While it might seem like typing on phones and keyboards has steadily replaced handwriting, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Camden continue to incorporate cursive writing education into their curricula – with ample benefits for students.
“In Catholic schools, we strive for academic excellence, and we do that by teaching not only content but also the dispositions and processes that help students how to learn,” says Dr. William Watson, diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools. “Research has shown that cursive writing has many benefits for students. For example, cursive writing teaches discipline, patience and persistence.”
Learning the art of cursive handwriting, he says, “improves student learning across the curriculum, increases their brain activation and readiness to learn, and provides a foundation for higher order skills.”
It can also enhance creativity and originality in writing, as well as clarity of expression and other aspects of high-quality writing, Watson explains.
“Part of the reason for these advantages is that cursive writing develops a range of mental and physical skills that work together,” he says. “Sensory, perceptual, cognitive and motor functions play a part in successful cursive writing, and successful cursive writing helps students to hone their skills in these areas, which supports further learning.”
Ritamarie Quinn is a third-grade teacher at Saint Teresa Regional School, Runnemede. Students there are introduced to cursive letters and begin lessons in second grade, and those skills are sharpened in third grade.
“Cursive writing gives students another opportunity to practice the alphabet, spell words and write sentences,” she explains. “I have seen students who have difficulty printing excel in cursive writing. This boosts their confidence, and they are proud of their accomplishment.”
In fact, Quinn sees her students get excited about the handwriting lessons. “Cursive writing seems to be lost now that most writing is typed on a computer, but I think knowing how to read and write in cursive is a valuable skill for students and adults to know,” she says.
Watson also acknowledges the temptation to consider cursive writing to be a “throw back” to earlier eras of education, but he emphasizes the benefits the art continues to deliver.
“Cursive handwriting requires students to slow down and engage in a deliberate process. If anything, teaching that skill is even more critical today than it was years ago because of the influence that digital devices and the rapid-fire nature of both the way that children today can access information and the barrage of sensory input that what they access provide,” he says. “The mastery of technology at earlier and earlier ages is a credit to the adaptability of the human mind, but it should not come at the cost of being able to slow down and give the brain the time it needs to consider and articulate deeper and more complex meaning.”
He adds, “such meaning is at the heart of the search for truth that we pursue in Catholic schools, which makes cursive handwriting, as a foundation, a great fit.”
Many students across the Diocese of Camden will be participating in the upcoming Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, which Michael Bress, communications and marketing manager of the diocesan Office of Catholic Schools describes as “an opportunity to recognize and celebrate students, teachers and schools that are committed to teaching and learning handwriting, especially cursive writing.”
The contest will involve students submitting a writing sample, and competing at the school, state and national level. Bress adds that any schools that don’t use the Zaner-Bloser curriculum will be part of a separate diocesan sub-contest.
“I believe contests like this give our Catholic schools and students a chance to be recognized for their hard work,” says Bress. “Students are graded on their work on a daily basis, but when you can provide a contest like this, it provides a little extra motivation for the teachers and the students. I am really excited to see what the children submit.”
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