Should Handwriting be Taught in School?

[Mlle. Zabzie]

What say you? My husband says no, down with D'Nealian! It's enough, for him, that children sort of know how to form letters. His point is that everyone just types anyhow, so there is no reason for children to learn good penmanship.

I on the other hand am a D'Nealian (or Palmer, or whatever) devotee. I believe good penmanship remains important and that there will be times, even in today's world, where it is not possible to type. Therefore, learning to write clearly and legibly is still an important communication skill.

Divide yourselves into camps. How do you really feel?

[Stubby]

I'm on your side, Zabz.

The required standard, IMO, is that someone reading what was written can understand it - not just that the writer can understand it. And this is based on the OP's request to post what I feel on the subject. My view is simply based on expereiences in professional scenarios where medical notes, legal file notes, evidentiary material etc were illegible and needed to be explained by affidavit. My handwriting is not perfect, but it is legible. My boss' handwriting looks like scratchings in a chook pen.

[Trebla]

Are we talking about being able to print legibly or writing in cursive?

[Mlle. Zabzie]

I'll happily hear your feeling on both. I actually think if you are learning to print, you should also learn cursive. It is a much more efficient form to write quickly, so I come down on the "pro cursive" side of the ledger. I know that others disagree. The husband doesn't care that they really learn how to print. For the record, my penmanship (both printing and cursive) is very good. His is completely illegible (which can lead to interesting results when he tries to add things to the grocery list).

[brook]

I think everyone still needs to be able to print clearly and legibly and that needs to be taught in schools.

I have never once used cursive since leaving school and I can't imagine any situation where I would again. I don't see it as an essential or even particularly useful skill in the modern world.

[Ghjhero]

People argue cursive is faster, but I disagree. Over time regular print just tends to get faster as the writer gets more experience.

[Guy Kilmore]

I agree, penmanship is important and this is someone who has horrible handwriting saying this. I wish I learned it better.

[Trebla]

I'll happily hear your feeling on both. I actually think if you are learning to print, you should also learn cursive. It is a much more efficient form to write quickly, so I come down on the "pro cursive" side of the ledger. I know that others disagree. The husband doesn't care that they really learn how to print. For the record, my penmanship (both printing and cursive) is very good. His is completely illegible (which can lead to interesting results when he tries to add things to the grocery list).

As you said, we are all just typing these days. My daughter is in 6th grade and almost all of her home work is done on a laptop. Personally I think learning to print neatly is probably the way to go.

[snake]

Handwriting should most certainly be taught. Start in kindergarten and continue until they finish school.

[The Fallen]

My five-year old is learning to print in kindergarten. I do both, print and in cursive. And my penmanship is superb. Downside, I have to write in every card or note that's sent by my family.

Even if it isn't as useful it's still a great skill to have.

[Impmk2]

Not everyone works an office job. In my current lab job it isn't at all practical to type out notes. So yes how to hand write reasonably quickly and legibly should still be taught.

However I don't really see a reason to teach cursive, if people want to learn it sure go for it. But I can't say its ever done anything for me aside from make my already sketchy handwriting a completely illegible mess, with no real speed advantage.

[Ormond]

Children certainly need to be taught how to write well enough so that they can take notes in a class and can at least read them themselves later on!

There has been recent research that's found that college students who take handwritten notes do better on tests than those who take notes on a laptop. And this isn't just because of distractions caused by having Facebook or email also active while one is trying to take notes -- the research specifically used computers that were disconnected from the Internet.

Instead, handwriting notes in class requires more in depth cognitive processing, which promotes memory and deeper conceptual understanding, than does typing notes, which tends to lead to verbatim transcriptions of the lecture or discussion which are actually more "mindless" even though they contain more words:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/

So if you really want to understand something, it's better to write in longhand than to type -- so learning how to write is still a very valuable skill.

[Sci-2]

For now it's acceptable opportunity cost to make sure kids can write legibly.

But I think legibility should be the maximum goal, no point in wasting too much time on an increasingly obsolete activity.

[karaddin]

A base level of legible printing is pretty much a requirement in society for as long as government applications/forms etc require handwriting an I suspect will continue long after that. On this basis a reasonable level of expertise with printing is a must for being taught in schools.

What I'm opposed to is using handwriting as an element of assessing critical thinking, argumentation etc, ie hand writing essays in exams or anything like that. I have a wrist issue that substantially handicapped me in written subjects in high school due to the limitations on the amount that I could physically write in an essay in the short time periods. When I finally saw a physio about it, I had it confirmed that there was an issue and was granted special consideration to type my essays for the rest of school - which given I had looked into it so late was only the final exams. My marks for English in that final exam jumped from my worst subject to my second best, and this one issue alone probably dropped my overall school result from in the top 5% to barely inside the top 10% (I dropped to an easier English subject after Year 11, and my marks didn't improve at all, so scaling significantly impacted on my end result).

Now I'm back at Uni after working for 10 years without having needed handwriting once, my wrist is even less capable of handling it and the idea of instant failing a subject because they still use an outdated mode of communication for the assessment would be pretty infuriating...luckily I've got the sign off from a physio again for the only subject I've had an exam.

[wolverine]

As someone who has to correct a lot of math work, yes, it would be nice if people could write at least half ass legibly.

[DreamSongs]

Of course people should still learn how to write. When the whole system goes down, there is still the computer in your skull.

[emberling]

Handwriting as a component of your grade? That's immoral. Inhuman.

I don't know though, with the mere "legibility" standard I'm a bit worried that - if school these days involves a lot less handwriting, with privileged schools getting laptops for kids to take notes on and all that - but there are plenty of situations in life where you may be expected not just to handwrite but to handwrite fast. I've had some instructors at university and even community college that expect this. Writers, journalists, creative people often need to write down ideas or experiences as they happen, in arbitrary places where a keyboard isn't practical. Scientists need to take observations in the field without depending on limited, expensive, breakable technology.

When I learned handwriting in school, though, it was all focused on neatness and proper style. I guess they figured we'd just learn to write fast to keep up. My writing speed is a bit below what's strictly adequate; it's very frustrating.

And cursive is some bullshit. It's pretty, and maybe even a bit faster, but it is the sworn enemy of legibility. You write it at any kind of rapid pace and unless you're the paragon of perfection, people are going to be questioning whether you spelled it one way or another. Or questioning what language it's in. Or questioning whether it's actually writing or just a stray mark.

[polishgenius]

Learning cursive shouldn't be compulsory. Being forced to do it when I were a nipper ruined the legibility of my writing (along with being told to write bigger), because I'm dyspraxic and don't have the level of fine control to do it even slightly properly (my cursive isn't pretty). It also isn't the quickest way for everyone (hello again! Mostly because it causes my hand to cramp very quickly).

But learning to write in a way that you can get down a fair sum at a decent clip, yeah. You never know when a kid's gonna need it, and if they only know how to basically print and then years later come upon a situation where they have to write a bunch, many people are gonna just freak. You don't want people terrified of writing the way some are of maths.

[King Tyrion I]

Yes, it should be taught.

There was a time - at least in Germany - when you got grades for your handwriting in school.

Legibility is top priority. You don't always have a laptop or the like on you.

And in languages such as French or Portuguese you have to set the accents right and don't be sloppy about it.

[Warg Arry]

My youngest starts school next year and I have been sitting with him and teaching how to hold a pen and write. Each time he asks me why.

"Why do I have to do this mummy? I can type everything."

It makes my heart sad. I see the beauty in a handwritten note or letter. I feel it's a skill that shouldn't be lost.

I am often writing things down. And I only really notice how often I need to write. When my pen is missing.

But I can see where the other point of view is coming from.

There were forms I had to fill out 4-5 years ago that required it to be done by hand and taken in to put a signature to.

Now, I went and filled it out online and my "signature" was verification email.

The whole process got a whole lot quicker. And no paper was used. Well not by me.

My shopping list is an app on my phone. I don't even have to type. just scan the bar code and the item goes in my list and has the cost and aisle it's found in listed by it.

The reminder post its all over my office are now colour coded and have their own ring tones on my phone and tablet.

So I guess the near future could function perfectly well. Ink and paper free.. In a manner of speaking.

Even then, I think learning to write legibly should be an important part of a child's education.