A few months ago, I pulled out a kids\u2019 book for my seven-year-old to read to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She opened the first page, shook her head and handed it back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t read this,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s in cursive.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, I was shocked. How could my child, a proficient reader, not recognize what \u2014 to me \u2014 was relatively simple, joined-up lettering?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, I got angry. Because this is what happens when you no longer teach children to write in cursive.<\/p>\n
Once\u00a0considered a basic, fundamental skill, this was phased out back in 2010, with the introduction of the controversial Common Core curriculum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But now, for example, because my kids don\u2019t learn it, I can\u2019t write letters or even short notes to them in my own handwriting \u2014 something my parents completely took for granted. Instead, I have to slowly and painstakingly write in print instead, to make sure they\u2019re able to read it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I wonder \u2014 what on earth will they do when they\u2019re older, and are asked to sign their names? Will they even understand the concept of an actual signature?\u00a0<\/p>\n
My obsession with cursive\u2019s slow death in the culture most likely seems crazy to my children. <\/p>\n
After all, we live in a technology-driven world. They would likely argue that they need to know their way around a computer more than they do a pencil. <\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t disagree more. Writing properly and being able to read more than just block letters remains an important life skill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many believe children should know their way around computers, but knowing how to read and write is perhaps even more important. Yulia Raneva \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
In one of his final acts as governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy tried to reverse more than a decade of failing our kids on this front \u2014 signing legislation on Monday<\/a> that will require students in third through fifth grade be taught cursive.<\/p>\n His argument, which had me cheering from across the Hudson River: This will help pupils with basic tasks, later in life \u2014\u00a0such as opening bank accounts and signing documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Myself and many other letter-minded New Yorkers are frustrated to have nobody in government advocating for us \u2014\u00a0how have we been letting this go on for so long? <\/p>\n I\u2019ve heard from more than a few parents, voicing disappointment that their children can barely write legibly \u2014 one even sharing photos of their son\u2019s writing in first grade versus the seventh grade, which showed almost a degradation in legibility of his handwriting.\u00a0<\/p>\n An American child\u2019s second-grade handwriting (L) deteriorated by the time they were a freshman in high school (R).<\/p>\n \u201cWe were lucky to have my eldest learn cursive in third grade. I recall how wonderful it was to see the neat handwriting on his projects on classroom walls when I would visit school,\u201d the parent shared.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Covid, unfortunately, both my children only worked on Chromebooks and mostly have in Google classrooms,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n \u201cRarely do we see any projects written out anymore. When I ask my children to write birthday or thank you cards. I see their penmanship has deteriorated, which makes me sad that schools are not teaching cursive and proper penmanship anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n This is a problem that is unique to America \u2014 most developed countries, from South America to Europe and the United Kingdom, are still teaching their children cursive.\u00a0<\/p>\n And as someone who has raised two kids across two continents and has seen the situation from multiple sides, I have seen first hand that the United States has fallen behind.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n My eldest daughter spent the first five years of her life in the UK, in London, where kids start school a year earlier. From the age of four, the first 30 minutes of her day \u2014 every day \u2014 were spent practicing lettering.<\/p>\n A seven-year-old New York student\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n I know, because her teacher liked parents to stay for a bit in the mornings after drop off. I would watch as my daughter would be asked to write and rewrite all her letters, until they were formed correctly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their building block was cursive, and the attention paid to how the kids held their pencils was militant to say the least.\u00a0<\/p>\n A year later, when we moved to New York, I arrived with a five-year-old who could read pretty capably, hold her pen properly, and write letters correctly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even when COVID hit, a few months later, she was able to keep writing progress up. Because the fundamentals were there. Today, she has great handwriting, much of it self-taught.\u00a0<\/p>\n My youngest, on the other hand, has spent her entire life in the New York public system. Her school is fantastic. But when it comes to handwriting, I think the system has failed her.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is no part of the curriculum that teaches kids how to hold their pencils properly. I know so many kids who hold their pencils in strange, improper ways. My youngest included.\u00a0<\/p>\n A 14-year-old American student\u2019s scribbled handwriting.<\/p>\n She grips hers between fisted fingers, and watching her try \u2014 and struggle \u2014 to write comfortably makes me wince.\u00a0<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t know how to form her letters correctly, and while her teachers have valiantly tried to help and correct her, there is truly no time in the day for them to work on this.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hours are already so crunched \u2014 with her school day finishing at 2:35 p.m. \u2014\u00a0that the teachers already have to work so hard to get in every other key subject they need to teach. All while juggling more than 30 kids to a class.\u00a0<\/p>\n I also see how long it takes my daughter to write a single sentence. She\u2019s now in danger of falling behind \u2014 simply for the reason that she can\u2019t write well, or fast enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n When cursive is not part of the curriculum, children have to lift their pen and start again at every letter. It\u2019s slow and also harder to write uniformly \u2014 her letter sizes are all over the place.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, I get that she\u2019s seven. I don\u2019t expect the world from her.<\/p>\n But at the same time, if you compare American kids\u2019 handwriting to those of European or British children of the same age, it\u2019s rage-inducing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When I saw the note below that my French friend\u2019s son had written to his American mom, aged just 7, I almost couldn\u2019t believe it. <\/p>\n This issue seems to be unique to the U.S., whereas children in developed countries learn how to write cursive. Above is a photo of a 7-year-old French student\u2019s neat handwriting.<\/p>\n