In what portends to become a national trend, the Indiana Department of Education has announced that, starting this fall, it will no longer require schools to teach cursive writing.
The Department sent a memo [PDF] to school leaders this spring saying that, in accordance with the Common Core standards, students will be “expected to become proficient in keyboarding skills"—formerly known as typing—instead of handwriting. However, the memo notes that schools can continue to teach cursive writing as a part of local curriculum standards (assuming such things still exist, of course).
Parents’ and educators’ reactions to the state’s decision appear to be mixed, with some noting that the SAT and AP exams still require handwritten essays and that legible handwriting is seen as associated with intelligence and strong communication stills.
But many also seemed to sense a degree of inevitabililty in the change. One mother who claimed she was “in the middle” on the issue acknowledged that she learned about the state’s new guidelines—where else?—on Facebook.