Yes, Cursive Still Matters

AI Can Wait

“I don’t see why anyone should even care about teaching cursive handwriting anymore. That time would be better spent teaching kids how to use AI.”

It is no surprise that the friend saying this to me was a technologically proficient 30-something woman with an East Coast background. She was quite confident in her pronouncement. And I am confident she is wrong. Swapping cursive for AI is a trade I’m not interested in making.

I am aware of the arguments against teaching cursive. Who needs it? After all, who really writes anymore in a world of keyboarding, thumb-typing, and voice recognition?

The “technical” answer is that learning handwriting helps with other skills: fine motor skill development, hand-eye coordination, memory retention, and the ability to read historical documents.

Besides those “hard” reasons, there are “soft” ones, too. Handwriting is an opportunity for creativity. Calligraphy is a true art. And the little flowers and hearts that dot i’s and j’s have so much more personality than emojis chosen from the same list as everyone else uses.

If we applied a similar logic, the argument against teaching cursive could extend beyond the handwriting issue. Art, literature, music— for most students, none of those will lead to lucrative careers in medicine, technology, or the law. Why expose a second-grader to them at all?

“Let them learn how to use AI instead,” she said.

I am quite fond of AI. I frequently use it in its various forms. But I began using them after I had learned how to think critically, how to frame an argument, and how to write an essay (or a blog post).

If I were still involved in education and designing a curriculum, cursive would remain a primary-grade staple. AI can wait. Kids don’t need to meet ChatGPT until they know how to live and learn without it.