New Jersey lawmaker introduces bill requiring students to learn cursive by third grade

A New Jersey lawmaker introduced a bill requiring students to learn cursive by third grade. 

Assemblywoman Angela McKnight of Hudson County proposed the legislation that would require elementary school curriculum to include reading and writing in cursive, according to a release from the Assembly Democrats. She wants students to “become proficient” in reading and writing cursive by the end of third grade.

Common Core standards removed cursive as a requirement in 2010, prompting many schools to exclude it from curriculums.

McKnight said in the statement that the state is “doing our children a disservice” by declining to teach them cursive, “a vital skill they will need for the rest of their lives.” 

“Our world has indeed become increasingly dependent on technology, but how will our students ever know how to read a scripted font on a word document, or even sign the back of a check, if they never learn to read and write in cursive?” McKnight said in the release. “This bill will ensure every young student in New Jersey will have this valuable skill to carry with them into adulthood.”

Almost two dozen states have also pushed for the inclusion of cursive in curriculum, including Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, according to the release. 

The bill is now moving to the Assembly Education Committee for review.