'Lost art' of cursive writing concerns parents - NorthJersey.com

'Lost art' of cursive writing concerns parents - NorthJersey.com:

'Lost art' of cursive writing concerns parents

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2012, 9:29 AM

BY  TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG

STAFF WRITER

THE RECORD

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Even though the Declaration of Independence is written in cursive — and signatures, typically scrawled in script, are still required as legal identification — many schoolchildren throughout the country are no longer being taught how to write the flowing characters people have used for centuries.

CARMINE GALASSO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Fifty students signed up for the Cursive Club at Nellie K. Parker School in Hackensack.

The reason?
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, which was launched in June 2010, and subsequently adopted by 45 states, including New Jersey, does not require that schoolchildren learn cursive, just that they eventually become proficient in either cursive or print handwriting. School districts can make their own requirements about penmanship, and many districts in North Jersey still teach cursive. But some parents and educators are concerned about the