Keep Cursive in Our School: What Do You Think?

Keep Cursive in Our School, by Ines Varga

1In cursive writing, the letters in a word are joined together with loops and curves. My grandmother writes everything in cursive, from shopping lists to birthday cards. Some schools have stopped teaching it. I think that is a mistake. Every third grader should learn cursive.

2First, cursive can be fast. When you write in cursive, your pencil does not have to lift off the paper after every letter. My grandmother calls it "running writing."

3Second, cursive lets you read old letters and papers. Many family letters and recipes were written in cursive long ago. If you cannot read cursive, you might miss the stories your own family wrote down.

4Some people say kids do not need cursive because we type on computers now. I agree that typing is useful. But we do not always have a computer with us, and a handwritten card feels special to the person who gets it.

5Learning cursive takes practice, and my first loops looked like tangled string. Now my name looks smooth and grown-up when I sign it. Ask your teacher if your class can try a few cursive letters this week. I think you will be glad you did.