“What is this? I will not accept this document until you rewrite it in italics!” This is what I heard my old teacher tell my friend who didn't take the "cursive only" rule seriously. I attended MMI, a private military school that instilled many values ​​in its students; including the aforementioned "italics only" rule. I didn't really understand why they made us write in cursive, in fact I hated it! “Let me write how I want to write!” it's something I always dreamed of yelling at my teacher, yet I still took it. After graduating from MMI I moved on to high school where I found myself writing exclusively in cursive, it was now part of me. For those who aren't familiar with this form of writing, italics is a style in which all the letters in a word are connected. Fun fact: Cursive is also known as handwriting or longhand. The Common Core Standards no longer require elementary students to learn cursive, and some schools are abandoning teaching cursive altogether, dismissing it as an “ancient skill.” However, some studies have emerged that show that doing so may not be the best idea. Teaching handwriting, or cursive, is an important thing that schools should teach children, especially in our modern age. There are so many benefits to making sure your cursive stays on your resume. Teaching handwriting helps children develop and learn and think better than they would have if they had not been taught handwriting. According to William Klemm, DVM, Ph.D “Scientists are finding that learning cursive is an important tool for cognitive development.” Cognitive skills are the brain-based skills we need to perform any task, from the simplest movements to the most complex problems…half of a sheet of paper…xia. Dyslexia is a language processing disorder that can hinder reading, writing, spelling, and sometimes even speaking. Students with dyslexia have difficulty writing in normal script because many letters look the same. On the other hand, cursive writing gives each letter a very distinctive look. This offers dyslexic students an alternative writing method that can reduce their dyslexic tendencies and make them more confident in their writing abilities. Alec Falconer, a student diagnosed with dyslexia, really believes that cursive has helped him in school, he says: "After [learning cursive], my writing, my spelling and the way I put sentences together are definitely improved a lot,” he said. Cursive therapy is a common treatment of dyslexia and should not be reserved for parents who can afford the lessons, it should be taught in public schools for all.