Typing. Texting. Tablets. Voice-to-text messaging. With screens infiltrating every aspect of our lives, teaching children how to write neatly in cursive may feel antiquated. Schools nationwide and here in Richmond have quietly dropped cursive handwriting from their curriculum in favor of keyboarding lessons and digital note taking. At The Laurel School, we chose a different path.
We’re still teaching cursive. And we believe it’s one of the most important things we do.
What Studies Say About the Benefits of Cursive Writing
Studies have shown that when kids learn to write by hand, they develop neural activity that typing does not produce. The act of writing, particularly in cursive, increases reading comprehension, retention, and fine motor skills. Students have a stronger ability to recall information when they’ve processed it through handwriting. They engage with the material in a more complex way, because the brain can’t simply ‘zip through’ notes on a screen.
Cursive requires students to concentrate and coordinate their movements in a way that print handwriting and keyboarding do not. Students must form each letter, and each letter must connect to the next. They must develop hand strength and control. They must exercise concentration. How they form their letters may not look like anyone else’s and that’s okay. What matters is that they own their letters. They understand that writing by hand can be transformative, intentional work.
Students who learn cursive also learn the joy and power of writing as personal expression. Handwriting is intimate. Every stroke of the pencil is uniquely theirs. A student’s cursive signature is theirs alone. There’s a special magic in seeing a handwritten letter from your grandson. In a world where most communication happens via screen, teaching cursive allows students to stake a claim in literacy that isn’t easily replicated digitally. It also connects them with hundreds of years of writers, thinkers, politicians, scientists, artists and other changemakers who picked up a pen to make their mark on the world.
Why The Laurel School Stands Apart
Most RVA schools that utilize Virginia’s Standard of Learning curriculum have reduced their focus on handwriting in lieu of keyboarding benchmarks and increased technology requirements. At Laurel, we understand that technology skills are important and will continue to grow in importance as our children enter the workforce. But we don’t believe kids need to sacrifice one for the other. Our students learn to type and they learn to write beautifully in cursive handwriting. Because we believe there is value in both.
That mindset informs everything we do here at Laurel School. Instead of simply adapting to what technology deems modern or convenient, we aim to be intentional about how we craft our curriculum. We want learning to be innovative and forward-thinking, but also grounded in practices that have been used for hundreds of years. Teaching cursive may seem like a small thing. But it’s one of many examples of how we continually ask ourselves hard questions about education. What will benefit kids in the long run? What will help them grow their brains and challenge their minds? What will allow them to see learning as joyful, fulfilling, and yes…worth writing home about?
Teaching cursive is our promise to you that we’ll always put children first. We’ll always do what’s best for them as learners, thinkers and people, not because it’s easy or popular. But because it’s good for them.
The Laurel School is enrolling now for the 2026–27 school year. We’d love to tell you more.
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