More students will learn how to link their letters if a growing number of cursive writing advocates get their way.
Several states, including Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, recently passed legislation to mandate cursive writing lessons after most states dropped the writing style from their curriculums.
“[We] made a decision that was arrogant on our part that we didn’t think these kids needed something that we had taken for granted, that was our way of communicating for generations,” Louisiana state Sen. Beth Mizell told The Washington Post.
Virginia Berninger, a University of Washington professor, has studied the long-term benefits of cursive writing lessons, which include improved fine motor skills and better word recognition.
“There’s a myth that in the era of computers we don’t need handwriting. That’s not what our research is showing,” Berninger told the Post.
State Rep. Dickie Drake, who sponsored the new Alabama law that mandates public school students to write legibly in cursive by the end of third grade, was inspired by his granddaughter.
“She was in the first grade and wanted to learn ‘real writing,’” Drake told the “Today” show. “This bill is for all my grandchildren and others just like them.”