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Do you know how to read cursive? If so, consider yourself lucky. There are swaths of children and adults worldwide who no longer know how to read cursive. The problem has become so prolific that the US National Archives recently issued a call for volunteers to translate historical documents originally written in cursive (Rink, 2025). This request highlights a critical issue that has emerged as the teaching of cursive has faded from mainstream educational curricula: only select students are being taught to read and write in cursive, creating disparities in who can access and interpret historical documents written in script. This struggle to learn cursive impacted my household as well. My eldest son, a rising ninth grader, was never taught how to read or write in cursive. As his middle school years come to an end, I worry that he will not have an official signature to sign important documents, such as his driver’s license or marriage license.

Cursive instruction is passing through generations of our youth, as only twenty-five States currently mandate cursive instruction in their ELA curricula. This decline began in 2010, when many schools reduced or eliminated cursive instruction following the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which excluded cursive instruction (Trubek, 2016). This has led to speculation on how Gen Z, individuals born between 1997 and 2012, would be able to “interpret the past” if they were never taught to read in cursive (Faust, 2022).

What’s at Stake for Teachers and Students 

This narrative speaks to larger issues of curriculum justice and student access to primary sources of historical knowledge, raising questions about how to preserve traditional skills in our increasingly digital society and whether access to history is equitable considering half of the States lack mandates for cursive instruction. This uneven access means that students in under-resourced districts are placed at a disadvantage due to discrepancies in instructional support and funding. This impacts all students, including those students in low-income communities, multilingual learners with limited exposure to English letter forms, and any students who need repeated and explicit instruction, all of whom face significant barriers. These groups are less prepared to read and understand primary source documents, limiting their ability to conduct thorough research, trace family histories, or read historical or civic records written in cursive.

If future generations cannot read original historical records, the past becomes only accessible secondhand (Gross, 2022). As our ability to read the past fades, so does our understanding of its complexity. Without access to original records, future generations may lose access to the deeper cultural connections and insights they provide. Many archival materials were historically written in cursive, such as census records, military files, immigration and naturalization papers, court and legal documents, church and parish registers. The National Archives’ call indicates a growing dilemma: How can we embrace the future without severing our ties to the past? This growing divide is a call to action for us all; we need to embrace digital literacies while preserving access and the ability to interact with primary historical texts.

 Figure 1. 1900 Census Schedule for Troop E, Seventh U.S. Cavalry (RG 29), arranged by troop and rank and noting officers absent on duty in Cuba. This document offers an example of the handwritten archival records students must be able to read in cursive. (United States Bureau of the Census 1900).

 Figure 2. Birth Ledger from New York City, pre-1898. This example of a 19th-century birth ledger from New York City, written in cursive, illustrates the types of handwritten archival records students cannot access without cursive literacy. (New York City Municipal Archives pre-1898). 

Figure 3. Homestead Certificate by the U.S. Land Office in Brownsville, Nebraska from 1868. This homestead certificate had handwritten portions in cursive, showcasing how government records used handwritten entries during that era. (National Archives and Records Administration 1868). 

When only some students are taught cursive, educators risk reinforcing systemic inequalities, limiting access to primary historical texts and cultural knowledge for those left behind. Building on critical literacy theories, I argue for a more expansive understanding of literacy- one that values digital fluency but also embraces the historical knowledge embedded in traditional writing practices such as cursive. 

Cursive Reconsidered: From Outdated Practice to Progressive Pedagogy 

As States began stepping away from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), cursive instruction reemerged in classrooms. This timing suggests that distancing from the CCSS may have opened space for renewed recognition of cursive as an important and worthwhile skill.

The reapplied emphasis on cursive instruction hints at shifting perspectives on language and power in that the old and passe skill of reading and writing in cursive has become progressive and, in many ways, new. The legislative momentum across the nation of bringing cursive back to the classroom indicates a changing perspective that embraces the skill again. Widespread and extensive cursive instruction would afford future students not only the ability to engage with the historical and cultural records and documents that shaped our history, but it would also add a new level of understanding of written history and literature across millennia of generations. Cursive instruction is not merely about honoring traditional skills; it acts as a bridge to understanding our country’s original story.

Cursive in the Classroom: The Challenges Ahead 

As Gen Z comprises individuals aged 13 to 28, current teachers may also be members of this lost generation of cursive learners (Dimcock, 2019). In 2010, Miami Dade Public Schools’ Research Services released a brief positing that many teacher preparation programs do not teach handwriting instruction and stating that the teaching of cursive has been in decline since the 1970s (Miami-Dade County Public Schools, 2019). As a result, cursive instruction has become disconnected from its most natural advocates—teachers who were never taught the skill themselves (Berger, 2017). With many schools reintroducing cursive standards, educators must now navigate a dual responsibility: helping students learn cursive while also building teachers’ own knowledge and confidence with the skill. It is at this intersection where we can reclaim this form of literacy and integrate it once again into classroom practice.

Teacher preparation programs may want to consider adding cursive instruction support for their teacher candidates into coursework, integrating strategy instruction aligned with teaching this skill to their future students. By doing so, universities can ensure that their graduates are prepared to support all students in developing strong literacy foundations.

Teachers should integrate handwriting instruction into their daily teaching, teaching cursive alongside print. In fact, for some learners, including students with dyslexia, cursive can also support letter formation and fluent writing, as its continuous strokes and reduced opportunities for letter reversal make handwriting more readable and accessible (King, 2015; Morales-Rando et al., 2022; Pulido & Thériault, 2022). We must ensure that all students have access to learning this traditional skill, regardless of where they live, so that all have full access to the cultural heritage and historical literacies of the United States. Currently, whether students receive cursive instruction depends on geography and state laws, creating systemic inequalities across our nation. By bridging traditional and digital literacies, we can adopt a more inclusive, equitable, and critically engaged literacy curriculum in our classrooms- one that prepares students to traverse the wide array of texts that define who they are and who they aim to become.

References

United States Bureau of the Census. 1900 Census Schedule for Troop E, Seventh U.S. Cavalry (Record Group 29). National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed November 25, 2025. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/fall/overseas.html 

Dr. Lisa Delgado Brown is an Assistant Professor at The University of Tampa. She has taught in elementary and secondary settings and has a background in special education, literacy coaching, and as a reading specialist. She currently teaches literacy courses with a focus on differentiation in the general education classroom.