Public schools once required students to write in cursive and graded them on how well they wrote.
For example, there were awards for penmanship (think about the beauty of the writing and the signatures on the Declaration of Independence). To suffer hand cramps from applying pencil to paper, apparently a precursor to carpal tunnel syndrome, was badge of honor.
Somewhere along the way, education leadership decided to take the road most traveled, which is to say that they chose to typing and keyboarding over writing on paper. Speed over depth. They decided that if something feels old, it must be obsolete.
Michigan’s once-required teaching of cursive writing and penmanship ended in 2010 around the time that Common Core state standards were adopted.
My apologies to those of you holding out hope that your inkwell will become de rigueur.
However, hope springs eternal in the form of a bill introduced for the fourth time by Rep. Brenda Carter, D-Pontiac. Carter wants to reintrouce cursive witing in Michigan classrooms – not as a mandate but as an option. She called the approach, “a commonsense step to help ensure our students aren’t left behind when it comes to a skill that connects them to both practical tasks and our shared history and culture.” Her bill introduced in July would require the Michigan Department of Education to develop a list of model programs for cursive handwriting instruction.
The bill has been referred to the committee on education and workforce.
Dissent in some circles has been predictable.
This is the 21st century. Cursive writing is dead, Jedidah. Put the quill away. We take notes on tablets and mobile phones now.
But here’s the real issue:
What does it say about modern education that students may not read proficiently, yet they cannot read historical texts written in cursive. What kind of thinkers are we creating when everything they do is fast, editable and disposable? Cursive is inconvenient, and that’s the point.
Your handwriting is as unique as your fingerprint. It’s imperfect. It’s recognizable. It’s human. Read your grandmother’s war letters to your grandfather. A handwritten note from mom, read in your college dormitory (cash included). A signed land deed from 100 years ago with your family’s surname. All that disappears written in today’s code.
Fact is, we are raising children who may never read a handwritten note from a grandparent without help. They may never experience the quiet gravity of signing their own name and understanding that it means something.
That’s not progress. It is loss.
Of course, critics will say schools have bigger problems, and they are right. Literacy rates, math scores, teacher shortages. But that argument misses something fundamental. We are not just teaching skills. We are shaping habits of mind. Critical thinking. Tactile science.
And the habits of mind are built in small, almost invisible ways.
Like learning to slow down. Like connecting one letter to the next. Like understanding that not everything meaningful comes quickly.
When I was in the fifth grade, we perfected our penmanship in Louise Wilson’s language arts class. Mrs. Wilson hung laminated cards that looked like train cars above her green chalkboard. Each of the cars displayed capital and lowercase letters. Perfect script from A to Z, providing a guide for us neophytic writers.
The other day, my eldest child, who attended a Catholic high school that encouraged cursive writing, told me this: “I think cursive is the most efficient way to write and it helps neurodiverse folks have a good body and mind connection. I’m thinking about the importance of note-taking and critical thinking, so I think it’s important to know how and be able to choose how one wants to express themselves.”
Let’s be clear, this is not about nostalgia.
It’s about whether we have become so obsessed with efficiency that we’ve forgotten how learning works. Education Week notes the substantial cognitive benefits linked to students learning to cursive writing, including fine motor skills development, executive function and working memory. At least 24 states mandate cursive instruction, including Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. A Missouri bill passed the House in 2025 but not advanced in the Senate. Wisconsin does not have a cursive requirement.
We know that cursive writing will not fix everything that ails education. However, bringing it back signals something we need to clarify: Not everything old is useless. Faster is not always better. And, finally, some things are worth keeping simply because they keep us human.
In a time where Michigan ranks 44th in the nation is fourth grade reading and 31st in eighth grade math, two key developmental academic benchmarks, Michigan must prioritize innovative ways to improve student learning – even if the solution looks and feels passe.
Byron McCauley is a regional columnist for USA Today Co. Email him at bmccauley@usatodayco.com; call him at (513) 504-8915.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Equip students to read grandad’s war letters to grandma | Opinion
Reporting by Byron McCauley, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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