Should cursive writing make a comeback in New Jersey schools? A lawmaker believes all students should learn it.

After watching their teacher meticulously draw the alphabet in cursive on a whiteboard, students in Patricia Durelli’s fourth-grade class pulled out their pencils to practice writing the letters in workbooks.

With their heads bowed, the students carefully followed instructions from Durelli to write the lowercase letters. They traced a word already printed in the workbook and then tried writing it freehand in their own penmanship.

“Take your time,” Durelli instructed. “You want to make it nice and neat.”

Cursive writing is included in the curriculum at Indian Mills School in Shamong, where students begin learning it in third grade. Although it is not mandated by the state, the Burlington County school decided to keep it in the curriculum when many districts stopped teaching cursive.

“It’s a dying art,” Durelli said. “I think it needs to come back.”

A bill introduced by New Jersey State Sens. Angela McKnight (D., Hudson) and Shirley Turner (D., Mercer) would require school districts to incorporate instruction on cursive handwriting into the curriculum for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The bill recently cleared the Senate Education Committee. A similar version is pending in the state Assembly, McKnight said.

“Right now, we have a large generation of young adults who cannot sign their names,” McKnight said. “We need to get ahead of the curve and go back to our roots.”

McKnight introduced a similar measure several years ago as an assemblywoman, but it never gained traction in the legislature. She believes that there is a growing interest nationwide and that this effort will yield a different outcome.

» READ MORE: Can cursive writing make a comeback? A teacher and grammarian debate. | Pro/Con

If McKnight’s bill becomes law, New Jersey will join Delaware and 23 other states that require schools to include some type of cursive instruction, according to MyCursive.com. A bill introduced in Pennsylvania in 2023 would have required it, but that legislation did not advance. Many Catholic schools in the region have kept the tradition to promote good penmanship.

McKnight believes students should be able to write in cursive to sign legal documents and read personal keepsake letters and historic documents such as the Declaration of Independence. It also helps students better retain information when they write it, she said.

Experts say cursive writing has several benefits, such as improving fine motor skill development and eye-hand coordination more than printing. It is also believed to boost spelling and writing skills and overall learning and to encourage discipline and patience.

» READ MORE: Many Pa. and N.J. schools no longer teach cursive. Are students missing out on a useful tool?

Critics, in a National Education Association article on “The Great Cursive Writing Debate,” say that times have changed, with more focus on technology, and that incorporating cursive lessons would take valuable time from other subjects. They also contend that students would be better served by learning typing.

McKnight said cursive could be incorporated during writing or spelling lessons beginning in third grade.

“You don’t have to have this as a stand-alone subject,” McKnight said. “It doesn’t have to be disruptive.”

» READ MORE: Teaching cursive writing

Without a law, districts decide whether it should be taught.

Shamong and other South Jersey districts, including Cherry Hill, Burlington Township, and Winslow, provide cursive instruction to elementary students. Because it was eliminated from the state’s common core standards in 2010, it is unclear how many other New Jersey districts offer it.

At Indian Mills School, Durelli’s fourth graders began the school year with cursive writing instruction twice a week and then shifted to independent learning later in the year. Durelli used a program called “Handwriting Without Tears” to teach them basic strokes and how to connect letters. During a lesson this month, she cautioned them not to hold their pencils too tightly. Another teacher, Linda Waters, walked around the room checking their work.

“I like the way you’re taking your time,” praised Durelli. “We’re always in such a rush.”

Her students had mixed feelings about cursive writing. For now, they have the option to print or use cursive for their assignments.

“I feel like for me it takes longer, and it just hurts my hand,” said Shane McWilliams, 9. “It’s too much to memorize.”

Said Lilly O’Brien, 9: “It’s like relaxing, and it’s a lot easier because you can just keep going, and you don’t have to keep picking up your pencil to go to each letter.”

Durelli wants her class ready to use cursive writing by the end of the school year. Students also spend time typing on their Chromebooks during grammar and writing to lessons to incorporate technology.

“We have to try to fit it all in,” Durelli said. “They need all of it.”