Does anyone actually write anymore?
When I told Mia I wanted to write a post about the death of handwriting she suggested I write it by hand. FUNNY! But not such a good idea given we work on the internet and all.
Which brings me to my point. Finding a piece of paper at Mamamia HQ is about as easy as finding fairy lights at a supermarket on Christmas Eve. It’s near impossible. And the same goes for pens. Yesterday when I asked around the office for some form of writing implement, the best we could come up with a was a liquid eye-liner.
It’s only a matter of time before handwriting dies altogether, right? I give it 10 to 15 years. And why do I think this? For starters, I’ve been hearing people talk about handwriting as an ‘art’ form, which is probably a good indication it’s on its way out.
That… and the fact that we just don’t use it anymore.
There’s less and less of a need to pick up a pen and jot something down. Want to write a letter? Send an email. Fill in an online inquiry form. Write a text message. Tweet! Need a shopping list? There’s an app for that. Want to write down a number? Put it in your phone. Want to write a cheque? I don’t think banks even make those anymore … do they?
And then there’s this from the UK, where academics are worried about children’s handwriting skills – or lack thereof – because handwriting is being forgotten in a world where computers and iPads rule.
This from The Telegraph:
Education standards are at risk as pupils are increasingly allowed to submit essays digitally using email, memory sticks or even presenting PowerPoint displays, it was claimed.
Prof Carey Jewitt, from London University’s Institute of Education, said students’ handwriting skills were “absolutely appalling”, adding that many failed to get the practice they needed at home or in the classroom.
Other academics warned that a failure to teach children to write may stunt their development and hold them back in the classroom.
It comes after the publication of primary school exam results this summer showed that pupils perform worse in writing than any other core subject.
Prof Jewitt, who has been leading research into the relationship between handwriting and technology for the last 10 years, said the amount of lesson time devoted to the skill had plummeted.
“Little children may not be able to write their names but most can type them,” she told the Times Educational Supplement.
“Even families on a very low income are using email, using Skype.
“Students’ handwriting we have seen is absolutely appalling because they are not getting any practice. They aren’t handwriting at home.”
Observations of lessons in secondary schools suggest that handwriting has now all but disappeared from the classroom, she said.
Teachers increasingly prepare their lessons in digital form in a range of subjects, including English, before presenting them on high-tech white boards.
So kids won’t be able to write their names, but they will be able to type them. Does that count as being literate? Well in the US, they might not even have to chance to learn. Elementary schools now have the option to teach kids how to write.
From The Australian:
With the increasing use of computers in daily life, the role of handwriting is under debate, with some education policymakers believing it is a redundant practice that should be phased out and students taught typing instead.
About 40 states in the US have adopted the national curriculum, known as the Common Core State Standards, which dumps mandatory teaching of longhand and leaves it to schools to decide whether to teach handwriting.
The common core standards for the primary years say students should “use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing” including “using keyboarding skills” .
But the curriculum makes no reference to handwriting.
Forget the pens and pencils and embrace the keyboard and computer. Is that so crazy? If these kids are never going to use handwriting in their adult lives should they still have to learn how?
Apparently yes. This, also from The Telegraph:
Dr Karin James, from the department for psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University in the United States, said a failure to develop handwriting skills undermined children’s reading ability.
“This is setting their brains up to be able to process letters and words,” she said. “That doesn’t happen with keyboarding or even with tracing the letters.
“Creating the form, stroke by stroke, seems to be very important. They need to produce the letters in their minds, then create them on paper.”
One study from Warwick University in 2008 suggested that children who struggled to write fluently devoted more brain capacity to getting words onto a page during tests – interfering with their ability to generate ideas, select vocabulary or plan work properly.
Hmmm…..
Either way, let’s all spare a thought for the thousands of Year 12 students buckling down for their end-of-school exams. Yes computers are hip and happening and used everyday in schools, but when it comes to exams, students are forced to revert to pen and paper. Three hours of solid writing in an English exam? Give me strength. No actually, give the students – and their hands – strength. And lots of it.
How’s your handwriting? How often to you write using a pen and paper?
Comments
194 Comments so far
My handwriting used to be so neat when i was at school and even college. But i went for a job interview today and was handed a pen and told to write a few paragraphs about myself and the job! I was mortified. Not only was my hands shaking my mind went blank and i couldnt write for the life of me! I eventually managed to get some rubbish down on paper but oh my god my handwriting was just a hideous scrawl, primary school kids couldve done better! Just shows how the art of hand writing is dying out.
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I used to have beautiful handwriting. I won awards in the local show, people used to compliment me on my beautiful handwriting…but the advent of text messaging, email and an online world have left my penmanship wanting. I was thinking about it the other day when my husband went to buy groceries. Ever the Luddite, he asked me to write a list. Instead, I texted him. For many reasons, it was easier, he had the list on his phone, blah, blah. But the reality is I couldn’t be bothered to write it down. And that’s when I realised how technology had permeated every facet of our lives.Have we really come to this? Have we become so lazy that the handwriting awards we so coveted as kids will no longer exist? My handwriting has degenerated in the past few years. It has become barely readable scrawl, yet my text messages, tweets, Facebook posts are far more erudite (at least that is my view). So, the question is..will we lose our penmanship and all that goes with it? Or will we find a balance for the new age?
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If you type as fast as you can think there’s a fair chance you will write godawful crapola.
What handwriting teaches us as young children is the very way language is constructed. We get a really good sense not just of how words link together but how they LOOK. When we then reach into our brains to recall a word often we recognise it by the way the letters loop, link and straighten up. It’s how we recognise a spelling mistake – we notice the word doesn’t look rihgt. Right?
Handwriting also teaches our brains to slow down. We rummage around in our brains for the right word, the correct spelling. We think about grammar. We pause in our thoughts, collect them.
We don’t dash our words off, give a cursory once-over (often not even that) for spelling and hit send, only to instantly regret it. We give the act of writing by hand – and the intent of our message – some serious thought, which can only be a good thing.
I’m really glad I learnt to write by hand. Once upon a time I actually wrote using a fountain pen. It was a beautifully crafted object and it was the one pen I never lost. I had beautiful handwriting then. A university essay was something to be drafted over and over, then carefully written in a final draft. I hand-wrote a 20,000 word essay and thought myself none the worse for it.
I have handwritten letters going back over 30 years including from my now-dead grandparents, my father, former lovers, old friends. They are the tangible proof that people near and dear to me were once part of my emotional blueprint, that their presence in my life had meaning and value. You can’t get that from an online post, or an email, or in a pretty font.
I hope everyone continues to learn the value of handwriting. Much as my children prefer emailing and texting, I never want to reach the day when they don’t hand me a handwritten note I can stick up on the fridge, or God forbid, they send me an e-birthday card.
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Beautifully put. I can’t quite explain the glee I feel when I enter a stationery store and see all those notebooks and pens lying there. I’d buy them all if I could.
Of course, I don’t write nearly as much as i used to, mostly because I don’t need to, but there’s a pleasure and joy in crafting your language with pen and paper that typing, while extremely useful, just doesn’t give you.
But who knows? Maybe all this will sound esoteric and unnecessary in a few more years.
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My handwriting is shockers… Still, I do like getting a nice hand-written postcard/birthday card & the occasional letter
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Handwriting is still important. Some school are now having handwriting lessons for year 12 students so they can do their exams. Pretty sad.
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Handwriting’s not going anywhere.
I learnt to touch-type at school in 1991. I thought it was one of the best things I ever learnt at school. A quick poll of around 10 high school students I know (both public and private schools) found that not one of them learnt how to touch-type at school. WTF?
So, if they’re not learning to touch-type and handwriting’s on its way out then what the heck ARE they learning? Don’t even get me started on spelling and grammar…
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They are learning everything that parents used to be responsible for. Whenever something goes wrong in society its always palmed off to the schools to teach – and then people wonder why we dont have time to teach them the basics!
We are teaching kids how to make friends, how to keep themselves clean and how to make healthy food choices, and thats just to name a few from the curriculum.
When i was at school we spent our time on the basics and our parents taught us life skills when we got home. Teachers werent expected to be parents. Now, with most parents having to work to support their familes, this is the way things have evolved.
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I think it’s good that kids are learning ‘life skills’ at school, because the reality is that there are a lot of shitty parents out there (I should know – I volunteer my time to mentor underprivilaged teenagers).
Learning life skills at school creates a level playing field. Frankly, I’d much rather kids learn about friendships, relationships, personal hygiene and cooking than half the crap they learn at school – especially in high school, where they spend five periods a week analysing a poem to within an inch of its life or memorising mathematical formulas they’ll never use outside of an exam. There is so much wasted time in school it’s ridiculous.
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I can barely understand what some people are writing anymore! Hand writing is appaling, text abbreviations need their own code book and spelling is terrible! I read a post on Facebook yesterday and the person wrote “hear” when they meant “here”. I had to read it about three times before I could make sense of it! No one takes the time to think about what they are writing anymore.
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I am a teacher (and a young one at that) and although i realise kids spend most of their time typing or tapping letters rather than writing them, i still think it’s immensely important that they learn how to write legibly. the pet peeve i have at school is that if there is some kind of network issue, or, god forbid a charger goes missing and an ipad or laptop goes flat, the kids freak out and completely forget that writing by hand is an option.
it may not have the importance it did 10 or 20 years ago, but there are so many times in life when you need to have legible writing for something important – medical forms, etc
surely a generation of kids whose writing is illegible cant be good for humankind!
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I can and do touch-type, and have written 2 theses on the computer but I still write with a pen every day.
Cursive writing because for me, it’s so much quicker. I use it to take copious notes in lectures (faster than typing and I can draw a speedy sketch if necessary!), write to-do lists, add appointments and weekly plans to my diary etc etc.
Most importantly, if I have a really curly problem that requires some brain power I always turn to a pen and pad of paper to get my thoughts in order. I can scribble things out, draw or write on top or around other scribblings and there aren’t any internet distractions
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I was discussing this with my child’s pre primary teacher just the other day. My daughter is learning to print – Victorian Cursive – and she loves it. What I don’t understand is why they then feel the need to transfer the printing into running writing later in primary school? I would think that if they can print neatly, then that should be that. I know very few people who running write, most people just print. Everyone always says that printing is slower than running writing, but I disagree, I can print pretty quickly. I also believe printing is generally more legible. And isn’t that the point of writing – that it be legible?
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So long as I write large enough, my cursive is generally legible
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Umm, and by ‘cursive’ I mean running writing. I was taught at school that it was called cursive writing, very confusing!
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I am a very fast touch alpha and numeric typist and I draw on those skills on a daily basis in my career.
But I also use a pen and pad and diary and can’t see myself stopping, no matter how technology develops.
To my mind, when you sit in front of a computer, you are removed from what is happening on the screen. There is no CONNECTION. Yes, you are physically touching the keys but are you truly connecting with what you are writing?
This seems to be the way some of society is heading (and probably the driving force behind the “hipster” movement in response). It is so easy to click “no” or “like” or send a text cancelling an appointment or dashing off an email to express your unhappiness with someone. But the emotion ends at the fingertips. It doesn’t travel to the heart or the soul (making it so easier to walk away or forget about what was just said or typed)
To physically pick up a pen, to have to re-write or cross out if you make a mistake or to actually have to take the time to think about what you are saying without the benefit of the backspace key means that you are more invested in what you are communicating. There is more authenticity, more heart.
I have written many cards and letters to my partner. He knows they are from me and the sentiments are from my heart and mind because they are in my handwriting. And they take me far longer to write out neatly than it took me to dash this comment off!
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Anyone who thinks we can do without handwriting needs to witness the pride a small child feel when they can write their own name.
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EXACTLY!!
– just as long as its on paper and not the walls
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My first exam (English) is 12 days away, and I can actually attest to the large place handwriting still has in my school. I know I’m on the brink of the real technological schooling, but from my experience handwriting is still very dominant in schools.
I think we loose it a little bit between years 7-10, but once you get into VCE (year 11 and 12 in Victoria) teahcers, especially in english subjects, insist on handwriting, because it’s what’s needed in the exam. As you mentioned, 3 essays in 3 hours can take it out of you hand/arm.
I remember being in grade 4 and being absolutely convinced that handwriting was a waste of time because by High School we’d be typing everything – that was wrong. The best way for me to remember anything is to write it out by hand. Something about the connection between phsyically forming the words makes you conscious of what you’re doing, and therefore you process it better. I do everything by hand now, because that’s just how I learn.
I think it depends on the school, and the kid, but I certainly don’t think it will be dead soon. It’s too important to the learning process.
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When I did HSC, my english teacher refused to mark any essays that weren’t handwritten.
It definitely helped coach me to write quickly and legibly, which is not only excellent for exams, but also great for lectures now that I’m at uni!
AND I’m a touch typist, typing at 120wpm. I get commented on my handwriting all the time.
And you’re right, it’s like, by writing out something it’s easier to remember because your muscles are actually doing the work, and forming the words as opposed to just hitting keys.
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There seem to be quite a few people with a love of “stationary”.
Stationary = not moving
Stationery = writing paper etc.
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The way I remember the difference is “E” for envelope in “StationEry”.
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I have been living in Switzerland for the last two years with my family and our children go to the International School of Geneva. But, we put them in the francophone program (all their lessons are in French). And a HUGE emphasis is placed on their handwriting skills. They use “plumes” (fountain pens) and are taught to write in that cute French “calligraphy” (running writing) from an early age. Computer skills are not really taught until they are 10yrs. I’m sure there are very good arguments for both schools of thought. But i really love their beautiful french handwriting – it really is gorgeous!
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I did the TEE (WA equivalent of HSC) 12 years ago now. I had 4 subjects that required essay writing for the 3 hour exams and my little finger on my right hand still has a permanent click in it. I suppose the 4 other years of university exams didn’t help either, but I’m wondering if the click in my little finger will ever go away!
Having said that, I do think handwriting is important, just not as important as it used to be. I think it should not be left to die though as there is the possibility that one day technology will fail us and we will have to back to pen and paper. What would we do then if nobody knew how to write anymore?
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surely there are more cases of rsi from texting/typing then there are from writing some essays??
but in saying that, i completely agree with your second paragraph!
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My handwriting is shocking!! I used to have a decent hand, back in primary school when we wrote everything by hand, but now that all I write is my shopping list and the rare note during meetings at work (which is often indesiphreable).
I however believe that having the ability to write by hand is extremely important. I have photographic memory, and handwriting defintely stands out compared to typed notes in that respect (thinking back to my uni days). Also it’s a completely different way of learning when you’re writing things down by hand. Possibly the (lack of) speed of writing things gives the brain the extra time for it to really sink in…
I vote it stays!
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I hand write nursing notes on 4-6 patients every shift, no technology in the wards just yet.
I look back at my mother’s & grandmothers handwritten recipes and love them. I’m going to pass on my handwriting in this way too.
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I do the same with my Nana’s recipes! And I have kept many letters that she wrote me while I was living abroad. I adore her handwriting, so delicate and beautiful.
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I write nursing notes on 4-6 patients every shift, some are half a page of information about a patients progress. Maybe some day we will have the technology to do this for us but for now its the old fashioned way.
I like to look back on my grandmothers hand written recipes and will leave some for my descendants to read too, so my handwriting will be preserved
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I’m currently a student in year 11/12 (we have officially started HSC work but we still feel lile year 11) which gives me an interesting stand on this issue. Mine was the first year to receive laptops from the government in year nine. aside from the hundreds upon hundreds of issues involved with those computers, majority of my year doesn’t like to type their notes. in fact nobody likes to use the computers at all, there’s nothing quite like a book or a folder full of a terms work you can flick back through and admire as well as summarize. Personally for me I hate typing notes in class but all my handed in assignments must be typed. I find it interesting that everybody is under the impression schools are full of smartboards and all the teachers are super good at adapting technology to the classroom. If you even stopped to consider the magnitude of having an entire high school become “paperless” you would realize it’s essentially impossible. I know that I personally would write out my notes over typing them any day and for me there’s nothing wrong with a simple projector or text-book. The more you involve technology the more time you waste. So no, I really don’t think that writing is a dying art, not in high schools anyway
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I agree! I’m doing year 12 in Victoria, and I was one year behind the ‘laptops for every child’ initiative, so I never got one. I talk to the year levels below me and they spend half of their time trying to fix the glitches and connect to networks and playing tetris, and most still choose to handwrite notes and summaries. I think the only difference is, in our English subjects, any submitted work MUST be handwritten, probably in preparation for the exam, to make sure we can spell and use grammar without spellcheck.
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Very timely article as I complete my HSC exams all of which I have to write essays for (No maths or science, just humanities and four unit English)! Thanks for acknowledging our very sore hands : )
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This is off topic, but have you seriously got a program of studies that doesn’t include any maths at all? Maths is no longer one of the core required subjects? Or do you just mean that you haven’t got to the maths exam yet?
I really hope that maths is still a core subject. If not, this could explain why the girl at our local thai restaurant has to get out her calculator if the charge is $7 and you hand her a $10 note…! If maths is not required, are there any ‘required’ subjects anymore? I’m genuinely curious – I completed my HSC about 15 years ago and there were several subjects that had to be included (maths was one of them).
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Mum of 2 I have the same gripe with telephone techniques. When I was at high school we were taught at length how to answer a phone, resolve a conflict situation, complaint etc, be courteous and helpful yada yada yada…and this was done on the school intercom with our teacher on a phone in one room pretending to be a customer, and a student on another phone in another room pretending to be the employee. Primitive yes, but it taught us all how to be confident and knowledgable on the phone. Now, more than ever, this needs to be taught in schools because businesses and workplaces still use the good old telephone, but thanks to the rise and rise of text messaging, we don’t get to physically “talk” to other people, hence don’t get the everyday practice we used to. Recently I made a call to the Tax Office with a complaint/problem that I needed sorted out. The person on the other end of the phone had no idea how to deal with my complaint, no idea what to say, and didn’t give me one single solution to the problem, or even bother referring me to someone who could help.
My point is that we rely so heavily on technology – computers, calculators, electronic messaging, texts etc – that the emphasis has been taken OFF handwriting, calculating numbers in our head, learning to answer a phone and speak courteously…but the problem is, we still use all of those “manual” things in everyday life. We can’t have one or the other; we have to be able to do both. What on earth do we do when the power goes off?
Righto – I’ve ranted on and on and on about this for long enough. Clearly its struck a nerve with me, but I think I need to log off now before I start using phrases like “In my day” and “kids these days”….
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I don’t know about HSC, but in VCE (the Victorian version of years 11 and 12) only 3 units of english are compulsory – so, you have to pass at least one unit (semester) of English in year 11, and both in year 12 to pass. It’s the only compulsory subject, which I’m incredibly grateful more since I really don’t like maths – I did the easiest maths just in case, but I know a lot of people that haven’t done any since year 10.
The only time you would need to take maths would be if you were planning to enrol in a University course that had it as a prerequisite, which is really only the science/medical subjects. Hope that helps
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No maths is no longer a core subject, in some schools it is but it is not required for the HSC. I dropped it as soon as I could, at the end of yr 10, and never looked back! Of course, some subjects are scaled better then others and unfortunately the sciences and maths is still scaled better then most humanities, but english is still a core subject (you can choose however to do general or advanced, as well as one unit and two unit english as electives…)
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FOUR unit English?? What do you do in that? 3U was the highest level when I did my HSC.
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2 units for core english, one unit for extension one english and one unit for extension two english. if you do all it’s four unit english!
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Ah, I see. I did 3U almost 20 years ago. I think Ext 1 and 2 is the same as our 2U and 3U. We had 2U Contemporary, General, Related, then 3U.
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I LOVED 3U English. Then I ended up a scientist. Go figure
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I’m working in a office, and although most things are done on computer, everyone has to write, even if it’s just numbers on a piece of paper. Don’t believe there will ever be such a thing as a paperless office – not in my lifetime.
The other issue is typing skills – I don’t think keyboarding is the same. 20 somethings employed as data entry operators ask me how I can type without looking at the keyboard, and I’m not even fast – less than 40wpm, I’ve seen people type at 80wpm.
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Good point – while they are ‘getting rid of handwriting’ are kids being taught to type ‘properly’? They shouldn’t abandon one skill for an inefficient, half-job of teaching themselves another. If they want to not teach handwriting they had better be making sure they teach touch-typing properly!
I think handwriting is an important skill. I would think that surely it has to be important for fine motor development? Just as skills such as crawling set up the body to fire up other systems I would think that surely something like writing would have to be a foundation skill that fires up other development? I don’t mean writing WELL, I just mean attempting to write at all. I’m not qualified to really comment on this (just a parent of a child who has had a lot of occupational therapy)… I wonder if there are any OTs on here that would like to comment on this though?
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My handwriting is so horrible that throughout primary school my teachers were convinced that I was mentally disabled.I have had years of OT and my writing is still illegible. Being able to type is crucial to me. However I write everyday for work- my notepad is always there. It seems like a huge effort to take out the blackberry for taking notes in meetings, etc. And what about the daily to-do list? nothing more satisfying
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I love writing. I write all my short stories by hand, and all my drafts for my blogs as well. There is still something lovely about the flow of the words coming out of my head, down into my hand and onto the paper. I get immersed in the story, I am physically writing it and watching it unfold. I can see the work I’ve already done out of the corner of my eye, the scratchings on the page, the blue and black ink mixed in together. The side-notes I’ve made when a new idea comes in or an alternative if this current paragraph doesn’t work. I can’t make those notes easily when I type it out – I’d have to make a conscious effort to create a box for comments or change the colour of the text so I could easily find the notes again. If I make a mistake or change my mind i quickly scratch it out and write over it, it doesn’t break my concentration in the way that stopping and back-back-backspacing over a wrong word does.
I can pick up any piece of paper and write down what my child has just said quicker than finding the app on my phone and typing it up. It also means my kids don’t think I’m paying more attention to the phone instead of them. I can sit down with my kids during craft and while they draw I can join in and use paper to write a letter to them telling them what funny/bad/wonderful things they did that day and I can put that letter away for when they grow up. They think I’m doing craft too then.
I have notebooks full of stories for my kids, things they have said, worn, and done along with the fiction I have written.
One day my children will find all these books and letters and notes and read them. They can sit down on the floor with these things all around them and read them straight away. They won’t have to plug anything in, look for a password or a software hacking program for my blogs, they won’t have to find technology compatible to play the discs I save the work on, they can just read my stuff straight away.
That’s why I love writing and that’s why I’ll keep doing it.
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Beautifully said. I wish I could like this x10!
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I have zero sympathy for these ‘poor kids’ who have to write their exams.
I broke my wrist (yes, my writing hand) 2 months before my HSC. Had a scribe for my trials, had my cast off for about 10 days before my HSC exams started. Try not using your hand for 7 weeks and then sit down and write for 3 hours. It was hell. My Physio was not impressed as I was supposed to not do anything strenuous for about a month. It was a really bad break and I suffered really bad muscle deterioration. So I feel like I had it much worse than majority of kids doing exams and thus very little sympathy.
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That is awful! The BOS I’m guessing weren’t very sympathetic to your needs?
In year 8 I dislocated my shoulder and tore my rotator cuff falling up the stairs at my school. It caused so many problems for me, including very limited movement, and I couldn’t write with that hand as I couldn’t lift it onto the desk or move it across the paper.
This went on until I got it fixed properly when I was in about year 10 – until that point I just taught myself to write with my left hand!!
I was nowhere near as fast, but it was legible. I haven’t done it in a few years though so I’d probably be a bit rusty now!
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It’s an essential part of my job! Although it is used less often, I don’t think that it will become extinct
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My handwriting, once so neat, is atrocious these days – I could probably pass as a doctor! And I find that when I do need to write for any length of time my hand cramps up. It’s one thing o say you have cramp from a 10 fun run, but from writing notes in a meeting…
I really feel for students at exam time – good luck everyone.
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Why hasn’t Australia caught up with the rest of the first world and implemented ExamSoft or similar program?
Are the Universities still handwriting exams too?
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I’ve spent the first three years of my engineering course handing all assignments in handwritten, it takes nearly 10x as long to type an equation on the computer rather than writing it, and then there’s the working out.
I’m proud of my cursive, I’ve worked long and hard to make it pretty (and I love the praise I recieve from others about it!).
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Can I also be a Word Nark and point out that the caption below the photo above reads “Does ANYWAY actually write anymore?”
Perhaps a poignant example of how gramatically lazy we have become in the wake of autotext/spellcheck and the like.
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I lecture and still 80-90% of my students take notes by hand (you know, in the first two weeks while they’re interested!) my sons school has computers instead of books from year 5 – still giving him 9 or 10 years of solid handwriting practice before he splits his time between the two. I still write every day (and use a marker and whiteboard in lectures!) I find I process my thoughts a lot better by using the slower version of note-making.
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Commenting late in the day about this …
If no one hand-writes, and it’s all done on computers, how come typing is not taught in schools? I learnt back in the early 80s (you know, when all the girls did typing lessons) and have used it since as my chosen career is secretarial/pa work. But then those classes disappeared and typing was no longer offered as a subject. As a trained typist I dislike seeing obvious typing & setting-out errors in documents, blogs, articles, etc. It’s now that we need typing to be taught more than ever! My 12-year has asked if I could teach him to type “properly”, and I’m sure my 6-year old will want to know how too, seeing she’s already had to do a powerpoint presentation for a “formal talk” she had to give (yes, in grade one!). Bring back typing lessons to schools, I say! Hmm, maybe I should start up a business teaching people how to type … there’s an idea!
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I’m with you Jec, when I was at school in the early 80s I was taught typing because that’s what girls were taught (also was taught Home Economics but that is a whole other story). Being able to touch type is one of the most useful skills I have. It irritates the hell out of me when I receive business letters or reports that are not set out correctly, not to mention spelling & grammatical errors (but that is possibly because I’m an English nerd). However I am having less luck with teaching my children how to touch type, but I am ever hopeful that they will see the benefits one day……
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That’s strange! I remember doing a few typing courses both in primary and high school, and I’m only second yr uni now, so not even that long ago!
But, I also had the first half of my life without internet.
I guess now they think that kids spend so much free time on computers from a very young age that it’s no longer a necessary skill to be ‘taught’?
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I received a postcard during the week all the way from Germany, handwritten of course.
I was thrilled. Don’t get many of those anymore!!!
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This topic is something I have thought about. As a teacher, i don’t think we need to put as much emphasis on handwriting as we used to in terms of how perfect it is. Sure, we need to be able to write when we need to and it needs to be legible, but that’s it. Not a popular view however. At my school I mentioned in the staffroom that I only ever seem to handwrite shopping lists and the very occasional note. Someone else nearly had a fit and insisted they write by hand often..this was our technology co ordinator!
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This is an interesting topic for me. My gorgeous 11 yo son has Down syndrome so his hand and finger strength is very poor which means his handwriting is appalling. I’ve long had confidence that this won’t actually be a huge problem for him as he is a whiz on the computer and will be able to communicate by email or over the computer in some way and I figure by the time he’s graduated from school (or earlier) there will be hand-held printers which would give him the ability to type whatever he wants and to print it out for whoever needs it. Hoping my prediction comes true.
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As a special ed teacher, I agree. Finger strength and manual dexterity are important but too many kids suffer trying to achieve the unachievable when it isn’t even that necessary.
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I do wish that universities would change the system for exams!
After 3 hours of writing, I get the worse hand cramps and my ganglion flairs up.
Plus I’m a much faster typer!!
Bring on e-exams!!
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I don’t think it’s as dire as you make it out to be – sure, we don’t write letters so much anymore but handwriting is not exactly going to drop off the face of the earth – I work in a school and believe me, there’s a good balance of both still.
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What I find the most incredible about this article is that nowhere in the office is there a pen or pencil available? Really? Most girls I know at least carry a pen in their handbags…. I work in an office where information is predominantly shared via email, but a vast amount of information is still conveyed by the old note on a post it.
Are you being literal, or using a bit of ‘poetic license’ to illustrate the dying art of pen to paper?
Genuinely interested, Merinda
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Totally agree – a number of years ago, despite my huge addiction to blackberry (my new vice is my iPhone), when in a staff meeting we were asked to answer a few questions and right them down. Being an all staff meeting of 50+ emplyees, often taking notes wasn’t expected so many didn’t have implements on them nor event their handbags. I dove into mine and withdrew 9!!!! Plus a highlighter…
Despite working for an online business I’m constantly taking down notes all day long.
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I would say she made that part up to prove a point and make the story more interesting. I work in a huge office and just looking around me now I notice that every desk has a stack of pens on it. I’ve never seen an office or a desk that doesn’t have a pen.
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It seems a bit on the poetic scale of things given Mia’s twitter pic shows her in front of a wall of post it notes which looks like how they organize/plan content at Mamma Mia HQ. I could be wrong ofcourse.
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This is an interesting topic. I’m in finance and so I need a pad and pen for client enquiries almost every day – I just couldn’t function without it. I also cannot ever imagine it being totally gone from our lives and think we will always need it, but I can definitely see how it’s becoming less prominent and therefore, people are becoming less proficient. I think t’s a shame, but it’s very much the same thing with spelling and particularly grammar. The truth is that even our journalists make many basic, grammatical errors. Perhaps, in the context of our lives, these things just don’t have the importance they once did. However, I’m throwing down a challenge to all those who wish to keep the hand written word alive. Pick up a pen, a piece of paper or a card. Write something to someone you care about and send it via snail mail. I guarantee you’ll feel great and so to will the recipient. Perhaps you may wish to take a photo of it and upload it here first as a testimony or post the results post receipt. I’ll take the lead. Heck, perhaps I might even start a facebook group and those who are keen to put pen to paper regularly- for whatever reason-can join and keep everyone updated and encouraged with their efforts. If you like the sound of that, please let me know.
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As my daughter is at the “learning to write” stage and is doing Montessori schooling, I have recently read/heard a lot about how important the development of the right motor skills to facilitate writing (did you know it all comes from the shoulder?) and the neural development that accompanies writing. So while I know writing is a relatively recent phenomenon, it concerns me that we make take a backward step in terms of human development and evolution if we stop developing this skill.
So while I dont think it’s critical to teach perfect penmanship, I do think that teaching kids to write legibly (well enough to fill in a form) is absolutely critical for many reasons.
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Actually you could say it comes from further back than the shoulder. I have a child with low muscle tone and basically because she lacks that core muscle strength to fix herself in a solid position (which then allows the shoulder to move freely, and the rest of the muscles to line up for writing) she struggles with writing. She is only in year 1 at the moment and copes pretty well (although definitely one of the slower ones in the class). We persist with writing etc, but we have been told by Year 3 (when the amount of work they have to get through goes up dramatically) she will probably be better off with a laptop so she doesn’t get left behind.
I agree that it is an extremely important skill.
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Having been through a similar scenario with my 8 year old son, I would sincerely encourage you to take her to an Occupational Therapist (paediatric). You are correct that the muscle tone in the upper body is responsible for hand/wrist writing co-ordination and strength.
My son developed problems in Year 2 (7) and his school work suffered (Ironically as he was identified as gifted, the teacher was paying him extra attention and that is the only reason his issue was discovered). Turned out his wrist was completely locked up. The OT also discovered that he had trouble “crossing the midline” of his brain – he is ambidextrous and instead of reaching his “dominant” hand across to catch a ball for example, he would just catch it with his left hand.
A term’s worth of therapy sorted most of the problem out and at home exercises promoting core strength (eg plank and fit ball walk outs on your hands) helped as well. Concentrating on writing exercises only came after the rest had strengthened.
Please dont think that switching to a lap top will fix her problem as this core strength is needed for many daily tasks and sports and the problem will only rear its head later.
I may be jumping the gun here by assuming you have not already sought out an OT or the like and I apologise if that is the case
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Hi Chrissy! Thanks for your concern – don’t worry we are ‘old hands’ at all of this in our house. The list of ‘ists’ that my child has seen is very long (eg occupational therap’ist’, speech therap’ist’ etc!) and we are definitely not going to the laptop to band aid the problem. My child currently uses a slant board in class as well as a seating wedge. This child also tests as ‘gifted’ thankfully which means that the teachers understand that if the child does things slower it has nothing to do with their intelligence. Actually I had a little giggle when you described the midline issue with your son as it reminded me of when my child was about three (the child is now 7 – we have been onto this issue since they were about 18 months old). When the child was in early intervention we were trying to encourage crossing the midline (this was also an issue for them) by setting them up at a desk with the paint pots in varying positions around the desk so that they would have to reach out to paint with them. Well my child (who can sometimes be too smart for their own good) promptly stood up, moved all the paint pots to nice and close, and then sat down to get busy with painting. I had to laugh at the OT on that one – they smiled too!
Unfortunately for us a terms worth of therapy won’t cut it (after using several therapists over the years we are currently involved with a brilliant one who I hope continues to work in the area for years!
) and it is going to be an ongoing process with my child. As I said, the child does really well considering the difficulties, and it won’t be until they reach year 3 that we will finally have to concede to the laptop for some of the studies purely so the child isn’t starting to be held back by physical difficulties.
I concur with everything you have learned about the body though!
I’m glad your sons issues were spotted and that he is now going ahead in leaps and bounds! I am really glad for him!
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This is timely! I just finished going through the absurd number of pens in my top draw and throwing out the ones I hate and those that are no longer working. I use an actual, book-form diary to make appointments at work – in pencil, so they can be erased if needed. Everything goes in the diary. Keeping the backup copy up to date is part of the working day.
When people stand at my counter spending ages ignoring me while they get their iWhatever Calendars up so that they can type in the appointment we’ve just made and synch it and set alarms, I just want to scream GET A BLOODY POCKET DIARY AND A FREAKING PEN.
It’s Friday, and I am ready for my beer now.
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I love stationary, pens and everything to do with writing. Love seeing how different people’s handwriting can be. Could never go paperless. I also find I learn by writing stuff down- hate to think of how many trees I cut down throughout my two degrees.
Also, I work in a busy emergency department- there’s been talk of going paperless, but I’m just not sure how it’d work…. sure it’d have advantages (like not reading doctor’s writing!) but can also think of a million problems.
Long live handwriting!!
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We’ve gone paperless in our ED, and I have to say there is more Cons than Pros. I also love stationary! It was the best part of starting the school year back in the day.
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The thought of never again having to chase down a doctor to get their handwriting translated is a nice thought but..
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Handwriting can bugger off as far as I’m concerned. Goodbye exams!!!
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my hand writing has gone to shit. The teacher that issued my pen licence would be turning in her grave.
My husband lives in a paperless world and hates that I need to hand write shopping lists. But you can’t type a shopping list, it’s just not right.
Kids will learn how to type everything, they will also learn how to write, but it won’t be the main way they note things down.
People were worried about calculators and not being able to do maths in your head. Most people still use both ways to some degree.
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I have been looking for a stationary set for months. A note pad with matching envelopes. Can’t find one anywhere. I can find notepads and seperate packets of envelopes but no sets.
My Guide Dogs For The Blind set has just about run out. I can’t say I use it a lot but some occasions just call for a written note, well in my world they do.
As for scribble paper, I just grab a piece out of the printer. Old printouts or faxes are put in the box under the desk for the kids to draw on.
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As for the shopping list, I write it on the chalkboard on the fridge and take a photo of it with my phone, I never remember to take a list but I always remember my phone.
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This is a really interesting topic. I am a composer and yes while I use a computer and steer my students to use a computer for their notated music, they absolutely HAVE to have handwriting skills not only to write words but to notate music. I teach at uni and for me and many other lecturers I know around the world there is no alternative for things like music theory and ear training skills than to be able to notate by hand.
My 8 yr old son is having great difficulties with his handwriting, so much that we’ve had a trip to an Occupational Therapist to try and see if it’s a physical problem. Turns out that he has learned how to write some letters the wrong way (yeah, thanks teachers at school who now blame us and him for the fact that they taught him to write like that). And no I’m not blaming the teachers. I could not get him to practise his writing at home because he is unbelievably stubborn and flat-out refused. However, he can type. So there you go.
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As any Architect will tell you, handwriting to us is like……oh gosh, water to a fish….ok that was pathetic, but sorry, my brain is currently fried (from 4 times a night newborn feeding not from anything else)….
I write 24/7 – shopping lists, blog post ideas, kids milestones in their special books, recipes etc……
I am scared that if I don’t I will lose my “special designer handwriting” that I worked so hard to attain during University!
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I still use handwriting daily – whether it be writing love notes for my husband or writing down my list of tasks for my day at work..and i take minutes handwritten as well…
obviously i type for most of my days and due to this my handwriting has become less neat haha
:O)
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Well, as a year 12 student myself, having just written 3 x 1500 word essays in the two hour second English paper, I can vouch for the fact that putting pen to paper encourages thought. What’s more, whilst handwriting is used in exams, it’s clarity is certainly slipping! I like to think of my cursive writing as legible, tidy and aesthetically pleasing
but I’d say that over half of my year group prints. It is too slow for exams and doesn’t leave a good impression; those who read my writing often comment that it ‘looks smart’.
But even simply due to the creative genius of cheating HSC students, I’d say that the handwritten exams are here to stay.
By the way, English is comprised of two, two hour papers, but other subjects such as history and economics are three hours. I shall be needing hand therapy afterwards (even though I would estimate that I hand write seventy or eighty pages a day at school and all of my practice essays are handwritten.
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English is a 3 hour exam in VCE
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I love writing things by hand i always have a back up on a computer or phone but i would hate that children don’t get to grow up with another skill. I mean how many of us became painters but wasn’t it useful to learn to draw and paint. Many people have said the same thing about sewing at home as a dying art and yet it seems to be coming back in leaps and bounds. I’ve lost count of the friend who have asked me to teach them to sew or knit. So if it is an art form then let it be celebrated as one. Maybe it’s a bit like the bicycle it was here before the cars and maybe when we have used up all the fossil fuel we might be back to the pushbike and maybe the same can be said for handwriting
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