John Dobrowolski
Cursive Writing Conservation
Thesis: Cursive writing, considered by many to be in its twilight, is significant in human development, a link to culture, and essential in our personal and creative individualism.
I. Cursive writing is conductive to memory, learning ability, and idea formation. A. Neural activity increases in the brain when writing cursive. 1. MRI scanning shows children who write have enhanced neural activity closer to that of adults (Bounds, 2010). B. Fine motor skill development, idea composition, and expression are increased. 1. Patterns for reading and writing skills are improved. 2. Coordination, visual, spacial, and internal control systems improve.
II. Cursive links us to our culture and historic past. A. Most of the great writers of our time used cursive. 1. The founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence with cursive. 2. Most of the letters of the Civil War are cursive (Bennett, 2009). 3. Hemingway, Twain, Shaw, and Conrad all used cursive. B. Cursive represents a simpler time and connects many us to our loved ones. 1. Cursive began in the 1700’s, but flourished in America and Europe. 2. Technology seems to be weakening the link to the past, but is no replacement.
III. Cursive is essential in personal and creative individualism. A. Cursive writing requires focus, determination, and teaches us perseverance (Ruszkowski, 2011) 1. It requires learning a new skill and the value of seeing things through. B. Cursive gives us our own personality and
