Do Students Really Need to Learn Cursive Writing?

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cursive writing

Makinley Bonesteel, Editor

Cursive writing needs to be brought back and taught better in the education system.

Cursive writing has dwindled to almost nothing over the years.  It’s not being taught like it use to be and lots of kids now aren’t even being taught this traditional way of writing.  So why is this so important? Lots of traditional literature has been written in cursive.  Not being taught the skill of reading or writing in cursive is inabling students the ability to read these documents.  Almost all important documents that are significant to our history are written in cursive.  One of the most important pieces that comes to mind is the Declaration of Independence.  If you can’t read cursive, you aren’t going to be able to read a lot of things.  There might be a situation where a person of authority writes in nothing other than cursive.  It’s important to know how to read and interpret it.

Another reason why cursive is an important skill to have is just for the purpose of signing checks and important documents.  As I get older, I’m constantly finding myself having to sign checks, job applications, scholarships, and other official documents.  I’m very thankful that cursive was something that was taught to me at a younger age.  Unfortunately, I have younger siblings who have never been taught cursive, so they are stressed because they don’t know how to properly sign their names.

Some opposing arguments about needing to know cursive is the fact that technology is greater than it use to be and penmanship isn’t as valued.  We’re writing less and less now so it’s not viewed as important as it use to be.  Not everybody is good at cursive either, so it’s pretty common for it to be not legible.  Teachers don’t want to take the time an effort to make out what their student is trying to write.

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many other solutions to this issue other than implementing the teaching of cursive writing.  We’re seeing it less and less as the years go on.  Sometimes I wonder if this way of writing will eventually die out and become a skill that’s lost forever.  Cursive writing is still important in our day to day lives.  Being able to read and write it should become normal and fluent.  Just the ability to sign your name is a crucial point to back it up.

What do you think? Is this an important skill to have or is it something you feel as if we could do without?