Consequently, cursive writing instruction waned. But within the past decade, statewide cursive requirements have been trending upward. In 2016, 14 states required schools to teach cursive writing.

But just as those aren’t enough to impose learning Roman numerals on all schoolchildren, cursive’s time is up, now that all people will spend so much less time writing by hand.

These cursive forms gradually evolved into what we now call lowercase letters.After the fall of Rome, medieval scripts didn’t clearly distinguish between letter cases.

The efficient writing style once thrived in U.S. businesses and schools, but researchers fret that today’s lack of cursive literacy may have a surprising impact on history—and ourselves.

Learning cursive is good for children’s fine motor skills, and writing in longhand generally helps students retain more information and generate more ideas.

Teila Rubagumya practices writing an uppercase letter C in class at St. Brigid School in Portland. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald The simpler D’Nealian script was introduced in the 1970s.

Ask anyone who completed third grade in the 1980s or earlier and chances are they will have a memory of trying to get that capital G loopy enough or have a favorite letter to swoop and scrawl ...