National

Should students be required to learn cursive handwriting?

Associated Press
Then-third-grader Logan Gibson receives help from a classmate while learning the cursive alphabet at White Lick Elementary School in Brownsburg, Ind., on April 22, 2011. The reading and writing of cursive has become less common to a growing number of young people as many school districts are spending far less time teaching it. Lawmakers in Washington state are considering a bill that would make the instruction of cursive writing mandatory in all schools.
Then-third-grader Logan Gibson receives help from a classmate while learning the cursive alphabet at White Lick Elementary School in Brownsburg, Ind., on April 22, 2011. The reading and writing of cursive has become less common to a growing number of young people as many school districts are spending far less time teaching it. Lawmakers in Washington state are considering a bill that would make the instruction of cursive writing mandatory in all schools. Peter Stevenson New York Times File Photo
OLYMPIA, Wash.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would make the instruction of cursive writing mandatory in all Washington state schools.

KING-TV reports (http://kng5.tv/1PeU2FW) that the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Pam Roach of Sumner, says students should be learning how to read and write cursive because it’s “part of being an American.”

Most school districts in the state give their teachers the option to include cursive in their curriculum.

A fifth-grade teacher in Olympia, Amy Koster, says she wants students to learn cursive, but that there’s just not enough time to teach it. She says she has students learn it though homework assignments, rather than in class.

State Superintendent Randy Dorn says there are other priorities that schools should be focusing on, such as students’ typing skills.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Should students be required to learn cursive handwriting?."

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