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[00:00.04]Starting this year, six- to twelve-year-olds in California

[00:06.00]will be required to learn cursive handwriting.

[00:11.32]The return to handwriting comes after many years

[00:15.44]in which typing on computer keyboards was taught

[00:19.88]and handwriting was pushed aside.

[00:24.40]Cursive is a kind of handwriting

[00:27.16]in which all the letters in a word

[00:29.84]are connected to each other.

[00:33.08]Assembly Bill 446 requires that handwriting

[00:38.68]be taught to 2.6 million Californian students

[00:44.08]in grades one through six.

[00:46.80]And it requires cursive lessons

[00:50.08]in grades three and above.

[00:53.68]Former elementary school teacher Sharon Quirk-Silva

[00:58.92]supported the bill and California Governor

[01:02.88]Gavin Newsom signed it into law in October.

[01:08.84]Experts say learning cursive improves brain development,

[01:13.76]reading skills, and hand movement.

[01:17.88]Some educators also find value in teaching children

[01:22.88]to read historic documents

[01:25.20]and family letters from past generations.

[01:30.28]Pamela Keller teaches grades four to six

[01:33.92]at Orangethorpe Elementary School in Fullerton

[01:38.88]about 50 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles.

[01:44.56]She said she was already teaching cursive

[01:48.00]before the law took effect on January 1.

[01:53.36]Some children complain about the difficulty,

[01:56.72]but Keller has a ready answer:

[01:59.88]"We tell them, well, it's going to make you smarter,

[02:04.60]it's going to make some connections in your brain,

[02:08.20]and it's going to help you move to the next level.

[02:13.16]And then they get excited because students

[02:16.28]want to be smarter. They want to learn," Keller said.

[02:21.92]During a recent visit to the school library,

[02:25.36]Keller said one student got excited

[02:28.88]seeing an image of the U.S. Constitution,

[02:32.72]written in 1787, saying, "It's cursive!"

[02:39.04]Several of Keller's students say the subject was difficult,

[02:43.84]like the letter Z, but they enjoyed it anyways.

[02:49.44]"I love it, because I just feel it's fancier...to write,

[02:53.92]and it's fun to learn new letters,"

[02:56.84]said Sophie Guardia, a 9-year-old in the fourth grade.

[03:02.72]In teacher Nancy Karcher's class,

[03:05.72]her third-grade students said, "It's fun,"

[03:09.28]"Now I can read my mom's writing,"

[03:11.96]and "It's for my secrets."

[03:16.00]As computers and smart devices grew in popularity,

[03:20.96]cursive writing was pushed aside.

[03:24.80]In 2010, the national Common Core education standards

[03:30.52]were published to help students prepare for university.

[03:35.96]Cursive was left out.

[03:39.16]"They stopped teaching kids how to form any letters at all.

[03:44.80]Teacher colleges are not preparing teachers

[03:48.08]to teach handwriting," said Kathleen Wright.

[03:53.36]She is the founder of the Handwriting Collective,

[03:57.00]a nonprofit group.

[04:00.16]But cursive is coming back.

[04:02.56]California became the 22nd U.S. state

[04:07.76]to require cursive handwriting

[04:10.32]and the 14th to pass a cursive teaching bill since 2014,

[04:17.12]said Lauren Gendill.

[04:20.48]She is a researcher

[04:22.36]at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

[04:27.56]Five states have introduced cursive bills so far in 2024.

[04:35.12]Leslie Zoroya is project director

[04:39.04]for reading language arts

[04:41.24]at the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

[04:46.60]She said research has shown

[04:49.64]that learning cursive supports several linked skills

[04:53.84]that improve childhood development.

[04:58.00]Zoroya said, "You're using different neural networks

[05:02.64]when you're doing cursive rather than printing.

[05:06.28]And so, it's creating those pathways in your brain."

[05:11.28]Zoroya said she got the idea

[05:14.08]from former California Governor Jerry Brown.

[05:18.80]California's teaching standards

[05:21.12]always had cursive writing goals,

[05:24.84]but Quirk-Silva said cursive

[05:27.32]was not always taught and was weakening.

[05:32.00]She said, "The hope of the legislation

[05:35.44]is that by the time students leave sixth grade,

[05:39.20]they would be able to read and write it."

[05:43.72]I'm Gregory Stachel.

____________________

Words in This Story

cursive –n. a form of handwriting in which the writing instrument never leaves the paper while writing a word

grade –n. a level of education that is equal to one school year

complain – v. to say (something that expresses annoyance or unhappiness)

excited – adj. very enthusiastic and eager about something

library – n. a place where books, magazines, and other materials (such as videos and musical recordings) are available for people to use or borrow

fancy – adj. not plain or ordinary

standard – n. a level of quality, especially one that people think is acceptable

neural – adj. of, relating to, or involving a nerve or the nervous system