Is Cursive Writing Important For Children?

Posted on 22/12/2021

Cursive writing is defined as “Style of penmanship in which characters are written joined together in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters.” This form of writing has been practiced in schools for a long time.
Writing is one of the easiest ways for children to develop cognitive skills. Montessori schools have deliberately imposed cursive writing as one of their learning methods.
New technologies and typing methods have greatly reduced the value of cursive. Many schools and other institutions have eliminated the need for cursive writing. Does that mean cursive has no value?
To understand this, we need to know the benefits of cursive writing.
Cursive writing helps develop cognitive, sensory and motor skills. Writing is better than typing. When typing, one identifies only letters and numbers, when writing, one makes a skill connection through an action. While writing, a person identifies the letter, associates it with his or her sound and pronounces it, visualizes it and then writes it.
Montessori values learning through movement and is meaningful to the holistic development of children.
By writing, people express more creativity and ideas. Many studies have shown higher brain function in children who writes compared to adults who spend half their time in front of the computer.
Writing in cursive also improves organization skills, memory skills, and discipline, as this writing requires practice to master, students will practice to excel in their skills. Writing in cursive reduces confusion and improves spelling skills because block letters have a similar structure which makes it difficult to identify (for e.g.: ‘b’ and ‘d’). It's easier to master and speeds up writing because it features uninterrupted hand movements. It encourages writing faster while writing it in an organized manner. It also helps children with learning disabilities in recognition.
Though many believe that writing must be replaced with typing in this easier and modern world. It is an important and easiest skill that one can master to develop various brain functioning children.
Cursive writing promotes discipline, neatness and organization as part of children’s development. Replacing writing will only restrict growth of children and children may need to face more challenging tasks to face without much development.