Why You Should Start Writing In Cursive Again — Pronto

Unless you're one of those people with Hallmark-worthy penmanship, you probably don't write in cursive very often — save for the occasional birthday card or signature-required document. But a new study from the National Association of State Boards of Education shows that mastering the fancy script is seriously good for your brain, helping with everything from critical thinking and fine motor skills to literacy and short-term memory. The big news here? The Common Core State Standards, a new education benchmark for U.S. public schools, omits cursive as a graduation requirement — which means that, in just a few years, teenagers might not be able to read their grandparent's romantic handwritten letters, or those super-sweet inscriptions in their parents' yearbooks. More importantly, they won't be getting the hands-on instruction that learning cursive requires, and important skills like interpreting the context of words and phrases, deciphering meaning from text, and spelling will potentially suffer. So, even if you don't exactly have a calligrapher's hand when it comes to written communications, go ahead and write a pretty letter to your BFF across the country — your brain will thank you. (Business Insider)