Sadly, This is EXACTLY Why Schools Have Stopped Teaching Cursive

From The Federalist Papers – author is Steve Straub

States are beginning to reject the idea that kids can do without learning cursive handwriting.

Most importantly from our perspective is many historical documents like the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are written in cursive. If future citizens can’t read cursive they can’t read the Constitution in it’s original form and will be forced to rely on “translations.”

CTV News reports:

The swirling lines from Linden Bateman’s pen have been conscripted into a national fight to keep cursive writing in American classrooms.

Cursive. Penmanship. Handwriting.

In years gone by, it helped distinguish the literate from the illiterate.

But now, in the digital age, people are increasingly communicating by computer and smartphone. No handwritten signature necessary.

Call it a sign of the times. When the new Common Core educational standards were crafted, penmanship classes were dropped. But at least seven of the 45 states that adopted the standards are fighting to restore the cursive instruction.

The argument for cursive

Bateman, a 72-year-old state representative from Idaho, says cursive conveys intelligence and grace, engages creativity and builds brain cells.

“Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard,” said Bateman, who handwrites 125 ornate letters each year. “We’re not thinking this through. It’s beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards.”

The movement to have teaching cursive restored

States that adopted Common Core aren’t precluded from deviating from the standards. But in the world of education, where classroom time is limited and performance stakes are high, optional offerings tend to get sidelined in favour of what’s required.

That’s why at least seven states — California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah — have moved to keep the cursive requirement. Legislation passed in North Carolina and elsewhere couples cursive with memorization of multiplication tables as twin “back to basics” mandates.
Cursive advocates cite recent brain science that indicates the fluid motion employed when writing script enhances hand-eye co-ordination and develops fine motor skills, in turn promoting reading, writing and cognition skills.They further argue that scholars of the future will lose the ability to interpret valuable cultural resources — historical documents, ancestors’ letters and journals, handwritten scholarship — if they can’t read cursive. If they can’t write it, how will they communicate from unwired settings like summer camp or the battlefield?

“The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive. Think about that,” Bateman said.