Cursive writing can help to develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. However, it is no longer an area of importance in our curriculum. Students are no longer spending their language arts period practicing their cursive writing skills, but rather typing away on a computer. Computer skills have certainly become a priority in our fast-paced, technology filled classrooms, but is the value of cursive writing being lost? In the long run, is it affecting our children’s ability to note-take and identify different forms of writing?

Practicing cursive writing helps students to become more efficient in note-taking. Just imagine being in a post-secondary lecture and struggling to keep up. Today, we have our laptops to compensate, but simple note taking skills are also critical for studying, memorization and efficiency. Maybe our children will never experience what it is like to write pages and pages of notes, maybe they simply no longer need this skill for success. There are many perspectives to the debate of cursive writing, as 21st century students continue to focus on keyboard skills in the classroom, as oppose to hand writing skills.