Is there a need for handwriting in the digital age?

An article published on April 24 by April Brown of PBS NewsHour addresses the topic of teaching cursive handwriting in America’s elementary schools. The article, which cites the responses of a variety of experts and even elementary school students, asks the question: “Is cursive handwriting slowly dying out in America?”

Brown notes that many elementary schools in the United States no longer teach cursive due to the increasing demands of testing and teaching to the Common Core State Standards, as well as a greater focus on computers in the classroom. Just a few states are moving toward making cursive mandatory. In this digital age, which is the right approach?

Graham, Mary Emily Warner Professor in Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University, is quoted in the article for his stance on the issue. For close to 30 years, he has studied how writing develops, how to teach it effectively and how writing can be used to support reading and learning.

“You can write your name out in manuscript, that’s fine, it doesn’t have to be a signature,” the article quotes Graham as saying, following a statement by a former teacher and certified academic language therapist regarding the need for high school students to know cursive in order to “have a signature.”

“We now have electronic signatures,” Graham’s quote continues. “We don’t use the signature in the same way that we did 20, 30, 50, 100 years ago. This really isn’t an impediment in terms of thinking about putting your (John Hancock) on something.”