Gov. John Kasich has done something beautiful. He signed House Bill 58 into law.
At the order of a mailman’s son, Ohio educators will soon teach elementary school students to scribble in a flowing script of majestic swoops and regal flourishes. Kasich has brought back cursive in his state.
“The instructional materials shall be designed to enable students to print letters and words legibly by grade three,” the bill states, “and create readable documents using legible cursive handwriting by the end of grade five.”
This is a good and a particularly conservative thing. Earlier generations signed marriage licenses, love letters, and shopping lists without removing pen from paper. These days we mash our thumbs to create an ugly hieroglyphic of abbreviations, misspelled words, and cartoon images. They had beautiful round hand. We have the eggplant emoji. It is cave painting on glowing tablets — minus most of the meaning.
Advancing technology isn’t the only culprit. Progressive educators in their infinite expertise stripped cursive from curriculums. The penmanship of our Founding, they reasoned, had no place in an increasingly digital and fast-paced world. Only 15 states require cursive. The rest doom their pupils to a bleak world of crude block letters.
More than style is on the line. Science says that learning two scripts actually helps kids learn the alphabet. The ABCs make their first introduction in printed letters. On second meeting, they learn more formal and flowing capitals and minuscules. It helps them solidify an understanding of the building blocks of the English language.
All of this takes time, and all of this is difficult to learn. That is the point. If something is worth saying or worth writing, it is worth taking a moment to think through. Cursive forces this early on in the minds of young students. Good ideas are worth spreading in beautiful penmanship. Thanks to Kasich, cursive is making a comeback in Ohio.
