You may not have noticed, but cursive writing is fast becoming a skill of the past. Many schools are choosing to remove handwriting instruction from their elementary classrooms. Controversy is growing about the role that teaching handwriting and keyboarding will have in the classroom, particularly in elementary grades where students are still developing their reading, writing, and motor skills. The controversy was addressed earlier this year by an Educational Summit held in Washington, DC titled “Handwriting in the 21st Century.”
The Department of Education’s Common Core State Standards for education were developed in 2010. These Common Core practices apply to English language arts and mathematics. The standards represent a set of expectations for student knowledge necessary to be successful in college and careers. Keyboarding is listed as a skill students should acquire, handwriting is addressed minimally, and cursive is excluded entirely. These important changes serve to increase controversy about the roles of handwriting and keyboarding instruction in primary schools. Cursive writing has long been a cornerstone of education, but cursive writing’s removal has been based on assumptions, including the assumption that keyboarding skills are superior to handwriting skills. Today, the Common Core State Standards allow each state to decide whether to include cursive writing in its curriculum. Given the choice, more and more states have chosen to remove cursive writing instruction from their schools. Some feel that teaching cursive is “old-fashioned” and a waste of time. Others believe that it should continue to be taught. Regardless of your point of view, you should be concerned about removing handwriting from the curriculum because these changes are occurring without investigating the possible consequences for the young learner. At the heart of the controversy is the lack of evidence on how the elimination of cursive writing will affect learning and education in general. Much of the educational research done by universities has focused on technology and literacy. Little attention has been paid to the interrelationships of the development of handwriting and reading, spelling, and composition. As a result, many children educated in the last two decades cannot write or read cursive. Many policy decisions were made without investigating the potential impact on young learners who are still developing reading, writing, and motor skills. Specifically, how these skills relate to cursive writing instruction. That may be changing. The Educational Summit entitled “Writing in the 21st Century” held in Washington, DC was attended by professors, neuroscientists, educators and interested citizens. Presenters shared interdisciplinary handwriting research, and attendees expressed their thoughts on whether and how this skill should be taught. Through presentations and workshops, attendees learned how handwriting is a critical skill that helps children develop in other areas such as reading, writing, memory and critical thinking. Several neuroscientists presented findings ranging from handwriting and occupational therapy to neuroscience research documenting the impact of handwriting on children’s learning. In a poll at the end of the summit, 85 percent of attendees believe handwriting instruction is “very important” in the 21st century. Most responded that handwriting should be taught from kindergarten through fifth grade. All the research presented at the conference indicates that teaching handwriting is beneficial. Although the conference was sponsored by a handwriting resume company, the presenters came from a wide range of fields and made a compelling case. One of the most notable finds came from Karin Harman-James of Indiana University. She presented research that she conducted using MRI scans of children’s brains. Her research, carried out in 2012, showed that writing by hand activated parts of the brain associated with language development, while the keyboard did not.
For anyone interested in learning more about how handwriting and typing produce different changes in the brain, many published research articles are available for perusal on the Internet. Additionally, some neuroscientists have published books that have sections that describe how handwriting affects the learning process. Two of these books are; The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Human Brain, Language, and Culture, by Dr. Frank R. Wilson. His book describes in detail the fundamental role of hand movements in the development of thinking and language skills and in the “development of deep feelings of trust and interest in the world, together, the essential prerequisites for the emergence of the capable and supportive individual.” Taking into account the problem of bullying and the lack of empathy that many teachers are noticing in their students, could it be that learning cursive letters has an effect on the area of the brain that develops empathy and tolerance towards others? We don’t know…yet.
Another book is The Brain That Changes Itself by neuroscientist Norman Doidge. His book addresses the topic of neuroplasticity, how the brain changes and develops neuropathways in relation to habit changes and repeated actions. His research describes how handwriting and typing require different actions and affect the brain in different ways. Dr. Dodge has said, “When a child types or writes, they produce a letter the same way each time. However, in cursive, each letter connects slightly differently to the next, requiring more than the part of the brain that converts sequences of symbols into motor movements in the hand Each of these actions creates different neuropathways in the brain,
There is much controversy regarding the importance of cursive writing. Evidence is accumulating that the brain is affected and changed in ways we never realized. Brain research constantly provides new insights. As this research grows and becomes available, changes to the curriculum that affect how children learn and retain knowledge should be carefully examined and evaluated before being implemented. Today, most school districts can still decide if they want to teach cursive writing. Where is your school district located? If you think learning to write in cursive is important, contact your child’s teacher or administrator at your child’s school and express your concern. Some states are reincorporating cursive writing into their educational curriculum. A white paper summarizing the research presented at this conference is available on the summit website: http://www.hw21summit.com
