While some children have the capacity to learn handwriting quickly and easily, not all fall into that category. Sadly, school officials, who might think that in our high-tech society cursive handwriting has become obsolete, have decided to omit cursive handwriting from classroom instruction.
This line of thinking is unfortunate according to Kathleen Hopkins in her book Teaching How to Learn in a What –to-Learn Culture. Hopkins explains that cursive handwriting helps to develop motor memory, kinetic memory and revisualization. Perhaps the computer will take the place of handwriting, but at what expense to students who struggle? Hopkins emphasizes that, “The writing activity . . . is most powerful in developing strong cognitive structures because it incorporates memory, association, and the act of writing itself that builds and enhances intelligence (64).