California writes cursive back into elementary school curriculum
SACRAMENTO - California elementary schools are now required to teach cursive in the classroom.
It has not been a requirement since 2010, but many schools including a portion of classrooms at Stockton Unified School District continued teaching it.
"It is too curly and you sway it," said 7th grader Dovie Silva.
Silva remembers learning cursive in third grade.
"I just never thought I'd need to know to learn cursive," Silva said.
The science shows that even in the age when so many are glued to their phones, there is still a purpose behind taking a pencil to paper.
"If you want your child to have their optimum ability to learn, remember and synthesize information, you will want them to focus on handwriting and cursive," said Superintendent of Stockton Unified School District, Dr. Michelle Rodriguez.
Dr. Rodriguez said cursive is more than communicating your thoughts through writing.
"Using paper and pen allows there to be more hooks for the memories and for the learning to hook onto," Dr. Rodriguez said.
Since some Stockton classrooms continued to teach the penmanship practice even when it was not required, the district is not expecting any teaching challenges.
"It shouldn't be practicing with writing the same sentence three times," said Dr. Rodriguez. "It needs to be purposeful and intentional."
Dr. Rodriguez believes the best way to learn cursive is through authentic handwriting. Since she became superintendent within the past year, she has been putting an emphasis on handwriting and English Language Arts.
"Their writing should show meaning and should be something that they care about, show their voice," said Dr. Rodriguez.
That is what cursive has done for hundreds of years, with most of our history written in this style.
"You need people to read what you write," said Silva.
The cursive comeback is not just for writing faster but for developing the minds of young people. Research shows that it works in a part of your brain that is not active while typing or printing.
Some parents told CBS 13 that it is also an important skill to know so you can have a signature and sign documents.
The new law went into effect in California in January 2024, mandating cursive for elementary students.