I could never understand why they dropped it in the first place.

NEW YORK – Cursive writing is looping back into style in schools across the country after a generation of students who know only keyboarding, texting and printing out their words longhand.

Alabama and Louisiana passed laws in 2016 mandating cursive proficiency in public schools, the latest of 14 states that require cursive. And last fall, the 1.1 million-student New York City schools, the nation's largest public school system, encouraged the teaching of cursive to students, generally in the third grade.

"It's definitely not necessary but I think it's, like, cool to have it," said Emily Ma, a 17-year-old senior at New York City's academically rigorous Stuyvesant High School who was never taught cursive in school and had to learn it on her own.

Penmanship proponents say writing words in an unbroken line of swooshing l's and three-humped m's is just a faster, easier way of taking notes. Others say students should be able to understand documents written in cursive, such as, say, a letter from Grandma. And still more say it's just a good life skill to have, especially when it comes to signing your name.

That was where New York state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis drew the line on the cursive generation gap, when she encountered an 18-year-old at a voter registration event who printed out his name in block letters.

"I said to him, 'No, you have to sign here,'" Malliotakis said. "And he said, 'That is my signature. I never learned script.'"

Malliotakis, a Republican from the New York City borough of Staten Island, took her concerns to city education officials and found a receptive audience.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina distributed a handbook on teaching cursive writing in September and is encouraging principals to use it. It cites research suggesting that fluent cursive helps students master writing tasks such as spelling and sentence construction because they don't have to think as much about forming letters.

Malliotakis also noted that students who can't read cursive will never be able to read historical documents. "If an American student cannot read the Declaration of Independence, that is sad."

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when cursive writing began to fall out of favor. But cursive instruction was in decline long before 2010, when most states adopted the Common Core curriculum standards, which say nothing about handwriting.

Some script skeptics question the advantage of cursive writing over printing and wonder whether teaching it takes away from other valuable instruction.

Anne Trubek, author of "The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting," said schools should not require cursive mastery any more than they should require all children to play a musical instrument.

"I think students would all benefit from learning the piano," she said, "but I don't think schools should require all students take piano lessons."

At P.S. 166 in Queens, Principal Jessica Geller said there was never a formal decision over the years to banish the teaching of cursive. "We just got busy with the addition of technology, and we started focusing on computers," she said.

Third-graders at the school beamed as they prepared for a cursive lesson this past week. The 8-year-olds got their markers out, straightened their posture and flexed their wrists. Then it was "swoosh, curl, swoosh, curl," as teacher Christine Weltner guided the students in writing linked-together c's and a's.

Norzim Lama said he prefers cursive writing to printing "'cause it looks fancy." Camille Santos said cursive is "actually like doodling a little bit."

Added Araceli Lazaro: "It's a really fascinating way to write, and I really think that everybody should learn about writing in script."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017...ool-instruction.html

Good.

I always intended for my daughter to learn cursive whether they teach it to her in school or not.

Even beyond things like being able to read cursive, and being able to sign your name properly, I found cursive to be very helpful in college. I had some professors who spoke so rapidly in their lectures that cursive was the only way to keep up when taking notes. (Although most kids probably type their notes these days.)

Almost a decade ago I was shocked to learn schools had stopped teaching cursive writing. I was standing in front of a group of middle school kids teaching a lesson and illustrating on the blackboard. I became annoyed at the chittering and giggling behind me as I wrote. I turned and asked what was so funny. One of them said, "It sounds funny." When I probed further, the student said the sounds of the chalk on the board as I wrote were new to them and it sounded funny. Putting two and two together I asked if they could read it. Most could make it out but some had no clue.....and my handwriting is no bad. Turns out somewhere along the line some knucklehead decided keyboarding is the literacy of the future so handwriting and cursive were out. I thought then and do now that this decision was a mammoth blunder. Ever seen the typical young person's handwriting these days? It is terrible scratch print barely legible.

Still is and has been taught in our local schools.

Today's children cannot read the Declaration of Independence. That about sums it up for me. I had a teacher refer to it as original source document. I bet it is available in PDF to download for today's youth.

I can read it perfectly well but don't ask me to write it. I can barely sign my name with it.

I think it should be taught, however, it is up to the individual after learning cursive, to maintain the style. Some people just have the ability to write readable cursive.

I don't.

Since the 70's, when I went to work for one of those alphabet agencies, (pre-computer), all our field and office documents HAD to be written in print. My skill and legibility in print excelled, due to 30+ years of practice.

In the late 90's, computers entered our field, however, sketches, on pay items such a excavation, structure layouts, had to be printed still.

Cursive writing is a beautiful thing.

I have mixed feelings about students learning cursive. Our grandparents could crank out some pretty nice Palmer Method, but wouldn't know how to turn on a computer. Different skills for different times.

As to the DOI: What difference does it make if you can read it as written? How many people can read the Bible in its original form? That's a heck of a lot more disconnected than changing the font.

Many of them can't put together a proper sentence, even with spell and grammar check.

Obsolete. The time and effort could better used on more valuable skills.

I can't believe they ever stopped teaching it. High tech is good but you need both.

41

I was on the tail end of cursive right before they phased it out, I can't write worth a damn but I bet I can type faster than just about anybody on this forum.

cursive was a bane for me. I can however read it and sign things.

I think spending school time teaching kids to write cursive is silly. Being able to read cursive and being able to write it are two different things.

Because of changing school systems at the wrong time as a kid, I never properly learned how to write cursive. I even sat through Palmer penmanship... did no good. I can't write a sentence in cursive today. I can read it just fine.

I don't think I've suffered in any way.

I just don't see being able to write cursive as being necessary or useful. Read? Yes. Write? No.

I get plenty of signatures every day. I am stunned at the number of people who print their name out as a signature.

I was relieved to find it was no longer taught, as I was sure I dealt with absolute idiots all day long. They look like 2nd grade kids putting their names on homework.

When reviewing applications, I give an edge to the ones with readable writing.

I took a combined notehand (ie, modified shorthand) and type class in high school. My dad worked with a computer in his lab, thought there would be a future need for keyboard skills. I liked the class as girls outnumbered boys about 5:1.

With the advent of computers, and now personal electronics, I haven't used cursive since high school.

I have not used cursive for anything since learning it except for signing my name, and that's pretty much illegible.

I didn't realize it had been phased out until about a yr. ago when I found out our 18 yr. old cashier at my work did not know how to write cursive. She wanted me to teach her. Any time something needs to be done by hand, people at my work ask me to do it because "You have such beautiful writing." I thoroughly enjoy writing. It always brings back fond memories of my Mother & I doing caligraphy together when I was a child. When I am in a hurry, I print (I don't really care how it looks). When I am not I. A hurry, I write cursive (I want it to look pretty)