Curses to Banning Cursive Handwriting!

My cursive handwriting is terrible. As a reporter, I often relied on my handy digital voice recorder during interviews, instead trying to decipher the chicken scratch scrawled on my notepad. But more than 40 U.S. states are now allowing school districts to dispense with teaching cursive writing to students, deeming the skill unnecessary and obsolete.

Keep cursive in schools, please!

Cursive handwriting is typically taught in third or fourth grades. The school my 9-year old attends still teaches cursive. As I watched my daughter labor as she slowly traced the upper and lower-case letters, I recalled my own struggles with turning in a paper the teacher could read while marveling at the immaculate penmanship exhibited by my peers.

Proponents of the cursive ban say more important subjects should be taught in its place. Because cursive is now seen as obsolete by many educators, its classroom instruction is considered a waste of valuable time and resources. Removing cursive from the curriculum leaves room for what many consider more useful skills and subjects. In an age of  computers, keyboarding and electronic signatures, cursive writing is, admittedly, becoming irrelevant.

But a child's handwriting is part of his or her identity. I was always known for my sloppy handwriting. A person's handwriting is so unique that law enforcement uses it as a tool to identify suspects. And if you don't learn cursive, chances are you won't be able to read it either. How many classroom trips to our Nation's capital included visits to view in person the Declaration of Independence? Its impact is lessened if it can't be read.

Have you ever been handed a "love note" from a classmate in the desk in front of you that you read and re-read? Didn't it have more meaning knowing it was hand-written? What about the occasional message in a bottle found bobbing in the surf? How meaningless it would be to open it up and see it written on a computer in a Times New Roman font style.

I admit perhaps the only thing I write these days is a shopping list. But God help us all if the grid we rely on ever crashes.

Technology is already taking away our individuality. Let's not write off cursive as well.