Lost art of penmanship

Like 8-track tapes, Atari video games and the rotary-dial phone, cursive writing may soon become a casualty of technological advance, as the word processor squeezes penmanship lessons from schools nationwide.

Learning the loops of cursive writing might seem like a waste of time to students and teachers who are accustomed to the computer as the principal tool of communication. The National Cursive Handwriting

Test — a 75-year-old tradition — recently was canceled because of a lack of entries. But educators say cursive writing is a communication tool that deserves to be upheld in elementary schools today.

Students still need to know how to communicate effectively through good handwriting skills, said Charles B. Pyle, director of communication at the Virginia State Department of Education.

“There will still be occasions when students need to express themselves with pen and paper, and what they write should be read and understood without a lot of difficulty,” he said.

Both Maryland and Virginia’s state curriculum for elementary schools indicate that, by second grade, students should begin making the transition to cursive writing, using connecting strokes to write continuous text. By third grade, students are expected to write legibly in cursive, moving from the instruction level in the classroom to a more independent level.

“The long-term goal is to develop neat, legible and rapid handwriting,” Mr. Pyle said. “Our standards don’t emphasize a method, but expect an outcome.”

Advocates say teaching penmanship has benefits, citing research evidence of a direct link between the process of learning to write and developing the ability to read fluently.

“Cursive writing itself was developed because connected strokes help create a continuous stream of writing,” said Dixie Stack, director of curriculum at Maryland State Department of Education. “When you first look at cursive writing, it’s like trying to interpret a foreign language. Working at it — and practicing it yourself — though, helps you to read it.”

Roger Vanderhye, principal of Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, said cursive writing is “not a lost art quite yet.”

“We still believe that fluid writing leads itself to thinking … we’ve seen that students’ ideas start to flow better when they learn cursive,” he said.

Heidi Hogan, reading and writing specialist at Spring Hill, agrees.

“Keyboarding hasn’t replaced cursive,” Mrs. Hogan said. “Even with technological developments, we still feel it’s important for students to know how to write. Most children actually enjoy cursive … they see it as a rite of passage or a ‘grown-up thing to do.’”

The process also helps students who have problems with reversed letters in their handwriting.

“Once students make the transition to cursive, they don’t make the same kind of mistakes,” Mrs. Hogan said.

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