Sonoma County residents stump for cursive ahead of National Handwriting Day

In the nearly 2½ centuries since John Hancock famously endorsed the Declaration of Independence with a signature so bold and flamboyant his name eventually became synonymous with the term, technology has challenged the relevance of handwriting so profoundly that some schoolchildren aren’t even taught cursive writing anymore.

But Friday, on the 279th anniversary of Hancock’s birth, supporters of cursive education hope to remind the public of the developmental and educational benefits linked to a style of expression some are perhaps too ready to relegate to the past.

National Handwriting Day, a commemorative occasion that’s endured in semi-obscurity since 1977, may be gaining traction thanks to newly developed Common Core curriculum standards embraced around the country that omit any requirement for cursive instruction. At least, that’s the hope of those who support handwriting the old-fashioned way.

But even before the adoption of the national Common Core standards by 46 states and the District of Columbia, the practice of handwriting across the world was diminishing, and with it classroom instruction.

In states like California, which is among several Common Core states that have added components to the curriculum that retain cursive instruction, it’s not clear students will spend as much time on cursive as previously. The new California standard requires those who finish third grade to demonstrate an ability to “write legibly in cursive or joined italics, allowing margins and correct spacing between letters in a word and words in a sentence.”

“We’re trying to build awareness about how important it is for kids to learn cursive,” said Windsor resident Joan Kramer, national treasurer of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, founder of the 3-year-old Campaign for Cursive.

Kramer and other proponents point to studies that credit learning to write in cursive with reinforcing neurological connections that enhance intellectual development, build memory and creativity, and help a person integrate information.

Students learn patience, self-discipline and focus when they move a pen or pencil across a page, improve spelling and reading skills, and develop more fluid thinking, they say.

The knowledge of cursive also opens the door to self-expression and to the lessons of history, which until very recently, were recorded in hand-written form - like the document that bears Hancock’s large and distinctive mark, underscored with a recognizable flourish.

Kramer said she fears public schoolkids will fall behind those in private school, where cursive tends to reign.

With the Campaign for Cursive, “our theme is really on how important cursive writing is, and how important it is for kid’s brains.”

At Proctor Terrace School in Santa Rosa, one school where the tradition of third-grade cursive instruction remains alive and well, teachers “really feel strongly” about the importance of handwriting to develop fine motor skills and enhance students’ abilities to process and synthesize information, said third-grade teacher Angela Guerrero.

Daily lessons build on second-grade instruction in a stylized printing called D’Nealian, which incorporates a bit more slant and curve than standard printing. By third grade, kids are excited for cursive, Guerrero said, “like it’s a rite of passage” - starting with practice for a portion of each day and, by this time of year, delivering all their assignments in cursive.

“It primes the brain,” Kramer said, “for being a competent reader, and being able to comprehend what they’re reading, and that’s key for academic success.”

Though National Handwriting Day was the invention of the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association, and thus reflects some self-promotion, the nation’s educators and others have engaged in some hand-wringing over the issue for years.

The Handwriting Analysis Foundation, which has eight chapters nationally, has decided to champion the cause before its members have such an appreciation for the complexities and individuality of handwriting, Kramer and national president Sheila Lowe said.

“It takes 15 minutes a day” to teach cursive, said Lowe, who will be speaking about “the power of penmanship” today in her Southern California community of Simi Valley. “We’re not against technology. We use it all the time ourselves. But we think a combination is important.”

Kramer and other members of the Sonoma County chapter will be observing National Handwriting Day on Saturday at their quarterly meeting in Rohnert Park, which will feature presentations on the research behind cursive and free handwriting analysis during breaks for members of the public who attend.

The meeting runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a back room of the building at 6800 Hunter Drive. Access is through a rear door, Kramer said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.