In recent years, cursive handwriting has become a dying art form. The shift in education has drifted away from the style of handwriting that was used in historic documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
For centuries, cursive has also been a common way for people to communicate with one another through handwritten notes.
With the proliferation of technology, the focus has shifted from teaching children how to write cursive to teaching students how to become proficient on computers. No longer do teachers place an emphasis on teaching students how to write or even read cursive, and those who do have less time to do so.
But local educators argue that cursive should not be written off so quickly.
“I think it’s still important to be taught,” said Rebecca Mudd, a fourth-grade teacher at Bardstown Elementary School. “Many children don’t know how to write their name in cursive.”
At the beginning of each class, Christy Lutz, a third-grade language arts teacher at BES, has her students practice their cursive through “Handwriting Without Tears” writing exercises.
Neither the Kentucky Department of Education, nor county or city schools, have policies that require teaching cursive.
To a growing number of young people, cursive has become a mystery that is too difficult to read, let alone comprehend.
Not long ago, Margie Bradford said she sent a handwritten note to a high school student she knew.
“She couldn’t read it because it was in cursive,” said Bradford, a member of the Bardstown Independent Board of Education. “To me, that’s scary.”
Nowadays, people prepare documents on computers, forgoing a form of communication that has been so prevalent in the past. Oftentimes, people only use cursive when they’re writing their “John Hancock.”
Keeping cursive as a core curriculum in schools is a debate in which people have trouble finding a middle ground. Many agree that cursive needs to be taught, but they disagree on state mandates and how much time should be dedicated to the subject.
Mudd said her school schedule is so packed that it’s hard to fit in common subjects.
“For my daily schedule, it’s even hard to fit social studies in,” Mudd said.
She noted that her core subjects, such as science and math, are scheduled an hour to an hour and a half, while social studies is down to 25 minutes a day.
“To me, if I had to choose between teaching social studies and cursive, of course I would teach social studies,” she said.
Mudd, who plans on teaching her students cursive, said she believes cursive is still important to be taught because “many children don’t know how to write their name in cursive.”
She added that it’s difficult to find time to squeeze in long lessons on cursive because some students just need to be brushed up on it, while others have no concept of cursive.
“Honestly, we don’t have time to spend a whole lot of time on it,” Mudd said.
Cursive in the classroom
Developed during the 15th Century Italian Renaissance, cursive is a style of penmanship that connects letters for the purpose of making writing faster.
Kentucky was one of the firsts states to adopt the Common Core Standards, which do not require teaching cursive handwriting. States are free to add a cursive requirement if they choose to do so. However, Common Core Standards place a focus on keyboard proficiency.
Even with an influx of technology in the classroom, many believe cursive shouldn’t be dropped altogether.
“Yes, we’re moving into a digital age,” said Frank Hall, a member of the Nelson County Board of Education. But society is not there yet, it’s somewhere in between.
During the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly, State Rep. Ben Waide, R-Madisonville, sponsored House Bill 489, which did not make it to a committee hearing, which would have required students entering the fifth grade to be proficient in the use of cursive writing by the 2013-2014 school year.
“When Abraham Lincoln was growing up, the only kind of writing he learned was cursive writing,” Waide said during an interview with The Kentucky New Era last year. “There was no such thing as printing. The skill and the art of writing is not taught anymore. In fact, too many of our kids can’t even read it.”
Local legislators agreed that cursive is a vital subject that should be taught, but there shouldn’t be any state laws requiring schools to teach it. Currently, KDE has no law requiring students to become proficient in cursive.
“We mandate enough to the schools,” said state Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon. “I’m not supporting any type of legislation like that unless I hear a compelling reason on why we need to do that. I’ll listen to anybody. I’ve never heard anybody say kids are not going to be successful because they can’t write in cursive.”
Higdon added that he thinks cursive is an art form that should be preserved, but it should be an elective course, rather than a required subject.
State Rep. David Floyd agreed. He doesn’t think cursive should be mandated, adding that he would not support a bill similar to HB 489 should one come up in the General Assembly.
“I generally oppose specific direction on course content in the General Assembly,” Floyd said. “Such a thing does not belong in the statutes.”
While nobody seems to have the answer to the cursive conundrum, many say they wish cursive would remain a common form of communication taught in schools.
“I just think it is an individual way of communicating. A hand written letter to someone will mean more to that person than a printed document with a printed name at the end,” Bradford said. “To me, it’s throwing the baby out with the bath water when you don’t teach cursive.”