The NY Times asks does handwriting matter? The Common Core standards stop teaching handwriting after the first grade, preferring a proficiency in typing after that.
However, studies are showing that children learn faster, are able to retain more information, and generate new ideas when they first learn to write by hand. The process of thinking about how to form a letter and putting it on the page stimulates more areas of the brain. This come from the inherent messiness in free-form writing, which can be a valuable learning tool.
(Score: 1) by WillAdams on Wednesday June 04 2014, @02:41PM
Because it's a fundamental skill which improves the ability to communicate, to preserve information and to express oneself.
Studying and practicing handwriting provides an affordable way to practice and acquire fine motor control and skills which translate into the ability to do fine manipulations, &c.
It can be worked into the curriculum in place of fragile, expensive, electronic devices at a net savings.
(Score: 2) by efitton on Wednesday June 04 2014, @07:08PM
You claiming it is a fundamental skill does not make it so.
Many different tasks can be used to practice fine motor skills, including print writing.
It is not the financial cost of cursive that is the problem, it is the cost of time that is the problem. Reading, arithmetic, problem solving can all be bolstered by dropping cursive as a requirement.