Editing Cursive (section)

==== Decline of English cursive in the United States ====
[[File:Cursive.png|alt=|thumb|[[D'Nealian|D'Nealian script]], a cursive alphabet, shown in [[upper case]] and [[lower case]]]]
{{see also|Cursive handwriting instruction in the United States}}

Numerous factors have impacted the declining use of English cursive in the United States. Largely, they have been technologically based, but in the 2000s cultural changes (such as diminished instruction of educators how to teach it) have also contributed to its marginalization.  However, by the second decade of the 2000s “back to basics“ movements have emerged advocating for its preservation.

The declining emphasis on using cursive began in the 20th century, first from the introduction of the typewriter and its widespread adoption by the 1920s. The post-World War II proliferation of the inexpensive [[ballpoint pen]] added convenience to writing by hand and eliminated the flourishes liquid ink and flexible metal tips had allowed. In the digital era, the introduction of technologies such as the word processor and personal computer in the 1980s and smartphone in the 2000s have increasingly displaced all forms of handwriting, most significantly cursive.<ref>{{Cite news |title = How The Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive |url = https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballpoint-pens-object-lesson-history-handwriting/402205/ |work = The Atlantic |date = 28 August 2015 |first = Josh |last = Giesbrecht |access-date = 30 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title = The Decline of Handwriting |last = Enstrom |first = E. A. |year = 1965 |journal = The Elementary School Journal |volume = 66 |issue = 1 |pages = 22–27 |doi = 10.1086/460256|s2cid = 144897364 }}</ref>

Cursive has also been in decline throughout the 21st century because it is no longer perceived as necessary.<ref name="Shapiro">{{Cite news |last=Shapiro |first=T. Rees |date=4 April 2013 |title=Cursive handwriting is disappearing from public schools |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/cursive-handwriting-disappearing-from-public-schools/2013/04/04/215862e0-7d23-11e2-a044-676856536b40_story.html |access-date=30 October 2015 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Braiker |first=Brian |date=25 January 2011 |title=Tossing the Script: The End of the Line for Cursive? |work=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/end-cursive/story?id=12749517 |access-date=30 October 2015}}</ref> The Fairfax Education Association, the largest teachers' union in Fairfax County, Virginia, has called cursive a "dying art".

On the 2006 [[SAT]], an American university matriculation exam, only 15 percent of the students wrote their essay answers in cursive.<ref name="washpost">{{cite news |title=The Handwriting Is on the Wall |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=11 October 2006 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475_2.html}}</ref> However, students might be discouraged from using cursive on standardized tests because they will receive lower marks if their answers are hard to read, and some graders may have difficulties reading cursive.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/aug/22/exam-markers-complain-about-students-blue-ink-scribbles |title=Poor handwriting 'may hinder students' chances of exam success' |first=Richard |last=Adams |date=21 August 2016 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=14 November 2018}}</ref> Nevertheless, in 2007, a survey of 200 teachers of first through third grades in all 50 American states, 90 percent of respondents said their schools required the teaching of cursive.<ref>{{cite news |title=Schools debate: Is cursive writing worth teaching? |newspaper= [[USA Today]] |date=23 January 2009 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-23-cursive-handwriting_N.htm}}</ref> In spite of this mandate, a nationwide survey in 2008 found elementary school teachers lacking formal training in teaching handwriting; only 12 percent reported having taken a course in how to teach it.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Graham|first1=Steve|last2=Harris |first2=Karen R. |last3=Mason |first3=Linda |last4=Fink-Chorzempa |first4=Barbara |last5=Moran |first5=Susan |last6=Saddler |first6=Bruce |title=How do primary grade teachers teach handwriting? A national survey |journal=Reading and Writing |year=2008 |volume=21|issue=1–2|pages=49–69|doi=10.1007/s11145-007-9064-z|publisher=Springer Netherlands|location=New York|s2cid=143793778|issn=0922-4777}}</ref>

In 2012, the American states of [[Indiana]] and [[Hawaii]] announced that their schools would no longer be required to teach cursive (but will still be permitted to), and instead will be required to teach "keyboard proficiency". Nationwide [[Common Core State Standards]] (which do not include instruction in cursive) were proposed in 2009 and had been adopted by 44 states as of July 2011—all of which have debated whether to augment them with cursive.<ref name="Time Newsfeed">{{cite magazine |url= https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/06/typing-beats-scribbling-indiana-schools-can-stop-teaching-cursive/?iid=nfmostpopular |title=Typing Beats Scribbling: Indiana Schools Can Stop Teaching Cursive |first=Kayla |last=Webley |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=6 July 2011|access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/hawaii-no-longer-requires_n_915402.html "Hawaii No Longer Requires Teaching Cursive In Schools"]. Education. ''The Huffington Post''. 1 August 2011.</ref>