Twice per week my older son has to practice his cursive writing. He gets to choose the days he does it. He copies a few words and a couple of sentences. Inevitably it gets shoved to the end of the week. He’s just not a fan.

“Why do I have to do this anyways?”

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure I was even going to bother with it. I read an article about how cursive is illegible for teachers and their preference to remove it. That makes sense. I’d not want to read thirty cursive scrawled three-page papers either…ever, let alone weekly. Typing would win in my book.

Then I read an article (ugh I can’t find it anywhere to link it, I’m sorry). It was about an ex-soldier who incurred a brain injury. He was able to write in cursive after the event, but not print at all. It pointed out that cursive writing is stored in a part of the brain separate from printing. This represented cursive as a totally separate skill from writing, akin to another art form completely.

Later, I was volunteering at the local National Battlefield when two kiddos were signing their names on their Junior Ranger booklets. The ranger behind me took note. “That’s a very important skill you have there,” he pointed out as the child wrote her name in cursive. “You know, if cursive writing isn’t taught in schools who will read our country’s historical documents?” That was my second motivator.

If cursive writing is deleted from the school curriculum, and I’m fine with that, I believe it will become an art. Children learn how to knit, sew, fish, and frankly loads of other useful things not taught in schools. I believe cursive would just get added into this pool.

So, I told my son cursive is a way to write with speed, but more importantly it’s a way to expand his mind. It’s also a skill he may have that people around him may not, like calligraphy or weaving or whatever. It’s easy, cheap, and possibly useful. I mentioned the above reasons for clarity.

“Oh. Okay. That sounds good.”

He pressed his pencil down to his paper and started swirling his copywork of the seasons. And while “because it’s good for you” may have sufficed, I think he appreciated the reasoning. This fella is the type that would be proud to offer his abilities if needed. Until then, it’s another little something he’ll have learned along the way.