Since technology has supplanted pens and paper in classrooms, cursive has become synonymous with Egyptian hieroglyphics for many children.

Despite many schools dropping cursive from their curricula, the artform is making a steady comeback, with several institutions flipping the script.

This could be due in part to a popular social media post in which a teacher chastised a seven-year-old girl for signing her John Hancock on an assignment with loopy letters.

Continue reading to learn more about this pupil and why schools are reintroducing cursive.

Previous studies have shown that handwriting enhances spelling accuracy, memory recall, and conceptual understanding.

In fact, scientists believe that the painstaking process of drawing out letters and words enhances brain activity, giving people more time to comprehend and remember.

“There is a fundamental difference in brain organization for handwriting as opposed to typing,” says Ramesh Balasubramaniam, a neuroscientist at the University of California. “Even when the actions are relatively identical, the activation appears substantially higher in handwriting. It demonstrates that there is greater participation of these brain regions during handwriting, which may provide you with some distinct advantages.”

Boosts brain activity

As technology evolves, our dependence on it grows and experts say that handwriting shouldn’t be lost in the digital age.

“[Schools] need to bring in more writing into curriculum design,” Balasubramaniam says.

Supporting his opinion is a new study  – “Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom” – shows handwriting, over swiping or typing on a device, boosts brain connectivity, particularly in learning and memory.

Audrey van der Meer, a lead author of the 2024 study explains “When writing by hand, most of the brain is active.”

Van der Meer, who teaches neuropsychology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, says handwriting “puts the brain in a state that helps both children and adults learn more and remember better…Typing, on the other hand, requires mechanical and repetitive movements that trade awareness for speed.”

In summary, the study finds that “the ongoing substitution of handwriting by typewriting in almost every educational setting may seem somewhat misguided as it could affect the learning process in a negative way.”

Functional illiteracy

In 2010, several states were “misguided” when they adopted the Common Core standards initiative, which does not require students to learn cursive writing.

Unfortunately, eliminating cursive penmanship from learning is leading to functional illiteracy across the U.S. where “hard-to-read handwriting” is causing problems for people performing basic adult tasks.

According to a 2021 study, a staggering 70% of Americans struggle to reading notes or reports from their colleagues and 45% claim they can’t even make out their own.

The survey also reveals that the most common items to be misread are shopping lists, notes to colleagues, birthday cards, and thank you notes.

Others said without the ability to write in cursive, that signing important documents is stressful.

“My 20-year-old granddaughter struggles to sign a check,” Kimberly Jacovino of Monroe, Connecticut, tells the Daily Mail. “It is very important, and [cursive] should be brought back to all schools.”

Understanding the need to preserve and practice the flowy handwriting, 24 states – as of 2024 – reversed earlier decisions to remove cursive handwriting from curriculum and now mandate it.

Still not all schools are teaching cursive, and some are even reprimanding young children for using it.

Student warned for using cursive
In 2015, seven-year-old Alyssa handed in her assignment on short vowels and was scolded for writing her name in loopy flowing letters.

Her teacher wrote in red pen at the top of her lesson sheet: “Stop writing your name in cursive. You have had several warnings.”

Brenda Hatcher, a friend of Alyssa’s mom, took a photo of the child’s assignment and shared it on Facebook, a post that has since been deleted.

Hatcher captions the photo, “Share this everywhere… Alyssa is 7!!! Not only is her mother a military veteran but, she took the time to teach her very young child how to write in cursive.”

According to PopSugar, the incident reportedly happened in Kansas where there’s currently no legal requirement for students to learn cursive.

The outlet reports that the social media post divided users, some suggesting the teacher was wrong for reprimanding the child while others said the child “needs to follow directions.”

What are your thoughts on cursive script? Please let us know what you think and then share this story with others so we can get the conversation started!