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== English == [[File:letter.posted.in.1894.arp.jpg|thumb|upright|An English letter from 1894, written in ''Continuous Cursive'']] [[File:Shakespeare-Testament.jpg|thumb|[[William Shakespeare]]'s will, written in [[secretary hand]]<ref>''Cardenio, Or, the Second Maiden's Tragedy'', pp. 131–3: By William Shakespeare, [[Charles Hamilton (handwriting expert)|Charles Hamilton]], John Fletcher (Glenbridge Publishing Ltd., 1994) {{ISBN|0-944435-24-6}}</ref>]] Cursive writing was used in English before the [[Norman Conquest]]. [[Anglo-Saxon charters]] typically include a boundary clause written in [[Old English]] in a cursive script. A cursive handwriting style—[[secretary hand]]—was widely used for both personal correspondence and official documents in England from early in the 16th century. Cursive handwriting developed into something approximating its current form from the 17th century, but its use was neither uniform, nor standardized either in England itself or elsewhere in the [[British Empire]]. In the English colonies of the early 17th century, most of the letters are clearly separated in the handwriting of [[William Bradford (1590-1657)|William Bradford]], though a few were joined as in a cursive hand. In England itself, Edward Cocker had begun to introduce a version of the French ''[[Ronde script (calligraphy)|ronde]]''<!-- sic --> style, which was then further developed and popularized throughout the [[British Empire]] in the 17th and 18th centuries as [[round hand]] by John Ayers and William Banson.<ref>{{cite book| last=Whalley|first=Joyce Irene| title=The Art of Calligraphy, Western Europe & America | year=1980| publisher=Bloomsbury| location=London| isbn=978-0-906223-64-2| page=400}}</ref> === Cursive writing in the United Kingdom === Today there is no standardised [[teaching script]] stipulated in the various [[national curriculum]]s for schools in the United Kingdom, only that one font style needs to be used consistently throughout the school.<ref name="SchoolReady"> Be School Ready – What Letter Font is Your Child’s School Teaching? ([https://teachhandwriting.blog/2019/08/29/be-school-ready-what-letter-font-is-your-childs-school-teaching/ online]), 29 August 2019, access date 30 March 2022 </ref> In both the cursive and the continuous cursive writing styles, letters are created through joining lines and curve shapes in a particular way. Once pupils have learnt how to clearly form single letters, they are taught how single letters can be joined to form a flowing script.<ref name="threehandwritingstages"> Teach handwriting: The three handwriting stages ([https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/three-stages-handwriting.html online]), access date 30 March 2022</ref> Characteristics of cursive and continuous cursive scripts:<ref name="Difference">What's The Difference between Cursive and Continuous Cursive Handwriting Fonts? ([https://teachhandwriting.blog/2017/11/09/whats-the-difference-between-cursive-and-continuous-cursive-handwriting-fonts/ online]), 9 November 2017, access date 30 March 2022</ref> {|class="wikitable" ! ! Cursive ! Continuous cursive |- ! Starting point for letters | Variable | Always on the writing line |- ! Finishing point for letters |colspan="2"| Always on the writing line (except for ''o, r, v'' and ''w'', which have a top exit stroke) |- ! Single letter formation | Letters taught with exit strokes only | Letters taught with entry and exit strokes |} Whether cursive or continuous cursive is to be favoured remains a subject of debate. While many schools in the United Kingdom are opting to teach continuous cursive throughout the year groups, often starting in [[Reception (school)|Reception]], critics have argued that conjoined writing styles leave many children struggling with the high level of gross and fine motor coordination required.<ref>Angela Webb: 'Continuous Cursive: Cure or Curse?', [[National Handwriting Association]] ([https://nha-handwriting.org.uk/handwriting/articles/continuous-cursive-cure-or-curse/ online]), access date 30 March 2022</ref> === Cursive writing in North America === {{expand section |an appropriate integration of Spencerian, Palmer Method, Zaner-Bloser, and D'Nealian methods in the United States as they evolved|date=March 2025}} ==== Development in the 18th and 19th centuries ==== In the American colonies, on the eve of their independence from the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], it is notable that [[Thomas Jefferson]] joined most, but not all the letters when drafting the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]. However, a few days later, [[Timothy Matlack]] professionally re-wrote the presentation copy of the Declaration in a fully joined, cursive hand. Eighty-seven years later, in the middle of the 19th century, [[Abraham Lincoln]] drafted the [[Gettysburg Address]] in a cursive hand that would not look out of place today. Not all such cursive, then or now, joined all of the letters within a word. [[File:HandwritingOfOneJohnJay(NotTheFamousOne).jpg|thumb|right|Cursive handwriting from the 19th-century US]] In both the British Empire and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, before the typewriter, professionals used cursive for their correspondence. This was called a "fair hand", meaning it looked good, and firms trained all their clerks to write in exactly the same script. Although women's handwriting had noticeably different particulars from men's{{explain|date=December 2023}}, the general forms were not prone to rapid change. In the mid-19th century, most children were taught the contemporary cursive; in the United States, this usually occurred in second or third grade (around ages seven to nine). Few simplifications appeared as the middle of the 20th century approached.{{citation needed|date=December 2009}} After the 1960s, a movement originally begun by [[Paul Standard]] in the 1930s to replace looped cursive with cursive italic penmanship resurfaced. It was motivated by the claim that cursive instruction was more difficult than it needed to be; that conventional (looped) cursive was unnecessary, and it was easier to write in cursive italic. Because of this, various new forms of cursive italic appeared, including [[Getty-Dubay Italic]], and [[Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting]]. In the 21st century, some of the surviving cursive writing styles are [[Spencerian Method|Spencerian]], [[Palmer Method]], [[Zaner-Bloser Method|Zaner-Bloser]], and [[D'Nealian Method|D'Nealian]] script.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/from-punishing-to-pleasurable-how-cursive-writing-is-looping-back-into-our-hearts/2018/08/31/aa180b9c-aa06-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html| title=From punishing to pleasurable, how cursive writing is looping back into our hearts|newspaper=The Washington Post| first=Karen|last=Heller|date=2 September 2018|access-date=8 September 2018}}</ref> ==== 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> ==== <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 ... Dysgraphia|url = https://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=789157|website = Nursing |access-date = 8 October 2018}}</ref>
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