A bill that would have required teaching cursive to elementary school students was rejected 9-0 Monday by the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Heidi Sampson, R-Alfred, would have required cursive instruction starting in grade 3. Advocates said writing in cursive helps with retention, hand-eye coordination and is needed for reading historical documents, while opponents questioned whether teachers have the time and resources to provide the instruction among competing requirements, or whether learning keyboarding early would be more appropriate in a digital age.
Once ubiquitous in American schools, cursive has been displaced in recent decades as teachers made room for teaching material for new, tougher standardized tests and modern skills such as keyboarding or coding.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
-
Local & State
Investigators search for cause of fire that destroyed hotel in Boothbay Harbor
-
Local & State
Criticism of Gov. Mills mounts in Portland over asylum seekers
-
Varsity Maine
Local roundup: Monmouth softball scores run in 7th to get by Winthrop
-
Varsity Maine
Mount View baseball scores early, hangs on late to top Maranacook
-
Nation & World
Pandemic-weary Americans plan for summer despite COVID surge
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have one? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.