some of your letters together. I remember not being able to read my mom’s handwriting until the 3rd grade. And my own kids sometimes struggle with reading what I or other people have written.

So the question is, if we still have some generations who still WRITE in cursive and younger generations who can’t even READ it… doesn’t this present a problem? Won’t some documents just get lost to history?

And if our kids don’t learn cursive, how will they ever sign a check or sign for a credit card? Maybe with technology, we will no longer need signatures, but it still seems evident to protect our identity to have our own unique signature on important documents.

29 Reasons Everyone Should Learn Cursive Writing [Data Included]

I understand that there may not be enough time in school and it may not be as important as it once was. So my plan, as is often with my children’s education, is to take matters into my own hands. Their 3rd grade teachers only gave us one hard copy sheet to practice. So I created an electronic version of my own that I could edit and print as many times as needed to help my kids practice their name or whatever else we decide to write in cursive. Feel free to download the free dashed cursive font and free editable powerpoint document to create a sheet for your own kids to practice.

I’d love to hear from you. Are your kids being taught cursive in school? Do you think it’s important? Comment below!