I know it’s hard to believe, but there actually was a time before “Word Processing” software. At that time, we had these ancient relics called “Secretaries” and “Typing Pools.” As a consultant working for one of the largest CPA firms in the world, I had to write (long-hand) a lot of reports and give them to secretaries and typing pools to be typed. Because I wrote so much for years, I actually had a large callous on my finger from holding the pencil or pen. Now, all these years later, I struggle just to sign my own name long handed!
My point is that even someone like me, who wrote everything long hand, now never writes anything this way (except for maybe a few notes in this class.) When I do “write” the few things that I do today, I normally print the words because my penmanship is so horrible. At this point, I just don’t seem to have any need to write anything long handed. So I’ve been asking myself why even bother teaching it to students in the first place?
My 4th grader brings all of these papers home showing the endless amounts of time she has spent in school practicing the proper style of writing each letter of the alphabet. Even though I tell her how nice it all looks, I can’t help myself but think what a waste of time it is teaching this subject in school, especially when there are so many other things that really need more focus (back to math and science again, also reading, english and technology.) To me, it almost seems like it’s just another “art” class. Something nice, maybe even fun, but with how little students will actually be using this skill, I just think their time would be better spent doing other things.
You would think an old timer like me would argue for the importance of learning to write long hand. Of course, I think it’s critical for students to be able to “print” words by hand, it’s just going to the next step of learning how to hand write them (penmanship) that I think is a waste. At a time when education is so critical to a student’s success in this world, I believe as much time as possible should be spent on subjects that will help them compete and succeed in the world, and that writing long hand (penmanship) is not one of these subjects. In fact, I think it should be eliminated from every school’s curriculum immediately. I also wonder if I’m on an island by myself on this issue since I’ve never even heard of anyone ever mentioning such a “radical” idea. Am I out on this ledge by myself?
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This is a very interesting topic. I never really thought about how much time I spent in elementary school learning how to write in cursive. I hated every minute of it. I still almost never write long handed, except to sign my name. When I do, my printed letters and cursive letters run together, throwing out everything I learned about penmanship in the first place. I'd have to agree, that teaching students penmanship is a complete waste of time. Because everything is becoming electronic, sometimes you don't even have to sign a form by hand, you can do it electronically. So why are we wasting time in school to teach our students skills that they won't be using withing the next ten years anyway?
ReplyDeleteI feel that students should learn how to write long hand. Teachers should teach the students the proper technique on how to write appropriately. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was dreadful as well, but it helped me become a better writer. Even though it seems technology is taking over the world, I feel that it will help students become better writers and even help with proper grammar and sentencing structure (due to practice in class).
ReplyDeleteI can agree that technology is replacing a good deal of writing long hand. But I don't think we should replace long have for keyboarding. I feel that being able to write long hand is a good tactile way for students to learn to read and write. Because when they are first learning to write a letter their whole thought process has to be in writing that letter, where as just touching a button, the moment is over too quickly.
ReplyDeleteI really believe that long hand is an important part to learning to read and write, and should continue to be taught.
I think I would have to take the same side of keeping the instruction of long hand writing. I think it is important. Technology doesn't replace everything and it is important that we still have a uniform way of writing things down. Even though everything is going toward new technology, we still have to be able to write in general.
ReplyDeleteI work with a lot of disabled students and I help them fill out forms on a day to day basis. Some of them do not know how to sign their names, they do a half cursive and half print kind of signature. Computers can't replace everything, therefore we still need to be able to write.
I can honestly say I have no idea which side I would take on this. The only time I use long hand is when I sign my name and well you can't even read it. Now just because I don't use it doesn't mean that it is not still a valuable skill to have. I somewhat understand some of the points made above about how it helps with learning to read and write. To be honest, it was so long ago, I don't even really remember learning it. To me if we are to be teaching 21st-Century skills, I am going to have to say we need to decrease the amount of time spent on teaching long hand.
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