A New Jersey lawmaker wants to make cursive mandatory in all elementary schools

ASBURY PARK, N.J. – Between mandatory lessons being dropped from the Common Core in 2010 and the continued advancement of technology making even a vague scrawl for credit cards rarer and rarer,  cursive in our day-to-day lives is dying.

But a bill proposed by Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, D-Hudson, is hoping to guarantee students still learn how to write and read in cursive by requiring that schools add cursive (back) to the elementary school curriculum. And she has now received an influential vote of confidence: State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex.

Friday morning, on his monthly radio show, "Speak to the Speaker" on WTCT-AM, he called the proposed bill a "great idea."

The bill, A6010, introduced on Nov. 26, has yet to be scheduled for a vote but would be fast-acting: It would go into effect the following school year, as currently written. While some school districts, such as Coughlin's hometown of Woodbridge, still teach cursive, it would make it mandatory.

Coughlin supported the bill for utilitarian reasons, saying, "You may not have your computer with you, or your phone dies. Now you can write in cursive.”

Elsewhere: Cursive writing is mandatory in Ohio

According to a statement from McKnight, there is research that supports that learning cursive can help children across the board with their "cognitive, motor and literacy skills, and may help students with learning disabilities like dyslexia read and write with greater ease."

She, too, cited the practicality of cursive writing, calling it "a vital skill (children) will need for the rest of their lives."

Follow Jack McLoone on Twitter: @jfmclooney.