May 20, 2024 4 min read

Excellent handwriting used to be the hallmark of an educated, thoughtful person. But who writes in longhand these days? I may be a writer, but when it comes to putting words down on paper, I’m a printer: I write nothing in longhand except my signature. The reason for this is simple: even I can’t read my cursive writing.

I was reminded of “the curse of cursive” when I read Johnathan Lambert’s excellent article, “Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning,” on the NPR website. Lambert concedes that the art of handwriting has fallen by the wayside. In fact, he says, some schools now introduce computers to students as early as preschool, which means they will learn keyboarding before handwriting. Both Lambert and I think that’s a bad idea.

I confess that I was not aware that the U.S. government removed cursive handwriting from Common Core standards in 2010, or that by 2011, 41 states had taken cursive out of their curricula. But school psychologists studied student development and found that youngsters had a better understanding of letters in a handwritten alphabet than of those generated onscreen with a keyboard. As of 2024, 23 states have added cursive back to curricula. I think that’s a good idea.

I vividly recall learning to write in cursive under the Palmer Method at the age of 8, using a steel-tipped pen dipped in an inkwell, under the robotic tutelage of our third-grade teacher. Palmer supplied workbooks with letters that could be traced, but before we progressed to that stage, we had to practice making ovals. After students adopted the proper slant for their pens, the teacher would say, rhythmically, “Round, round, ready, write!” Then she would count in that same rhythm, eight strokes for each oval until we’d filled a page with them. I imagine that I was not the only student who proudly took those pages home to show my mother – who, by the way, learned under the Palmer Method and had excellent handwriting.

Through junior high school and high school, then into college, when handwritten essay tests and term papers had to be typed, I struggled on my Smith-Corona, using about a quart of Wite-Out per paper. Word processors saved not only me, but countless teachers and editors. But I still advocate a return to writing by hand.

Lambert calls writing longhand a “slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves,” and says abandoning it “may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that’s uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad – for both children and adults.” In a nutshell, Lambert concludes, “one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.” There’s another good idea.

How many times have you written an email or posted on social media when you’re angry or in a hurry, without really thinking through your feelings? Writing in cursive writing slows the writing process and allows more time to consider each word, to use better words – “prettier” words. As I struggled with the many emotional crises that often plague people in their 20s, I kept a daily journal, in longhand. I found the experience valuable because it helped me flesh out my thoughts and ease my anxiety. Of course I understand that in today’s world, email and texting have become the norm, despite their drawbacks. So I’m not advocating a return to sending letters, then waiting two weeks for responses.

But do take a moment to write to someone, and do it soon – a friend, a relative, a lover. It doesn’t have to be a 10-page letter. Make it a postcard. And take your time: Excellent handwriting used to be the hallmark of an educated, thoughtful person.

Don’t be that guy who posts on social media using all caps or Needlessly capitalizing Every other WORD!!!!!

Unless, of course, you’re running for president.