Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law Assembly Bill 446, which next year will put into place a requirement that first through sixth graders in California learn cursive handwriting.
Assembly Bill 446, which was authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva of Fullerton, mandates that teachers instruct cursive writing to first through sixth-grade students rather than limiting instruction on the skill to just one of those years.
Cursive instruction is now as much a part of the curriculum in the Golden State as reading and math.
Once a cornerstone of American education, cursive writing and its instruction has gone out of vogue with the advent of technological advancements, including computerization and keyboarding for input on such devices. This has led to a substantial decline in the skill among students over the last 15 years. Students of school-age at present are far more conversant with digital devices in classroom settings and that has been adapted for remote learning, as well.
In many schools throughout the country, including in California, cursive handwriting is no longer a necessity.
Quirk-Silva went on record as saying that it is her hope that the current and coming generations of students will to be able to read and write in cursive.