Editorial: State mandate not necessary, but teach cursive writing

Does the General Assembly have bigger fish to fry than naming a new state wildflower or requiring that cursive writing be taught in Illinois schools? You bet.

There is at the top of the list the issue of adopting the first state budget in three years, of course.

Still, we can appreciate the motivation of State Rep. Emanuel "Chris" Welch of Westchester in floating a bill that would force Illinois kids to put down the keyboard, grab a No. 2 pencil and learn all about descenders and joins.

There is a certain emotional quality in cursive writing that is watered down in block lettering and missing altogether in something spit out by a computer printer. Cursive lends texture to words.

Of course, learning to use a keyboard effectively is paramount in society today, more so than ever before, in both work and home life.

Several decades ago, cursive was the gold standard in school and typing was an elective. While keyboard skills are more important than cursive today, why throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Here are some of the many benefits of learning cursive:

• It helps youngsters with fine motor control.

• Writing cursive - in which you spend significantly less time lifting and putting down your pen or pencil - should be faster than printing, especially if you're one of those people who normally prints in ALL CAPS.

• We learn better and faster when we take notes, and because we can write in cursive faster than in printing, then cursive should assist in the learning process.

• A knowledge of reading cursive allows greater access to historical documents, many of which were handwritten in cursive. Try to read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution if you don't know cursive.

• Imagine receiving a love letter printed out from a Microsoft Word document. Or a mushy thank you card printed in block lettering. It all feels pretty soulless in comparison to cursive, doesn't it?

• What if Josephine couldn't read Napoleon's love letters because she couldn't read cursive? Or if Fanny Brawne couldn't read Keats' mash notes? Or if we couldn't share the joy in reading them today?

• What if, after Grandma or Grandpa dies, you can't read their letters?

• The imperfection of cursive and the inevitable personalization one attains in everyday use imparts a closeness and elegance that printing cannot.

While schools clearly don't need more unfunded mandates, we encourage them to teach cursive. What'll we give up next, poetry?