Front Porch: Cursive important for learning, identity

Two recent news items have me thinking once again about the importance of cursive writing.

First, a bill in the Washington Legislature would mandate the teaching of cursive writing in the public schools. Right now it’s largely discretionary.

Second, a story out of Tennessee about a woman who brought to the attention of her state representative the fact that her high school son couldn’t read the homework assignments his teacher wrote on the board. The teacher wrote in cursive. Yikes.

The argument against teaching cursive is largely focused on the notion that this style of writing is no longer relevant in an increasingly digital society, there isn’t enough time in the day to teach it and that schools should focus more on other things, like typing skills for example.

I’m not pushing a nostalgic agenda that promotes the way we did it back when. I don’t think we need to hone our chalk-and-blackboard skills; nor do I think we need to do simple arithmetic on an abacus or more complicated math on a slide rule. Some things have enjoyed their moment in the sun and pass on gracefully to the artifacts of time. Rest in peace.

But handwriting … well, that’s a special thing unto itself. Scholars and researchers have weighed in heavily on the subject, concluding that the ability to write by hand, most notably in cursive, advances brain development and ripples through all aspects of learning. It’s neither a small nor an archaic thing.

Studies have found that learning cursive helps children develop fine motor skills and do better on reading and spelling tests. One psychologist argues further that students who learn cursive writing have brains that better integrate visual and tactile information with fine motor dexterity, the result being a better capacity for acquiring knowledge overall. That’s a gift for a lifetime.

Another research study showed that the effect of handwriting and composition quality can be seen on MRIs. The study shows that those with good handwriting have brains that are more activated in areas associated with cognition, language and executive function than the brains of those whose handwriting is considered poor. Moreover the regions of the brain that are stimulated during reading are similarly stimulated when writing by hand, but not typing.

Although taking notes in class by using a laptop saves time over the writing of notes by hand, the laptop users did worse on tests of the material even when a week was given to study their notes, a study shows. Simply put, writing in longhand helps retain more information.

And for those children with motor skill issues, another study has shown that practicing cursive writing stimulates those parts of the brain that foster language fluency. And with some adults who suffer brain injuries that impair the ability to understand printed words, the ability to comprehend cursive writing is not impaired, another study shows.

Clearly there’s a lot of science and study behind the value of cursive writing. Even so, I do appreciate the time pressures that educators face when having to choose among many beneficial things in order to comply with mandates and other classroom realities. Teaching has got to be one of the toughest and most underappreciated jobs for which the pay is not great while the performance expectations are huge.

I don’t want to pile on, but just as we understand that good nutrition in childhood is vital for a strong and healthy body and mind, I’d like us to embrace and support the teaching of cursive writing – as archaic as it may appear to be on the surface – as vital for equipping our young students to be able to develop their brains’ ability to learn well for the rest of their lives.

Consider also another fact – your cursive handwritten name is your signature, much harder to duplicate than your printed name and hence makes you less vulnerable to identity theft, according to those who study such things.

And if people who don’t learn cursive ever wish to do original research, will an interpreter be required to translate handwritten documents from history? Wouldn’t it be awful if one day we could no longer read the original version of the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation or the Bill of Rights? Never mind Grandma’s old recipes.

I don’t know if teaching cursive should be a state mandate, but I do believe we need it for all of the right reasons. It’s not just a communication tool. It actually helps us be smarter. I can’t believe that we are willing to sacrifice this amazing brain tool because it seems old-fashioned or isn’t cool any more – what with all the keyboarding, emoticons, emojis, acronyms or what have you that have been overshadowing it.

Being smart is always cool.

Voices correspondent Stefanie Pettit can be reached by email at upwindsailor@comcast.net. Previous columns are available at spokesman.com/columnists.