Cursive and Higher Level Critical Thinking

12/8/2022

Writing is a crucial component of the K-12 curriculum. It not only equips learners with the critical thinking skills necessary to solve problems in higher education and beyond, but it also aids the learning process.

An equally important aspect of learning to write is developing cursive skills, especially throughout the K-12 curriculum.

Although some experts argue that cursive is becoming less relevant in today’s tech-driven world, studies have shown that curriculums that teach cursive improve critical writing skills, such as composition and spelling. And schools that teach cursive uniquely prepare learners to be lifelong critical thinkers amidst a growing reliance on emails, tweets, or text messaging as primary forms of communication.

Below, we’ll share some benefits of learning cursive at the K-12 level and how these handwriting skills can help develop higher-level critical thinking.

Cognitive Benefits of Teaching Cursive

Studies have shown that students who learn cursive experience a higher stimulation of brain synapses and an increased synchronicity between their left and right hemispheres. In contrast, typing or printing involve less brain stimulation, especially for critical thinking, language development, and building working memory.

Handwriting engages the sensory-motor feedback loops necessary for recalling information, so it can help learners better grasp complex or abstract concepts. As learners write down ideas by hand, they tend to think deeper and reflect on the content they generate.

Other cognitive benefits to handwriting with or without cursive include:

Faster comprehension of challenging topics
Increased participation in the writing process
Ability to focus on the content of an essay

Experts argue that writing content in cursive, unlike typing or printing, requires a learner to coordinate hand, finger, and eye motor movements, resulting in extensive cognitive exercise. Students who learn cursive are also more likely to think faster as they pen down their thoughts. Even if students were to never use cursive later in life, the early cognitive benefits achieved by adding it to their curriculum make the discipline worth practicing on its own.

Cursive Enhances Language Fluency and Improves Writing Skills

Interestingly, studies have also shown that students who learn to write cursive read more fluently and are able to write content with greater fluidity. These students are more likely to engage deeply with complex assignments that may require extensive comprehension or composition skills.

Neuroscience evidence also indicates that the motor experience involved in handwriting helps to recruit and activate the brain regions responsible for processing letters, especially in pre-literate children.

When these children spend time doing handwriting exercises, they are more likely to perceive letters much better than their counterparts who don’t extensively participate in handwriting.

Cursive Can Help Support Dyslexic Students

Learning to write cursive has been shown to serve as a reliable support tool for dyslexic students, helping them become better readers and writers. In many instances, cursive therapy is recommended for them.

For students with dyslexia, learning to read is difficult because of the inefficient association of letter and sound combinations. Practicing cursive writing helps dyslexic students by stimulating cognitive functions such as hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and related brain and memory functions.

The Need for Cursive Skills in the Workplace

The benefits of cursive are not limited to the school-age years. Beyond the scientifically-proven cognitive benefits, students who learn to read or write cursive gain simple but rare lifelong skills that enable them to read documents written in cursive.

For example, without cursive experience, one might find it challenging to read a grandparent’s handwritten diary or historical letters from World War I or II.

Although it might not seem immediately crucial for a student in today’s technologically advanced era to learn cursive, it is possible that a student will pursue a career requiring some level of reading or writing cursive:

Simple tasks like adding entries of handwritten information to a database may seem challenging for someone who did not learn how to read or write cursive. For example, a customer service representative tasked with responding to handwritten customer complaints or suggestions may need to do so by reading cursive handwriting and writing back to customers by hand.
Correct delivery of mail or packages requires designated post office staff or package handlers to read recipient addresses written in cursive on a daily basis. Failure to do so may result in delays when delivering time-sensitive mail.
Careers like art historians or museum curators typically involve the study of historical documents written in cursive. In healthcare, roles like pharmacists, nurses, or case managers may require reading handwritten documents such as referrals or authorization requests, some of which are written in cursive.

Historical Relevance of Cursive

From a historical standpoint, cursive writing has been taught in schools in the United States for hundreds of years. And, preceding the 1970s, cursive was included in the curriculum as a daily “penmanship” lesson for the first through sixth grades and graded separately on report cards.

At one point in U.S. history, the ability to write in quality cursive was symbolic of a high social status and education level. As such, schools emphasized the teaching and practicing of cursive.

The emphasis on cursive literacy isn’t surprising. As the primary mode of communication, cursive was used to author documents such as:

Land deeds
Business records
Military orders

Although computers and mobile devices are currently the primary forms of communication, integrating cursive in the K-12 curriculum helps students appreciate its historical value and directly engage with preserved texts and source materials.

As Kitty Burns Florey, author of “Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting,” aptly states, “handwriting is an interesting, historic, valuable, and beautiful skill that has been around for thousands of years.”

Teaching cursive to learners surrounded by fast-evolving technology helps them learn unique skills that require a deeper level of cognitive engagement than is typically employed when typing an essay from a keyboard.

Two Sides of a Coin with Teaching Cursive

Even with all the arguments supporting the teaching of cursive in schools, an opposing school of thought maintains that rapid technological advances undermine the need to equip students with cursive skills. Experts argue that standardized tests like the SAT do not require test takers to write in cursive. Therefore, teaching cursive is a waste of time.

Rather than teaching cursive to K-12 learners, these experts suggest schools teach typing or printing skills in alignment with the guidelines of the Common Core standards. And despite the studies stating otherwise, these experts also believe cursive may be challenging for students with learning difficulties.

Regardless, teaching cursive to students from an early age provides them with unique learning opportunities and rare critical thinking skills to help them stand out in a fast-paced, technology-driven world.

Learn About Our Student-Centered Curriculum

If you are looking for a private school in Phoenix that will provide your child with a unique learning experience—for reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, look no further than All Saint’s Episcopal Day School. We believe each student has unique abilities and talents that our teachers can develop through individualized learning.

Our commitment to a welcoming academic, social, and spiritual environment helps students become lifelong learners who bring value to their communities. We encourage students to pursue their passions and help them build real-life skills that will prepare them for college and beyond.

We invite you to visit and meet our team today!

Back