According to the Associated Press, only three states have a penmanship requirement for their schools--California, Massachusetts, and Georgia--showing that, indeed, super-liberal and super-conservative states can agree on at least one thing in this world.
Three other states--Indiana, Illinois, Hawaii--allow individual school districts to decide if they want to teach penmanship. Which is to say no school district in those states teaches penmanship.
Forty-four other states have heard the rumors of this thing called 'penmanship,' but don't know what it is, don't teach it, don't care.
Educators disagree on the importance of penmanship in a modern world where typing accomplishes the majority of our written work.
"Do we really need to learn two different scripts?" Steve Graham, a professor of education at Arizona State University, told the AP. "There will be plenty of kids who don't learn cursive. The more important skill now is typing," says Graham, making sure millions of children aspire to become a data entry clerk.
Dustin Ellis, a fourth grade teacher in California agrees with Graham. "Students can be just as successful with printing," he said. "When a kid can text 60 words a minute, that means we're heading in a different direction. Cursive is becoming less and less important."
If you've got thumbs, man, why do you need to know how to sign your name?
Some teachers disagree. Eldra Avery, a high school teacher in California, realizes logistics regarding handwriting, so she's aiming for a more noble reason to keep penmanship. As she tells the AP, "I think it's part of your identity and part of your self-esteem. [...] There's something really special and personal about a cursive letter."
Students are generally indifferent. Say 16-year old Monica Bearg, "It was kind of a waste. No one ever forced us to use cursive so it was a hassle to remember the letters."
At least Bearg cut to the chase. School has never been a matter of caring, trying, or remembering anything. Two points for honesty.
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