My cousin’s four-year-old just asked Santa for an iPad. My five-year-old nephew listed Netflix as the thing he is most grateful for on Thanksgiving. And my god-daughter got not one, but TWO toddler-aged laptops for her first birthday. In a world in which children are surrounded by technology from infancy, does handwriting matter anymore?
After all, by the time today’s youngsters reach high school, 99.9% of their papers will be typed on a keyboard. Already we see schools utilizing iPads, tablets, and laptops in the classroom, sometimes as early as elementary school. If today’s toddlers will be using keyboards from first grade through college, why should their handwriting matter?
Keyboarding In, Handwriting Out
Some schools agree that handwriting is becoming an outmoded topic of study. In fact, the new Common Core State Standards, set to be adopted by most states in coming years, do not require schools to teach cursive handwriting; instead, the writing standards include a keyboarding component. Proponents of emphasizing typing skills over handwriting skills point out that today’s students will graduate into a world dominated by keyboards, and that given the limited amount of instruction time available in the school day, it is better to allocate time to learning to type quickly and accurately than to waste that time teaching children to write neatly and legibly.
I myself vividly remember learning to write cursive in the second and third grades. I remember the little neon rubber grippy things they put on our pencils in order to train us in the proper grip; I remember the painstaking effort that it took merely to write out the alphabet in cursive; and I remember arguing with my teacher that cursive was stupid because I could already write in perfectly legible print. (Granted, this was in the days before every household had a computer, so I didn’t have the keyboard argument readily available.)
Handwriting: More than Penmanship?
My teachers never gave me a satisfactory reason for having to learn to write clearly and quickly (which is probably why my longhand is a mangled mix of print and cursive); I wish they had known how to defend the art of handwriting because I might have approached it with more dedication.
Handwriting is more than a means of communication. Studies have shown that practicing handwriting early on helps students learn letters and shapes more quickly while aiding in the development of fine motor skills. Later, exercising handwriting skills helps to improve idea composition and expression (and anyone who has spent a great deal of time reading high school essays knows that students often need help in the idea composition department).
Virginia Berninger, a professor at the University of Washington, has done extensive research on how handwriting affects the brain. She says that one of the biggest differences between handwriting and typing is the movements involved – to form a letter by hand, one must create a series of movements; to form a letter with a keyboard, one must simply press a button. The sequential movements required by handwriting activate huge areas of the brain involved with thinking, language, and working memory – the system for storing and managing information. This explains why many students find that handwriting lecture notes helps them to remember the material better than typing lecture notes.
Other studies have shown that practicing handwriting improves the expression and composition of ideas, suggesting that handwriting can improve the quality of one’s written work. I myself plan all articles with a pen and paper — the simple action of writing out my thoughts helps to clarify them. Still other studies have suggested that even adults can benefit from studying handwriting because it helps to boost working memory. Many older adults have turned to handwriting courses as a means of sharpening mental skills.
And just in case the neurological arguments aren’t sufficient, consider this: Handwriting also affects grades. Those students whose handwriting can best be described by the term “chicken scratch” had better watch out because an illegible essay on the SAT earns you a “0”. Even in the classroom, handwriting has a huge impact. Steve Graham, a professor at Vanderbilt University, cites several studies that show that good handwriting can boost a test score from the 50th percentile to the 84th, while bad handwriting can tank it to the 16th percentile. Why? Readers – even trained teachers – subconsciously judge the quality of written ideas by their presentation, so a messy test paper is likely to get a lower score.
Dear Mr. President
To celebrate National Handwriting Day on January 23, Handwriting Without Tears is inviting children in grades K-5 to write letters to the President of the United States. The initiative, known as Mail to the Chief, gathered more than 35,000 letters in 2008. Some of the highlights from 2008’s letters:
- “You should get a group of scientists to try to make a flying car that runs on air.” (Ryan in Delaware)
- “I think you should help poor people get food. You could show them how to fish.” (Yohan in Arizona)
- “Bullies should be arrested and go to jail.” (Eden, 2nd grader in Indiana)
- “Please work with other presidents and kings. Meet with them and become their friends. Then we can all get along.” (Abigail in Wisconsin)
- “You know there is mother, father and grandparent’s day, right? I think there should be kids day.” (Izel, 5th grader in Maryland)
- “I am very happy that you are my president. My baby brother keeps taking my toy cats. Can you pass a law?” (Meghana in Maryland)
This is a great exercise to encourage younger students to practice their handwriting. If your family wants to be involved, visit Handwriting Without Tears for more information.
