Cursive in the Classroom: Essential skill or outdated relic for today’s students?

( InvestigateTV ) — In January 2025, the U.S. National Archives sent out a unique call for help.

The request perfectly captured a growing cultural and educational divide. On social media, the agency asked:

“Is reading cursive your superpower?”

It needed volunteers to help transcribe historical documents, a task made difficult by the simple fact that a growing number of Americans can’t read or write in cursive.

The post highlights a question now at the center of a heated debate in classrooms and state legislatures across the country. In an age of keyboards and touchscreens, is teaching cursive an essential link to our past and a tool for cognitive development, or is it an outdated relic taking up precious time in an already crowded education curriculum?

Not Just an Academic Debate

A