Editing Cursive (section)

==== <span class="anchor" id="Conservation efforts and cognitive benefits"></span> Conservation efforts and effects on the learning disabled ====

Despite the decline in the day-to-day use of cursive, it is being reintroduced to the curriculum of some schools in the United States. [[California]] passed cursive handwriting legislation in 2023, adding to a wave of state legislation between 2013 and 2023 that requires the incorporation of cursive handwriting into elementary education.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blume |first=Howard |date=2024-01-08 |title=Learning cursive in school, long scorned as obsolete, is now the law in California |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-08/topsy-curvy-cursive-writing-returns-to-the-list-of-priorities-in-california-schools |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Heubeck, E. (2023, November 16). ''More States Require Schools to Teach Cursive Writing. Why?'' Education Week. Retrieved November 24, 2023, from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/more-states-require-schools-to-teach-cursive-writing-why/2023/11 </ref><ref>''Bill Text: CA AB446 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered''. (n.d.). LegiScan. Retrieved November 24, 2023, from https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB446/id/2845873 </ref> Other states such as [[Idaho]], [[Kansas]], [[Massachusetts]], [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Tennessee]] had already mandated cursive in schools as a part of the Back to Basics program designed to maintain the integrity of cursive handwriting.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Is cursive handwriting slowly dying out in America?|url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/long-held-tradition-cursive-handwriting-slowly-dying-america/|work = PBS NewsHour|access-date = 30 October 2015}}</ref> Cursive instruction is required by grade 5 in Illinois, starting with the 2018–2019 school year.<ref>{{Cite web|title = An act concerning education|url = http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=100-0548|website = ILGA.gov|access-date = 30 August 2018}}</ref> 

Some{{who|date=December 2015}} argue that cursive is not worth teaching in schools and "in the 1960s cursive was implemented because of preference and not an educational basis; Hawaii and Indiana have replaced cursive instruction with 'keyboard proficiency' and 44 other states are currently weighing similar measures."<ref>{{Cite journal |title = Is Cursive Handwriting Going Extinct? |url = http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/is-cursive-handwriting-going-extinct-734564/ |journal= Smithsonian |access-date = 30 October 2015 |first=Angela |last=Serratore |date=6 March 2013}}</ref>

Many historical documents, such as the United States Constitution, are written in cursive. Some argue the inability to read cursive therefore precludes one from being able to fully appreciate such documents in their original format.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Five Reasons Kids Should Still Learn Cursive Writing|url = https://time.com/2820780/five-reasons-kids-should-still-learn-cursive-writing/|magazine = Time |access-date = 30 October 2015|first = Katy|last = Steinmetz |date=4 June 2014 }}</ref> 

[[Maria Montessori]] argued that writing with straight lines is more difficult than writing with curved lines and children would benefit from learning cursive first.<ref>Montessori, M. (1964). ''The Montessori method'' (A. E. George, trans.; first Schocken paperback edition.). Schocken Books.</ref>

Students with [[dyslexia]], who have difficulty learning to read because their brains have difficulty associating sounds and letter combinations efficiently, have found that cursive can help them with the decoding process because it integrates hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and other brain and memory functions.<ref>{{Cite news |title = How cursive can help students with dyslexia connect the dots |url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/connecting-dots-role-cursive-dyslexia-therapy/ |work = PBS NewsHour |date=6 May 2014 |access-date = 30 October 2015}}</ref> However, students with [[dysgraphia]] may be badly served, or even substantially hindered, by demands for cursive.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Myths and Fact&nbsp;... Dysgraphia|url = https://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=789157|website = Nursing |access-date = 8 October 2018}}</ref>