Is a Cursive Capability Necessarily Needed?

I believe the question here is this another item I have to teach my students when I already have many additions to the work-load I am teaching already? In the past, we were taught cursive at an early age in our English classes along with many other subjects. Perhaps, it has changed since they eliminated the desks with the inkwells we never used anyway.

It is not really a handicap to learn cursive. It is more a how much time do we have to teach it? There are many skills I did not need all the time. Then there were opportunities my having those skills paid off.

“Why Cursive is Back in the Classroom,” NEA

“Twenty-seven states now have laws mandating or encouraging cursive instruction in public schools. This is up from only 14 a decade ago.”

Do students still need to learn it?

An experience. It has been about 8 years since I went into a Bagel Store in Brighton, Michigan. Jan had asked me to get some cream cheese and favor cream cheese along with the bagels also. She gave me a list of the types of bagels to get. Rather than read it to the person behind the counter, I just passed it over to the person. A problem arose of being able to read cursive.

A bit stunned by the inability. I was ready to read it when another person took over.

As of March 2026, more than half of U.S. states now require or strongly encourage schools to teach students to read and write in cursive as compared to just 14 states just a decade ago.

Shawn Datchuk, a professor of special education at the University of Iowa and the former director of the Iowa Reading Research Center, sees a confluence of factors at work. States are concerned about stagnant reading and writing scores, and research does point to handwriting’s positive impact on student learning. 

A generational frustration over the abandonment of cursive is also driving the resurgence.

Datchuk . . . “Many people who are older are concerned that they can’t communicate with their kids or grandkids with cursive. They also believe that students today should be able to (but can’t) read our nation’s historical documents.”

Bringing back cursive is also serving as an outlet to the anxiety most people have about the prevalence of digital media in children’s lives, Datchuk adds.

Polochanin agrees. “In one way, just getting kids off screens is a reason to look into whether any additional time should be spent on cursive. But I do think that it also reflects a desire to help our students slow down, take their time, and take pride in their work.”

What Does the Research Really Say?

In advocating for new cursive mandates, state lawmakers insist students know how to sign and read important and historical documents. But it’s the impact on motor skills, spelling, and reading comprehension that has been the most effective selling point.

“Research has shown that cursive handwriting enhances a child’s brain development, including memorization, and improves fine motor skills,” said California lawmaker Sharon Quirk-Silva, lead sponsor of the state’s cursive law that passed in 2023. These findings have been repeated by lawmakers in every state that has passed cursive mandates.

While Bryant does not doubt that many students may benefit from learning cursive, he is very skeptical that its value demands state-level action.

“There are a lot of skills that we don’t necessarily need. I think cursive is one of those skills.”

And most of the research is addressing handwriting in general (including manuscript, or print), not cursive, says Morgan Polikoff, a professor of education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

“There is research that suggests that writing things by hand is good for retaining knowledge and is more efficient,” he explains. “But there really isn’t anything compelling that says writing in cursive specifically is better than print handwriting.”

A 2023 study by two Canadian researchers concluded that it is “unlikely that cursive offers more cognitive benefits than printing, or vice versa.” But they did find that in elementary grades especially, handwriting of any kind was far superior to keyboarding on a variety of measures.

But writing efficiently and legibly is the point, whether it’s cursive or manuscript.

“Student handwriting is indeed a highly beneficial activity,” they wrote. “However, the literature offers no evidence that cursive writing is somehow special in terms of fostering critical thinking or helping children express themselves more authentically.”

Cursive and Keyboarding

In 2022, NEA Today conducted an informal survey of educators via Facebook asking which skill—cursive or keyboarding—was more valuable in today’s classrooms. The responses were mixed. Some said cursive. Some preferred keyboarding. Others asked, why not both?

“Kids can barely print,” said one respondent. “I love cursive, but we need to get the basic concepts of writing down first, such as capitals, punctuation, writing in a straight line.”

Cursive, said another, “should be an enrichment not a requirement. It will never be needed in life, except for a signature, and those will all be electronic before long.”

One educator replied that she has been teaching cursive for four years and her students loved it. More so, when they wrote letters to health care workers during the pandemic and received handwritten responses back.

Many teachers in states with mandates were already teaching cursive in their classrooms or at least knew how to do so. And many enjoy including it in their curriculum, says Datchuk. “Students like it as well. Cursive is a cool new way to communicate.”

At the same time, he adds, “we have to be mindful that more teacher preparation is needed. Many newer teachers are learning the skills themselves.”

Another Demand on Educators

Reintegrating cursive back into the curriculum will require new professional development, as well as time and space during an already busy school day.

Putting aside the debate over cursive’s value, and considering the demands already placed on schools, whether this is the right time to impose a new requirement is a valid question, says Polikoff.

“Every time we pass new mandates on things teachers need to teach, we never take anything off their plate.”

Lee Bryant isn’t optimistic that Florida lawmakers will take note. In February, the house of representatives passed the bill requiring cursive instruction and a new proficiency test. The bill is now with the state senate for consideration.

“It’s just a distraction from the bigger issues we face in public education,” Bryant says. “I like cursive. I think the flowing script in the U.S. Constitution is beautiful, but isn’t the content of the document more important? Our students would gain a lot more from understanding what the Constitution says, and less about the process of drawing it out.”

By: Tim Walker, Senior Writer/Editor