In 2014, journalist M. English wrote an article for 21st Century Media that began with the line, “When John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, he could not have known he would become an icon of calligraphy,” adding that in January 23 is National Writing Day.
And that should matter to all of us, even in this keyboard-happy culture and despite the fact that it’s July, not January, and school won’t be in session for several more weeks. As the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association reminds us, “The lost art of handwriting is one of the few ways we can uniquely express ourselves… Fonts lack a personal touch. add intimacy to a letter and reveal details about the writer’s personality. Throughout history, handwritten documents have sparked love affairs, started wars, established peace, freed slaves, created monuments, and declared independence.”
These folks are talking about cursive writing, though print counts, too, and both have been on the chopping block lately largely because of the English/Language Arts Common Core.
Unveiled in 2008, Obama’s then-U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan promised to dole out $4.35 billion in federal Race to the Top grants to applicant states that agreed to adopt them by adding 40/500 points to their applications.
Needless to say, it took; 45 states and DC have finally adopted the Common Core State Standards that promote typing skills not to mention handwriting.
The result: many districts removed handwriting instruction from books, despite well-documented evidence that there is a direct link between cursive and the brain. As Sarah Sweeney-Denham, principal of Plymouth Meeting Friends School in Pennsylvania, explains, “…Research indicates that cursive writing outperforms keyboards when it comes to making practitioners better communicators, activating more neural areas connected to thinking.” , language, and working memory — and, in general, engaging the brain in learning and mastering concepts.”
Dr. Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, backs up that view with her research findings that “handwriting, letter formation, engages the mind and that can help children lend attention to written language. This myth that handwriting is just a motor skill is just wrong.”
In addition, he explained, “what we found was that children up to about sixth grade typed more words, typed faster, and expressed more ideas if they could use handwriting, print, or cursive than if they used the keyboard.”
Fortunately, several people in government have been paying attention, like Louisiana Republican State Sen. Beth Mizell, who recently introduced a cursive script bill that is now state law. Going forward, all traditional public schools and public charter schools will begin teaching cursive in third grade and continue through 12th.
Ten other states have also jumped on the handwriting bandwagon, including Arkansas, California, Florida, Virginia and Texas.
So, as Joe Heim of the Washington Post puts it, “Cursive writing was supposed to be dead by now. Schools would stop teaching it. Schools would stop teaching it. Kids would stop learning it… But, like Madonna and the newspapers, Italic has shown great staying power, refusing to have its hooks and flourishes swept into the dustbin of handwriting history.”
Therefore, there!!
What is the story in your state, your school district?
