Can you read this?

With cursive becoming an extinct element of the modern educational system, its downfall turns out inevitable

COMMENTARY BY RAFAEL SANS, STAFF WRITER

Handwriting has becomeincreasingly avoidable as digital resources offer a more convenient alternative to documenting information. Given that cursive is a useful form of writing with many applications, it is concerning to see it slowly be erased from schools across the country. While some argue cursive is a useless and inherently complex form of writing that should be removed from the English curriculum, there are nonetheless benefits that are undeniable.

Children ages five to seven are at a point in their lives where they need cognitive reinforcement. According to a series of interviews with professors and therapists conducted by The New York Times, learning cursive allows kids to obtain this reinforcement with the development of motor skills at an early age, which is contrary to the idea of children’s minds dramatically degrading at the fault of cursive writing. Additionally, through the repetition of letters customs to cursive, children attain more advanced writing abilities given the increased cognitive challenges that print writing cannot offer.

“Cursive writing needs to be taught in elementary school. Children gain a needed understanding of a convenient writing method,” freshman Manuel Espinoza said.

Cursive also helps with ease of learning in many students. Print can be moredifficult cursive younger children due to the frequent stopand-start motion when forming letters, according to Iris Hatfield who is an expert in cursive and author of the book New American Cursive. She explains that some printed letters look similar and can be reversed, like the ‘b’ and ‘d,’ which can be confusing to kids when learning.

Knowing cursive allows kids to advance and maintain their proficiency in writing, rather than falling into the societal chaos that cursive has been portrayed to lead up to.

Cursive is further beneficial because it enables fast writing. Faster than anyone could realistically write in print. The University of Tennessee Health and Science Center conducted a study that found that children on average who wrote in print, wrote at 75 letters per minute (LPM) compared to the cursive writers writing at 95 LPM. The cursive writers in the study also had higher legibility in their writing.

“Cursive is extremely useful if you want to write quickly and diligently. It helps you take notes with purpose,” sophomore Eugene Francisco said.

While cursive may be a daunting task for children, there is too much evidence that demonstrates its positive impact on development. Cursive is an irreplaceable aspect of daily life, with its benefits improving America’s educational system. What some may consider to be the ultimate nuisance and most useless aspect of writing that will destroy the minds of children, is actually a useful and advantageous skill that should remain a part of our educational system.