Today in eating our vegetables:

It flows so well...unless you need to 
pluralize a word ending in "r."

So ten year old me spent a fair amount of time and energy bemoaning that I had to learn cursive handwriting in school. I could never seem to get the tail of one letter to line up with where the next letter was supposed to start. It's the worst, although I did make some pretty valid points: I'll never use it, print is easier to read, and in twenty years, nobody's going to use cursive anymore anyway. I stand by these arguments, and would add that handwriting, as a thing people do, has declined precipitously. 

"Finally, a cis white guy weighing in..."

-no one

But, and this has no real bearing on my life as an adult childless shut-in, cursive is back. In California anyway. The governor signed a bill putting it back into the curriculum as a requirement, and I'm on board. Maybe it's just because I don't actually have to do anything, but I think it's a great idea. And since when has having no stake in something whatsoever ever stopped anyone from voicing an opinion on the internet? Never, that's when. The internet is something like eighty-percent unsolicited and uninformed opinions.

I once turned down a chance to go to
Australia for a geography competition because
I didn't want to miss Disney Afternoon.

According to science, says this article, handwriting is like really good for kids' ability to learn and retain information. Evidently, for kids, the act of writing--particularly about things they're interested in--forms stronger connections in their brains that just don't occur when typing. I, formerly a staunch and generally disinterested tween-age opponent of learning cursive, have a terrible memory and can serve as a cautionary tale about the value of handwriting. Actually, I can serve as a cautionary tale about a lot of things. I have a lot of regrets.

I say this from the privileged safety of
adulthood, but sometimes you just
have to eat your vegetables.

So why was cursive cut from the curriculum in the first place? I don't know. I suspect that it has something to do with a generation of teachers and school officials who, like me, grew up thinking it was a waste of time. Turns out that was a dumb move, because more people than ever can't find Canada on a map or tell you what onomatopoeia is. Are these things related? Probably? Who can say? What I can say is that sometimes just because something isn't difficult or not fun doesn't mean it doesn't have value or that we shouldn't ask kids to learn it. 

I can also say that no one ever improved a education by banning books. Or banning trans kids from sports. Or taking away bodily autonomy from--perhaps I'm getting off-track. All this to say, cursive is one of the reasons California is better than Flori--wait, Florida already requires cursive? Ok, well, Ron DeSantis is still a garbage human who still did all that other stuff I mentioned.

Pictured: California Governor Gavin Newsom signing
a bill to improve education rather than making life even
more difficult for trans kids.