Handwriting: Should it continue to be taught?

[Karma168]

Even if we move into solely using computers instead of pen and paper you can bet major bucks on the replacement being a tablet PC that lets you write normally.

For example i'm doing a physics degree and that means a lot of equations being written out. I've tried using one of the programs designed for that kind of thing but i find i can work 10 times faster with a pen and paper.

 

[Major_Tom]

Yes, writing Chinese characters is an art and should not be forgotten. The only thing they should stop teaching children is cursive (both Latin an Cyrillic) because it's useless, stupid and unreadable.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

"I don't like it, and most of my classmates don't like it, because it's very boring," complains Li, 11.

In that case, stop all classes......i mean a child thinks a class is boring? Thats original. We have to learn stuff. Just because you can type doesnt mean you can write. In this day and age with text messages and younger people writing txt speak even when their is no limit to word count....its more important to be taught proper English and hand writing. Some kids use txt speak in their English work and i know of one woman who wrote a letter to a teacher stating why her child had a day off school, and she wrote 'u' instead of 'you' and other txt speak like that.

Just tell that kid school is boring, but its all just preparation for you adult life, the jobs you can go for and make you a better person with more choices. Unfortunatly its not until you leave school and live in the real world that you realise how important school was.

 

[The Virgo]

Of course it should! Handwriting is one of those things that should never NOT be taught!

That and spelling. There has been an influx of bad grammar and spelling on all fronts! A TruTV online article on Serial Killers had a grammar mistake, PC Gamer gets several mistakes in their magazine and there also one on a large, mainstream streaming video site!

Yes, writing Chinese characters is an art and should not be forgotten. The only thing they should stop teaching children is cursive (both Latin an Cyrillic) because it's useless, stupid and unreadable.

Yeah, I have problems reading cursive as well!

 

[Tzekelkan]

We should abandon teaching hand-writing the same way we should abandon teaching elementary math. I mean, what's the point, right? Calculators are ubiquitous, no need to memorize 6*7 = 42 when you can just ask a machine to do it.

WRONG! The reason why it is wrong is left as an exercise to the reader.

 

[rutger5000]

Your not even being fair, this is chinese were talking about aka the most anoying lanaguage in the whole world to write. You know they don't have an alphabet, so they'll have to remember at least a thousand very complicated signs. Should China chance it way of writting? Definitly espescially since china is the one country in the world who could actually pull that off. But to stop teaching handwritting seems like a bad idea even there.
I agree with you that it's place in the world is becoming smaller and smaller, but it still serves purposes. I for one learned spelling both Dutch and English through handwritting, it makes you much more concious of what you're actually writting down.
Besides you're being thought how to write in primariy school, do you know something better to do during that periode?

 

[bchampnd]

Handwriting absolutely should be continued to be taught in schools. The rise in the use of computers in the classroom is not a good thing for the educational process. Computers can be used for good things such as power point presentations and other visual aids. However, they should not be used for taking notes. The level of retention is not nearly as high when typing when compared to handwriting notes and the temptation of twitter, facebook and the rest of the internet is likely too tempting for most students. If you put them in front of computers full-time, you're just asking them to be distracted.

Some firsthand experience: As an undergrad, I never ever used a laptop in class (in fact, most professors expressly prohibited them from being used). I took all of my notes by hand. In law school, I experimented with using my laptop and ultimately ended up using a laptop to take notes in the vast majority of my classes. (That, however, is because law school sucked and law professors don't really teach you anything about the material so much as they teach you that you better do your work before class so you don't look like an idiot if they call on you.)

I can say that when I wrote my notes by hand, I retained way more information than I ever did just typing notes on my laptop. Part of that may be because I can type way more words per minute than I can write (and I'd say that that is the case for most people) and therefore I just copied down most of what the professor said. When I wrote my notes by hand, I had to be more selective so I parsed out what mattered and what didn't which made me much more engaged in a lecture or a discussion.

Working as an attorney, I started taking notes by hand but then tried computerizing the process. I made a form that I could easily fill in for each of my cases. While I was able to input the data more quickly, I found that I was able to recall a great deal more about the cases on which I took notes by hand than about those about which I took notes on my computer. As a result, I now went back to taking notes exclusively by hand.

As for the cursive thing, I use cursive but I think that it's a matter of personal preference. I just find it much more fluid which makes it easier to take notes. They should still teach it in school so then children have the option of using it but they can also abandon it after the 3rd grade like the majority of the population chooses to do.

 

[Cazza]

I have very poor fine and gross motor skills. So my handwriting is very bad. I went to Occupational therapy for around two years. We saw very little improvement. Having bad handwriting sucks. If I want to write something for someone eg notes. I need to spend a lot of time on it so it's readable. Otherwise I might as well tell them/read it to them.

Handwriting should be taught. A nation with poor handwriting makes it harder to communicate. Disadvanging them.

 

[Espsychologist]

I would say yes, but I would lack the smarts to really explain why. It's important just because...

I guess it's important to be self dependant and not be tied to a machine to get your words across.

Seems you were plenty smart enough to use simple words that everyone could understand. After all, the reason you give is the single most important for people continuing to learn to write.

 

[Blow_Pop]

When you say hand-writing, do you mean cursive, or the act of writing stuff with one's hand?

If the former, christ no, all cursive does is make your text unreadable. If the latter, of course it bloody should, we're not living in the matrix just yet.

I've been printing since primary school; my writing may not be pretty, but it's very legible. I can't say the same for most people who's writing I've seen.

I've actually seen people with very pretty cursive. Hell IF I take my time mine is very nice. Might be a girl thing though. My writing unless for something like a job application is very illegible. (Ask anyone who has ever gotten a letter from me or maybe one of these days I'll scan in something I've written)My signature is always an illegible mess.

OT: Aye. Handwriting should be taught. Because it is an important skill to have in life. That being said I know people who can't write well. Who were taught all through school and just never learned..

 

[zehydra]

It should continue, just because it's always useful to have more than one way to communicate.

 

[rutger5000]

Okay after having read some of the comments on this post I feel I should reply to those.
The phenomena of text speach is not the fault of technology and messaging, it's either because people want to save space in an actual text message, they want to seem cool, or they are completly stupid. Technology is not to blame for either of those three, and though I do believe children ought to be thaught how to write. I don't think that it's fair to assume text speach will come up if you replace writting by typing, and even when it did teachers could easily prevent it.

 

[rutger5000]

Even if we move into solely using computers instead of pen and paper you can bet major bucks on the replacement being a tablet PC that lets you write normally.

For example i'm doing a physics degree and that means a lot of equations being written out. I've tried using one of the programs designed for that kind of thing but i find i can work 10 times faster with a pen and paper.

Amen brother, I flat out refused an supporting teacher when he said he wanted our work typed out.

 

[omega 616]

No, that's honestly completely idiotic.

Relying on technology like computers is foolish. Writing with Pen and paper is just plain simpler.

It reminds me vaguely of the US trying to make a pen that wrote in space while the Russians just used a pencil. This is a similar principal.

The reason why is quite important though, bit of graphite snaps off and gets into some circuits ... it could cause problems.

The funny part is a normal biro would have worked in in space, rather than spending money making something else.

To be honest, I think hand writing is only used to sign for stuff these days. I can't actually remember writing anything for a long time now.

I guess there is addresses but they can be printed out on printed out letters. Writing books is easier and cleaner on a computer, no smudging it with your hand and correcting mistakes is easier as well. Most fonts are clear and easy to read (fuck off wingdings ...) unlike mine and a lot of other peoples hand writing.

I think the sooner we get with the whole data pad thing like mass effect or star trek the better.

 

[Lilani]

-snip-

See, there's a difference between handwriting and calligraphy. One is merely a practical skill, and the other is a form of art. Handwriting is only interested in getting the information onto the page, while calligraphy actually studies the aesthetics of handwritten text and goes into great detail by studying execution, style, history, and materials, as well as the basics of design and typography. It's like the difference between writing and drawing. One is necessary to certain aspects of life, one is not.

So you can see my stance on this. There are still countless situations in life where you need to be able to write something, whether it's your name, a check, or a quick note. So until we hit a point in society where something with a keyboard, or any other digital device on which you can take down information, is as readily available as paper, we are going to need handwriting. Sure tablets and smartphones are nice, but they cannot compete with the convenience, price, and flexibility of use as a simple Post-it note. After all, you can't just write a note out on a tablet and leave it there for someone else to see. Unless of course you have a fancy tablet that has a printer, but oh what if you're out of paper or ink, or there's a jam or an error? Then you're just screwed. Sure would be a great time to know how to write, huh?

See? Bearing that in mind, I doubt we're EVER going to hit a point where handwriting is COMPLETELY obsolete. Its use will continue to decline of course, but I doubt its need will ever hit zero.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

When you say hand-writing, do you mean cursive, or the act of writing stuff with one's hand?

If the former, christ no, all cursive does is make your text unreadable. If the latter, of course it bloody should, we're not living in the matrix just yet.

I've been printing since primary school; my writing may not be pretty, but it's very legible. I can't say the same for most people who's writing I've seen.

yeah this, for how much i hate english/grammar/literature as a class in school, i do recognize that the basics are absolutely crucial.

handwriting so you can write legibly? you bet your ass it should be.

cursive or any other means? nope, fucking useless shit is useless.

 

[Hipsy_Gypsy]

I definitely think we should. I did in primary school but to be hoenst that was just learning how to write in joint. My hand writing is absolutely God-awful and illedgible even to me at times.


x

 

[Jonatron]

I got taught a whole lot of handwriting but it never stuck. Hours upon hours of enforced work that I hated gave me my absolutely awful handwriting skills. Legible (barely), all my high school teachers told me to try and get it fixed, never bothered. Now, I'll be typing all my uni work, coding and any essay work I may get. Funny thing is, I'm fine at sketching and illustrating, just not handwriting. Screw hand writing.

 

[Jodah]

I would rather not be screwed when a solar flare knocks the electricity out for weeks (its happened before) or something worse happens. Its already bad enough that most people can't do basic math.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Bwuh? Don't they teach you handwriting in primary school, in years one and two and shit? Of course it should be taught. It makes a nice change from playing connect-the-dots, or whatever other shitty pointless crap they make you do in school at that age.