Starting in 2017, students in Louisiana schools will learn cursive writing in 3rd grade鈥攁nd they鈥檒l keep getting instruction on it through graduation.
A bill signed by Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards this week applies to both traditional public schools and charter schools.
The two-page bill states: 鈥淐ursive writing shall be taught in all public schools. Each public school shall ensure that such instruction is introduced by the 3rd grade and incorporated into the curriculum in grades 4 through 12.鈥�
According to the , the Republican state senator who sponsored the legislation, Beth Mizell, said, 鈥淚 want people to be able to have a signature.鈥� Other state senators said they supported the bill because documents such as the U.S. Constitution are written in cursive.
The Common Core State Standards, which have , do not require teaching handwriting (though states are welcome to add it). Louisiana , though the two sets of standards are nearly identical in many ways. And interestingly, the few changes the board of education made to the standards did not include adding cursive.
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