Teaching cursive would be required under Wisconsin bill

From WISN12ABC:

The bill's sponsors, including former teacher Republican State Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, said teaching cursive will stimulate different parts of the brain and improve the education of students.



MADISON, Wis. (AP) —

All Wisconsin elementary schools would be required to teach cursive writing under a bill passed Tuesday by the state Assembly.

The bill's sponsors, including former teacher Fond du Lac Republican State Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, said teaching cursive will stimulate different parts of the brain and improve the education of students.

"When you're educating students, the more mental gymnastics you can get them to do, the better training it is for their mind," Thiesfeldt said.

But opponents, including groups representing school boards, superintendents and administrators, oppose the measure, saying it could be a costly mandate and that instructional time would be better spent teaching more modern forms of communicating, like keyboarding.

"This is not about cursive writing. This is about allowing our teachers to teach, allowing our teachers to be the professionals that they are and restoring local control," former teacher and Whitefish Bay Democrat State Rep. Deb Andraca said.

Teaching cursive is included in state standards for education set by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

However, those are a model and not a requirement.

The bill would make the teaching of cursive mandatory.

No one registered in support of the measure, while a host of school-related groups were against it.

The Assembly passed the measure last year but it died in the Senate.

The Assembly passed the new bill Tuesday on a 59-39 vote.

It now heads to the Senate.

It would have to pass the Senate and be signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in order to become law.

Evers is a former state superintendent of schools. The governor's office did not respond to WISN 12 News request for comment.

The state education department which he used to lead said in written testimony that the requirement could prove difficult for students with disabilities.

From: https://www.wisn.com/article/wisconsin-teaching-cursive-would-be-required-under-bill/37773227