Handwriting has played a huge role in our lives on a day to day basis.
The best part about it is that your handwriting can often be a reflection of your personality as well. In fact, it’s one of the few skills we learn in school that is still relevant to this day.
However, it is becoming clearer day by day that most teachers and schools are working towards getting rid of cursive handwriting. With 45 minutes available per day to teach their syllabus, this is a challenge, with many schools opting to not teach cursive handwriting.
Manuscript is quickly becoming the norm because it is easier and teachers are more focused on the content they are teaching.
The Difficulties in Cursive Writing
Various difficulties are faced when teaching cursive handwriting, particularly in maintaining the habit of writing that way. Once students’ reach college level, they’re allowed to use tablets and their laptops to take notes. Assignments are submitted in printed formats. Moreover, for students, the process is often time consuming, many finding writing in manuscript faster or working better for them.
There is also a shared feeling, by many, that cursive handwriting is antiquated. Current trends are also supporting this factor with more emphasis placed on a person’s typing skills than their handwriting. As a skill, writing in cursive handwriting is not given the importance that it deserves, since it is almost always looked at from a cosmetic point of view.
The Benefits of Cursive Writing
Cursive handwriting has proven to be better for students, requiring more motor coordination as well. Moreover, the process of writing in cursive is easier for students with learning disabilities as they do not have to lift their pens as much as is required when writing in manuscript.
Not only does it improve hand-eye coordination, it also makes it easier for one to read and remember what they wrote. Unfortunately,, some believe that cursive handwriting could at times prove more challenging for students without any disabilities. However, there is little data present to support this theory.
Learning Cursive and Manuscript
In 2012, Virginia Berninger from the University of Washington, released a study where she stated that “Evidence supports teaching both formats of handwriting and then letting each student choose which works best for him or her.” Students who knew both formats did not only have better cognitive functions but also performed better academically.
This also creates a more positive learning environment as teaching just one mode of writing is unfair for all students, with or without learning disabilities. By limiting their writing skills and enforcing one writing style, it gets difficult for students with different needs to study successfully. On the other hand, most schools are not bothering to teach cursive handwriting to their students, and students do not get to make that choice on their own.
If you want your child to learn cursive handwriting, take a look at our handwriting classes.