Why Your Teen Needs To Know Cursive

June 24, 2020
Written by:
Guest Author
Fine Arts, Homeschool High School, Homeschool Language Arts, Homeschooling Curriculum

 

As a college educator, I want parents to know why cursive writing is important to your teen. Any child born in the U.S. after the year 2000 will undoubtedly not have been taught cursive writing. Curriculum developers thought it best to eliminate it from the Common Core Standards due to emerging technology.

Why Your Teen Needs to Know Cursive

Now after twenty-some years, the benefits to cursive are resurfacing. Not only does it improve learning for children beginning to read, it offers five crucial learning benefits for teens in high school and for young adults entering college and the workforce. Parents need to know the five benefits of cursive for all students.

  •  Increased Neural Connections – Students focus more on content when writing in cursive. The brain learns faster and retains more readily when kinetic movement and hand and eye coordination are conducted together. At the primary level, letters and sounds are learned more efficiently when the task of looping and linking letters and their sounds are performed.
  • An Academic Therapy – The Journal of 1976 revealed the continuous flow of linking letters opposed to printing up and down block style, promotes an understanding of words, not separate letters.
  • Improved Retention –  When taking notes in cursive, the brain has to process information to decide what it needs to write down. The information tends to be retained unlike the letters just tapped on a keyboard.
  • Improved Spelling – Cursive writers spell more accurately than those who print or type.
  • Increased Writing Speed
  • Builds Muscle Memory for Learning – The fine motor skills required for cursive writing are coordinated with visual and tactile processing abilities which build muscle memory.

Cursive is a Game-Changer

The bottom line is that when students are writing cursive, their brains are working harder.

The goal is for students to formulate thoughts or quite simply, to think. Cursive writing helps them do that with accuracy and with speed. The argument certainly advocates for cursive’s comeback. What about the teens who missed out? Is it too late for teens to learn and to reap the benefits of cursive? I say absolutely not, especially those soon off to college. We are all continuously learning. The advantages to acquiring new information and to adapting to change are necessary for the brain to stay healthy.

Cursive writing is not simply a lost art. You will find Instagrammers trying to claim it now as Calligraphy. When written correctly, cursive is so much more than a faster way of writing. It is a brain changer. It is beautiful. It is as unique as your teen’s fingerprint; as unique as their signature – in cursive that is.

Visit this great illustration of how cursive handwriting benefits your student!

High School Cursive Writing Practice Elementary Cursive Writing Practice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More about the author:

Teens Need Cursive Writing

Elizabeth holds an MA in English and is a college educator and freelance writer living near the coast of South Carolina. She and her husband have two young adult sons, one teenage daughter, and a fun-loving Golden Retriever.

 

#BEST WRITING CURRICULUM, #HANDWRITING, #HOMESCHOOL WRITING