I fondly remember learning cursive writing at Sacred Heart School. My favorite nun, Sister Geraldine drew the beautiful letters on the board and we copied them. Above the board was a strip which demonstrated both upper and lower case versions of the alphabet. I admired the more accomplished scripts of the older students and could not wait to develop my own, beautiful penmanship style.
Now, only 15 states in the US require cursive instruction and a battle of the pros and cons of including cursive writing in the Common Core Curriculum is afoot. Some argue that handwriting is obsolete and that keyboarding should replace it. Others argue that there are important cognitive processes involved in hand writing. It has been shown in several studies that when college students take handwritten notes instead of notes on their laptops their comprehension and retention is better.
The American Handwriting Analysis Foundation is doing important work in educating people on the importance of keeping cursive writing alive. Please check out their white paper: The Truth About Cursive Handwriting: Why it matters in a digital age. Please also check out the: Campaign for Cursive which is also sponsored by the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation. These groups are doing good work to promote cursive writing. Campaign for Cursive runs yearly cursive contests in many different states and countries. See the Campaign for Cursive website for multiple research articles on the benefits of cursive writing.
Donna
White paper: white-paper2.pdf – Google Drive
Campaign for Cursive: http://www.campaignforcursive.com/