Why Texas Is Now Forcing Students To Learn Cursive Again

The history of handwriting shows how much it has influenced culture and civilization for thousands of years but its future is uncertain.

Currently, the digital age imposes less need for handwriting communication than ever before. The fact is that schoolchildren are learning less and less to write in cursive, and people’s signatures are moving away from the elegant model of John Hancock and increasingly hanging face to scratch. According to Anne Trubek’s essays what is happening is the elimination of handwriting from everyday life which is the next stage in the evolution of communication.

The Value of Cursive

The Memoria Press emphasizes the top 10 reasons why is necessary to learn cursive handwriting, even that is not something that has happened in reality.

The 10 reasons for learning cursive handwriting are:

• Improved neural connections, stimulating the brain in ways that typing cannot
• Improved ability to read cursive
• Increased writing speed
• Improved fine motor skills, naturally developing sensory skills
• Increased retention and understanding, as the students remembered information better one week later when they transcribed a paragraph in cursive than when they printed it or used a keyboard
• Ease of learning
• Improved legibility and spelling ability
• Increased self-discipline
• Higher quality signature
• Increased self-respect

Texas Students to Learn Cursive

Most American adults remember learning to write cursive in elementary school. The formal American cursive system first emerged in the mid-1800s. The way people wrote all the time depended on their profession, social rank, and gender.

The Cursive handwriting was created by abolitionist Platt Rogers Spencer, who wanted to equalize the handwriting playing field. Students learned curiosity known as Spencer’s method through textbooks and many schools and companies quickly began to use it.

However, in recent years the U.S. states have abandoned this elegant form of handwriting, but it is left in effect in Texas, which in 2019 adopted new requirements for students to learn cursive in the classroom.

In 2017, Lone Star State introduced changes in the arts and reading of English, including provisions that elementary school students will learn cursives. This would be included in the programs of students from second to fourth grade.

The planned modifications are expected for the second graders to develop the handwriting by precisely formatting all the short letters using the appropriate strokes when connecting the letters. Third graders should be able to read complete words, thoughts, and answers legibly, while fourth graders should be able to write legibly in the short text to complete assignments.

 Upward Trend for Cursive

Although there has been a sharp decline in cursive learning in many states since 2010, states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, California, Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina have continued with these learning programs, and a total of 18 states now require students to learn cursive.

Sources: www.memoriapress.com