Handwriting in the Digital Age
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-07-28/handwriting-digital-age
A child starting kindergarten this fall might only study cursive writing in history class. A growing number of schools no longer require teachers to provide instruction in cursive. Those in favor of dropping “joined up writing” say teaching it is time consuming and can be easily replaced in a world of texting and word processing. Proponents say handwriting helps foster fine motor skills and other cognitive development -- and that taking pen to paper is not only a beautiful art form but can be a means of individual expression. Guest host, Susan Page, and her guests discuss the fate of handwriting and penmanship in the digital age.
Guests
Anne Trubek
Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Oberlin College
Kitty Burns Florey
author of "Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting"
Tracey Bailey
Director of Education Policy for the Association of American Educators and 1993 National Teacher of the Year
Karen Epstein
fourth grade teacher at Rockwell Elementary School in Montgomery County, Maryland
Comments
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I am in my 40s and my elementary teacher made me print because she could not read my handwriting otherwise. It was a bit of an issue when taking essay test, but other than that it was fine. And I do have a signature. Anyone can create their own signature even if they don't write longhand.
Also, soon typing is going to be outdated. Our own personal devices will read our brain waves and transfer our thoughts into written language. So get used to the thought. Typing much less Handwriting is going the way of carving on clay tablets.
Thank you to the comment writer who caught the "less & less" vs. "fewer and fewer" gaff. I tried to reply to it directly, but ended up here......
its o.k. to teach them keyboarding. just dont stop teaching them how to write.
I don't think small children struggling to hunt and peck adds to their ability to express themselves and the very little ones are too young to master touch because their fingers can't reach all the keys.
Yes indeed BUT TG for the paperless office and digital storage forever of everything(or until funding for hosting/storage cut).
Of course when we transition to oral computing and computing orally most problems obsolete. The 'new' problems may involve hunger and housing and health... TG education will no longer be allowed to be learned.
Rethink our ideas of plagiarism????? OMG
I am writing as a newly retired teacher and a mother. I agree with the Maryland teacher. Most fourth graders are excited to learn cursive. It is a good way to begin the school year in terms of presenting a subject that most children are shaky with - it levels the playing field. From the first day on of each school year, I required that each paper turned in have the child's signature at the top. This rule was greeted with many groans on the first day. But mid-year when I would ask how many students thought writing their names in cursive on each paper was helpful, all voted 'yes.' Other than signatures, we probably spent less than 4 hours per school year on cursive instruction. Writing in cursive, however, can also help some children with learning disabilities avoid letter reversals. It also helps students space propertly between words.
From a mom's perspective: My 23 year old son died two years ago in the U.S. Army. I treasure each letter he wrote home from basic training. Every letter was written in his tiny, neat printing. They are no less valuable because they were not written in cursive. His descriptions and the feelings expressed were and continue to be dear to my heart.
I just sent this comment to the show, but not sure they will read it so I wanted to share it here as well.
You don't know where what you learn will lead you in your life. In looking back on what I've learned and how it has led me to my business now, I can say that handwriting was critical to that. I craft colorful, unique, cute pet ID tags with polymer clay that people love and are used to raise money for animal rescue organizations.
I personalize them on the back with a real permanent pen and it's in a cursive style print. People love the way the name looks!
I taught myself calligraphy as a young teen and did my bat mitzvah invitations as well as people's wedding invitations.
Then I worked for a gift shop decorating gift items with names and pictures. I moved on to many other jobs including massage therapist, daycare teacher, nonprofit administrator and now am back to using my fine motor skills daily to craft the pet ID tags and personalize them.
While I am grateful that I can type 50 words a minute when communicating with people on a daily basis and writing my blog or website, I can say that this gift I have for creating my product that makes so many people smile and helps save dogs and cats, wouldn't have happened if I hadn't have first learned the skill of handwriting.
Robyn Jacobs
http://www.pettagcreations.com
W O W the arrogance of educated youths.
Excuse me, educated peers, distinguished panel, 'business'
notes were once taken by shorthand(bridging cursive and PCs) !
An olde comm method... gone from most minds I guess.
Calligraphy anyone?
Any mode of communication enhances one's thinking only if coupled by thinking... even attempts at communicating.
Plan the work, work the plan, SEEMS so simple.
A generally accepted method and mode ideal. Unfortunately we are werkin wid Inglish.
Remember hand cramps from rightn n rytic. Now replaced by carpal tunnel? Ahhh progress !
I so agree with you! Last year I transferred to a new position teaching Spanish in an elementary school, and this year I told my fourth grade students they would be required to write in cursive. I know from 20+ years of teaching experience as a general education teacher that the only way to learn to write cursive is to use it daily. However, the students couldn't read cursive on the board (I have excellent handwriting), and complained that they couldn't do it. Parents complained, and since my primary focus is teaching Spanish, this was not a battle I chose to fight. As one of Diane's guests said, teachers will teach what we are told to teach-and more when and if we can! Note how the community influences the classroom.
I so agree with you! Last year I transferred to a new position teaching Spanish in an elementary school, and this year I told my fourth grade students they would be required to write in cursive. I know from 20+ years of teaching experience as a general education teacher that the only way to learn to write cursive is to use it daily. However, the students couldn't read cursive on the board (I have excellent handwriting), and complained that they couldn't do it. Parents complained, and since my primary focus is teaching Spanish, this was not a battle I chose to fight. As one of Diane's guests said, teachers will teach what we are told to teach-and more when and if we can! Note how the community influences the classroom.
STOP writing my thoughts ! (IT tickles)
"..we have to change our idea of plagiarism.."
???
ouch.
LOVE teachers. When they ask for cursive and survive the ensuing violence of sharp edged(dulled by use and pawnship) of vulgar comments in several languages... while students earnestly attempt compilation...
perhaps you should change your "name" to noseRealLife
You are so right...
I think we are killing ourselves slowly with technology. Soon we won't be able to do anything manually. As a former teacher of elementary school children, I found that the mere practice of the motor skill of writing before you attemt the composition of any thoughts was essential.
You can't introduce a skill and expect it to be used immediately. What ever happened to those sheets that children used to learn how to write printed letters and the cursives? Are they no longer used in the primary grades?
I just think it is a bad idea to abandon some of the traditions that we have used very effectively for many years. Teach the kids how to write script and print.
the callers are hilarious today. they can sense the suckiness in the interviews today. lol. what if u dont find a renewable source of energy in the next hundred years. these kids wont know how to write. lol. we really arent leaving them much for real. they will have no infrastructor they will be paying for huge government deficits they'll have to keep the rest of the world from exploding because thats aready out of control also. and then lets not teach them how to write either. lololol. and i promise that one girl hates cursive so bad and it is so funny. its like her ex boyfreind's name was Cursive or something. lol. i mean the entire show should have been about the fact that she hates cursive writing and why. lol. we really need to get in touch with her feelings and her inner child. keyword WE.
In a practical sense, how do we afford enough computers in schools so that every student is guaranteed to be computer literate?
Hi, I realized early the importance of printing when I couldn't read or understand class notes that I had done in cursive. But lets jump forward to how these really fast computers allow us to now dictate. I've been using dictate software for almost a year now and am so impressed. Nothing pushes through writers block like "just speaking out what's on your mind" and then seeing it compose in front of your eyes.
I heard the first 5 or 6 minutes of today's very engaging show, then was interrupted by neighbors. I returned to the house to hear the last 5 minutes or so and wanted to make three comments:
1. From my own teaching experience, students cut and paste less when the research topic is engaging, specific, clearly stated, and the teacher (middle or high school) knows which sources the student will seek out. Either the teacher has tried to "answer" the topic question or sought the librarian's help. Having the kids design the research question gets them to "own" the research and results, too.
2. Teachers across the content areas should collaborate with the librarian to make sure the students understand a) how to form questions to guide their research, (b) how to seek info, (c) how to take notes and summarize, (d) how to synthesize to answer their research questions, incorporating their own judgments and opinions with their research, and (e) how to cite sources.
3) Students should be taught/helped to develop a legible handwriting as well as to read various styles of writing. And teachers should be conscious of the need to write legibly, themselves!
Thanks, DR Show, for this program. I plan to listen to the podcast to see what I missed.
I'm a librarian - a profession which grapples with the relationship between the analog and digital worlds on a regular basis. I completely agree with your panelist who said that we are in a new golden age of written communication. People are excited about writing again, and that is very exciting for our culture. Tools cause our means and methods of communication to evolve - this has always been the case. I also don't believe that one must always know the "old ways" to fully utilize the new. For example, I don't believe that todays filmmakers need necessarily to know how to physically edit film reels in order to make rich, meaningful, creative films. All of that said, handwriting - like reading - strikes me as one of those essential skills that we can't and shouldn't ever let go. Though it's an unlikely scenario, were we to lose electricity, where would we be without that skill?
Writing skill in language can help to write in math and sciences. Math involves symbols that are very succinct as well as pregnant. I do see a positive correlation between these writing in creative subjects and mathematics. It is important that we remember that mathematics is a language.
Retnam
Steve Jobs, the person who has revolutionized our relationship with digital devices and expanded public appreciation for design, attributes his inspiration to a calligraphy class he took at Reed College. He learned about serif and san serif typefaces, the space between letter combinations and was fascinated by it. 10 years later he designed the first Mac, proudly stating that "It was the first computer with beautiful typography"
Watch Steve Jobs express his view here at the 2005 Stanford Commencement Address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
I find it interesting that the visionary who (if you are an Apple product owner) influences your life everyday, gives so much credit to his deep understanding of typography. And here we are questioning its relevance. Steve Jobs at first, didn't see the importance of that course, but down the road it all made sense. As he explains, "the dots connect."
We are already stripping away art programs from public schools, depriving kids of a physical form of expression and steering them to learn overly objective methods and shortcuts. Teaching a process, which learning to write print or cursive promotes, is important. Individual expression, which developing a style of writing promotes, is important. We need to ask whether taking away cursive in schools enhances or oppresses this need of subjectivity in schools.
Writing is a form of communication; doing it effectively with organized thoughts should be the sole measuring stick for whether a child/person can do it effectively whether they use cursive, print, keyboard, or use readily available software that converts audio to text.
I am in the technology business which is based solely on various forms of communication, as well as the parent of 2 dyslexic boys. In both instances I see various forms of communication is preferred and executed by the individuals I work with and my sons.
In business, the biggest challenge in dealing with clients and customers is can they effectively communicate? Many cannot as they were never taught to effectively organize their thoughts (regardless of whether they chose to speak, text, or provide traditional written communication), and, the inability to organize to communicate effectively is also directly related to the vast majority of the US population being unable to take an analytical eye to our government and politicians, but alas, that's another topic altogether.
As a parent, my sons are being taught to have analytical skills first and handwriting skills are far down the list of importance. This approach is bearing fruit as they already have superior verbal and analytical skills at the ages of 12 and 14 than the majority of adults I interact with daily. As for the argument that handwriting is a necessary fine motor skill, my question is: for whom? While both boys are lacking in traditional penmen ship, they both write extremely effectively (and have to work twice as hard at it). But more importantly, they participate in myriad other activities that develop their fine motor skills: piano, guitar, art, building things, and sports.
Thoughts?
Writing cursive which is hand writing is akin to speaking through your mouth, eye to eye, ear to ear. there is a spirit of connection that enhances our humanity. Technology cannot transmit this invisible quality we need humans need to sustain life. Remember the works of the cavemen!
I wish I'd caught this while it was still on there, but I still wanted to weigh in.
I've hated cursive ever since I got a "D" in it in third grade. I have eye-hand coordination problems and visual processing issues that make it difficult for me to write quickly and legibley, hand-writing was always my worst subject. Luckily my parents realized the absurdity of expecting me to be to be able to write cursive well and told me to just do the best I could and that one day it wouldn't matter.
I never really saw the value in cursive, I felt it was an archaic tradition and only needed for the purposes of signing one's own name. After listening to the program I can realize that it may be a bit more important than I thought, but I still don't think that students should be graded on it, or criticized for being bad at it.
Teach it to them, yes. Help them to improve, yes. But don't screw up their GPA and crush their confidence just because they don't have the right brain connections or fine motor skills to do it well. I always got A's and B's except for handwriting. I could read and write and comprehend big ideas in math, science, history, you name it. But if the teacher decided to "make hand writing count" on an assignment I was screwed. It caused me great distress, to the point that I would sit and think about how I wanted to write a sentence ahead of time so that i could do it with the fewest letters possible, or so that I could avoid having to use letters that were hard to write. You could argue that the process of editing in my head like that was beneficial, but made all my homework take forever.
TEACH IT, but DON'T GRADE ON IT.
and if the kid hasn't caught on after a year then drop it, and let him/her do what comes easiest to them.
1. Fine motor skills are a necessity. One shouldn't just stop working on them just b/c they have to work a little harder to master the skill. Lacking that specific fine motor skill is not an excuse to do away with writing by hand. That's just lazy. The same fine motor skills used to write are used for many other things, such as using a fork or spoon. If for no other reason, writing is important simply to have a fully functioning body.
2. Redefine plagiarism since we copy and paste anyway? Are we so lazy that we don't feel like coming up with and writing out our own ideas, so we say "screw it" and just use other people's as our own? And we wonder why the younger generations fail miserably in school.
3. Not by any stretch of the imagination is texting writing. Sorry.
4. Technology will fail and we will need to know how to write. Knowing how to write will never fail.
5. I completely agree with the caller who said that she didn't hire applicants who couldn't write. Writing and fine motor skills are imperative in the workplace, even in retail. To say they aren't is delusional.
To Markitect:
If we had been allowed to drop subjects in school and just do what was easiest, not one of us would have graduated. Part of life is working through and mastering things that are difficult. That's a horrible thing to teach a child. If you can't do it with ease, forget it. If that were the case, then my teachers shouldn't have required me to do math beyond 8th grade, and should've just dropped my husband from reading and writing altogether.
I see my son struggling with cursive while his print is very readable. I find it a waste of time to force my son to learn to write cursive. My mother, who wrote beautiful cursive, still managed to make it hard for me to read her notes and letters.
teaching the kids at such an early age concerns me because of carpal tunnel syndrome..has there been any research on this?