Typing is Fine, but Handwriting Makes its Mark When it Comes to Learning

Can you say, "load of crap?" Altogether now...Load of Crap! I've always had lousy penmanship. No one can read my handwriting. I should have been a doctor. Well I am, just not an MD. So, a long, long time ago I began to print my words instead of using cursive. Then came the IBM Selectric. And finally the computer keyboard.

During my career I wrote hundreds of documents by hand using printed letters. In those times when my (shared) secretary was too busy, I used a typewriter. When the computer came along it was the keyboard.

I have Ph.D.s in electrical engineering and applied physics. Now retired I'm writing novels and short stories. Never once have I considerd myself to be less smart because I print my letters or use a keyboard. The fellows who wrote this mercifully brief fluff piece all need high colonics.

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I would truly love to write in the cursive manner, but due to severe
tremor due to auto accident, I am unable to do so. The only manner in which I can communicate with friends and relatives is by type written letters or emails on the computer. Any suggestions ? I feel that the hand written letter or message is far more appealing than
type written.

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Unfortunately writing is something they don't even teach in school anymore. Once you learn how to print you are off to the computer. Its a shame I am reading what are suppose to be smart accomplished people stating their handwriting is poor yet not saying they are trying to improve it. Guess they aren't that smart after all.

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Training a child on how to write using a pen is enjoyable when you always appreciate what he scribbled. Encourage him to practice writing constantly to improve his penmanship. When you praise a child of what he has accomplished that will inspire him to write more. You will be surprised later that the child could read and write and even spell the words he wrote. So the motor skill is coordinating with the brain function. In my experiment...in the pre-schooler, you won't believe that a child could write numbers from 1 to 100 in a repetitive style, also writing in the syllabic form of the Alphabet without mistake. There is a big effect in the coordination of the hand holding the pen, the eyes, the ears, the mouth and the brain working together. This will lead the child to become interested in learning, no matter how young he is.

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I started 1st grade in Germany in 1979, and I still remember learning how to write in cursive, first practicing with pencils, then using fountain pens. We weren't allowed to print letters as that was supposed to cause bad penmanship, and I wrote like that until graduating from highschool.
I have 4 kids and was surprised to see that they don't teach them cursive until 3rd grade. It's really not that hard to learn! So, this summer vacation I'm actually teaching my kids (going into 1st and 2nd grade) how to write in cursive, first using pencils and then fountain pens (German ones specially made for kids).

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Not only is cursive writing not taught in most schools these days, but the average high schooler cannot read an analog dial clock

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I`m a retired art teacher who went to a parochial school where penmanship was taught every Fri. Then as a teacher , I decided to teach caligraphy in my 8th grade art classes. Surprise !!!! The kids enjoyed it. Yes, it took a while to master, but with time the kids did very well. And they learned patience.

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Back when I was young, in the fifties and sixties, everyone learned cursive...I remember the old Palmer method. Some were very good, and others, not so good, but, at least, everyone got used to seeing cursive so that they could read it. Many of today's kids not only don't know how to write it, but they also can't read it, they're so accustomed to computers and printing. Receiving letters from older relatives can pose problems, not that many send handwritten letters anymore.
My handwriting isn't the greatest, but it's readable...a good thing, I guess, as years ago, I started keeping a handwritten journal. It's grown to well over thirty-three thousand pages in length. I'm hoping that someday, after I'm gone, there'll still be someone around who can actually read some of the entries!! With the emphasis, these days on printing, I'm not so sure there will be!!

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I was going to call bull, too, dickin2000c. Until I read this part: "Not how well they do it, but that they do it and practice it." My handwriting is reprehensible. My professor actually took me aside at one point in college and asked me if I was certain my career choice of teaching elementary school was a positive one as I would have to model handwriting (I can do it, but it takes a great deal of focus and it took many years of extra practice with my mother to get me where I am). I have to agree with the principal idea behind this article, however. So often the assumption is that motor skills are 'natural' and for some kids they are, but for others, it takes practice and refining and the focus required (I can be a mindless typer) and the process of actually forming the letters are important. Is it going to make you 'dumb' to use a computer to type? No...and the author didn't say that. Is it a bad thing to type our papers or to teach kids to type? Absolutely not! But handwriting skills are also relevant and forming an s with my pencil as a five year old will do a lot more for my development than pressing a button.

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I'm right handed, but I only have three finger on my right hand due to an accident when I was four years old. My penmanship leaves a lot to be desired. I'm fortunate that the typewriter was designed so the heaviest load is born by the left hand. I learned to type when I was about 12 and I am glad that I have a typewriter available for personal notes.

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Honestly, growing up in the age of computers, I started using a computer in 3rd grade. Yeah, I like hand-writing, and I definitely think that it has a place in this world, I think that typing can do the same thing, just not with letters.
This study is pretty skewed. Yes letters, but what about concepts? I think the act of thinking up sentences and putting them into writing (whether with pen(cil) and paper or with a keyboard) brings up the same result. It's forcing you to organize your thoughts, that's it.

Also, I type a whole heck of a lot faster than I write, with just as many mistakes. Because letters are shapes, the best way to learn them IS to draw them. Think about it, would you have known, in kindergarten, how many sides a pentagon had unless you had to draw the shape out counting the sides as you did it? As opposed to say, a history concept, when verbally or written, you still had to put the thing into sentences and words? It didn't matter HOW you were doing it, it mattered that you were doing it.

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I hope my sons teachers see this. He has dyslexia and they keep pushing me to let him use a program that allows him to speak to the computer and it will type for him. HOW is this helping him to learn to read and write? I told them no he has to learn, even if he isn't great at it he still needs to learn to write words and letters. He can't rely on a pc all the time. I think they do this sometimes just because it is easier. I have dyslexia as well, and writing does help. I usually type a letter now but I wouldn't have had those basic skill if I didn't learn to write first.

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