Washington College in Maryland became the butt of the joke on late night TV last month after it changed its logo—George Washington’s cursive signature—because it was “difficult to read and not immediately recognizable for many prospective students,” according to a news release from the small liberal arts college. The move also reignited the question of whether K-12 schools should teach cursive.
The gap in cursive education has been a source of debate in state legislatures across the country in recent years, with some researchers and historians advocating for its return. Researchers say that handwriting is linked to academic success, even if keyboards and texting have become the primary way to write and communicate. Historians worry about what is lost if people can’t discern primary texts, which are largely handwritten.
The push and pull of teaching cursive and penmanship has been ongoing since the mid-2010s, after most states adopted the Common Core State Standards, which did not expressly mention cursive but did emphasize keyboarding. Since then, though, there’s been a resurgence of cursive and handwriting education.
Less than 10 years ago, only 14 states required schools to teach cursive—but that number has been steadily increasing, with 24 now having some kind of requirement.
This year, Kentucky became the latest to legislate the matter, with children expected to be proficient by grade 5 under a measure set to take effect next school year. Iowa’s education department also announced a cursive requirement this year, with students expected to be able to form all cursive letters “efficiently and proportionately” by 3rd grade.
Here is a map of the states that require schools to teach cursive, along with details on the grades where it is taught.
