EASTON, Pa. — State Rep. Robert Freeman fondly recalls his mother’s cursive penmanship, which graced the many thank-you notes she sent out over the years.
But that handwriting style has fallen out of use for many in the younger generations.
Freeman learned as much when he once went to a bookstore to get a title he had ordered and encountered a cashier who wasn’t familiar with cursive.
The legislator handed the young man at the counter a slip of paper with the name of the book and the author written on it in cursive and asked to pick it up.
“And he looked at it and he looked at me, and he looked at it and he looked at me, and he said, ‘I can’t read cursive,’” Freeman said.
“So he didn’t even have the ability to read it, let alone write it. It was kind of shocking.”
That’s why Freeman, D-Northampton, co-sponsored House Bill 17, which would require all Pennsylvania elementary students to receive cursive instruction.
House Bill 17
The bill passed in the House by a vote of 195-8 last month, with all Lehigh Valley state representatives supporting the proposed legislation. It was referred to the state Senate Education Committee for further review.
State Rep. Milou Mackenzie, R-Lehigh/Northampton/ Montgomery, also co-sponsored the House bill, whose prime sponsor was state Rep. Dane Watro, R-Luzerne/Schuylkill.
Mackenzie, a former English teacher, said the ability to write in cursive is essential for being “a totally well-educated human being.”
"As they go through life, they’re going to be signing their name — in cursive, hopefully.”State Rep. Milou Mackenzie, R-Lehigh/Northampton/Montgomery
She also said it enhances students’ creativity, among other developmental and learning benefits.
“It establishes a very strong sense of identity for them because no two signatures are exactly alike. As they go through life, they’re going to be signing their name — in cursive, hopefully.”
State Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, said House Bill 17 is an example of proposed legislation that aims to make a small but common sense change.
“There’s just a practicality behind it,” said Schweyer, chairman of the House Education Committee. “It’s just a real life [skill].”
“We have far too many students that perhaps don’t have a signature,” he added.
“You get your first paycheck, what are you going to do? You’re going to print your name on the back [in] block-style?”
History
Throughout the decades, the degree to which students rely on cursive has varied – reflecting the culture and technology of the times.
In 1850, American schools began teaching a form of cursive instruction focused on “fluid movements observed in nature,” according to the National Museum of American History. That style was called the Spencerian method, and it allowed for “personalization and embellishment.”
By the end of the 1800s, the Palmer method of cursive writing gained popularity. It “streamlined the flourishes” of the Spencerian method and was eventually taken up in public schools, too.
Throughout the 20th century, students moved away from using handwriting as they began doing schoolwork on typewriters, and then, computers.
The growth of technology led the writers of the 2010 Common Core State Standards to exclude cursive proficiency altogether, according to reporting from Education Week.
The standard writers thought it was more important for students to learn to communicate via electronic devices.
Additionally, they were responding to educator feedback that cursive instruction took up time that could better be spent on teaching other content.
Many school districts removed cursive instruction from their curriculums as a result.
But in the decade that followed the creation of the Common Core, states began passing legislation to require cursive instruction, with about 15 states having adopted legal mandates of some kind in the time since.
At least another 10 states added cursive instruction to their standards or model curriculums.
In March, Idaho adopted a law requiring students to be proficient in writing in cursive by the end of fifth grade.
In addition to Pennsylvania, at least another five states are considering legal mandates for cursive instruction, including New Jersey, which has bills under consideration in both the state Assembly and Senate.
Pennsylvania previously considered adopting a cursive instruction requirement in 2023 and 2024, but neither the proposed House bill nor the subsequent Senate bill got any traction.
Cursive benefits
State Reps. Freeman and Mackenzie co-sponsored the current iteration of the proposed legislation because cursive is an important skill for students to have for a number of reasons, they said.
Both said cursive handwriting can improve motor skills in children and enhance brain development, activating parts of the brain that deal with memory retention.
“I’m a big believer that we should be teaching cursive."State Rep. Robert Freeman, D-Northampton
Additionally, Freeman said cursive handwriting helps students improve spelling and literacy skills. It also allows them to take notes more quickly.
“I’m a big believer that we should be teaching cursive,” he said.
Mackenzie said familiarity with cursive also makes history more accessible to students.
“A lot of historic documents are written in cursive, so if you can write in cursive yourself, you can read effectively other people’s cursive writing,” she said.
Mackenzie also said she hopes the push for cursive instruction in Pennsylvania schools is a signal of “a return to the basics” in education.
“The kids in the one-room school houses learned cursive writing and [learned] to read using phonics,” she said.
Additionally, Mackenzie and Freeman are both co-sponsors of another House bill focused on evidence-based reading instruction in schools, which includesphonics and skills, such as word decoding, fluency and vocabulary.
There’s a similar bill in the state Senate, which has thus far seen more movement.
Like the proposed cursive legislation, both bills have seen bipartisan support.
