Finnish Students Will No Longer Be Taught Handwriting At School

[Patrick L]

Finnish students will no longer be taught handwriting at school, with typing lessons taking its place, it's reported.

Learning joined-up writing, often in fountain pen in the UK, is almost a rite of passage for primary school students. But Finland is moving into the digital age by ditching the ink in favour of keyboards, the Savon Sanomat newspaper reports. From autumn 2016, students won't have to learn cursive handwriting or calligraphy, but will instead be taught typing skills, the report says. "Fluent typing skills are an important national competence," says Minna Harmanen from the National Board of Education. The switch will be a major cultural change, Ms Harmanen says, but typing is more relevant to everyday life.

There are some concerns that the move could disadvantage children who don't have a computer at home, or schools where there aren't enough computers to go around. But many people have welcomed the move. "For most teachers it's sufficient that upper case and lower case letters can be distinguished," says Susanna Huhta, deputy chairwoman of the Association of Native Language Teachers. However, she points out that handwriting helps children to develop fine motor skills and brain function, and suggests handwriting classes could be replaced by handicrafts and drawing. Social media users also see the positives, with one user on the Etela-Saimaa website saying: "Handwriting is a totally useless skill. Maybe not as useless as compulsory Swedish, but coming pretty close to it."

 

 

The above article appeared on the BBC website on the 21.11.2014.

 

I created a post some time ago on this website regarding the love-hate relationship between internet and the fountain pen.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/166058-fountain-pens-and-the-internet-a-love-hate-relationship/?

 

Some members didn't get it then. Technology creates lots of things, including obsoleteness.

 

 

[LamyOne]

Hello Patrick L,

 

Well, I cannot speak for anyone else here, but I for one am very grateful I was taught script (cursive) writing in the third grade; it is a skill I would hate to be without. Now of days, it almost feels like I'm fluent in a second language.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

[proton007]

This topic's already been posted in the Penmanship section.

[flipper_gv]

It's a bit extreme tbh. But, Finland has one of the best, if not very best, school system in the world, especially primary schools.

 

It's not like learning to write will take a long time to a teenager or adult. Their fine motor skills are much better than young children and would take maximum 2 weeks to be functional.

 

Anyway, I do use fountain pens for fun, not out of necessity, especially considering I'm studying software engineering.

[Runnin_Ute]

I was talking to a teacher here(Utah, USA) recently and she was telling me that cursive is still taught here. Apparently, the decision is made at the state level.

 

I don't think one has to be done at the expense of the other.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I am a believer in penmanship but not necessarily cursive.

I remember growing up as a child and never was able to read my moms cursive. But if she would just print it I could read it. So as a child I refused to every learn cursive and it was quite a battle in elementary school. But I never learned to write cursive and printed everything. I eventually became a draftsman and my print was put to good use.

 

Cramer

[SockAddict]

I have no problem with children not being taught to write in cursive. Times change, as do tastes and trends. We don't learn Spenserian penmanship in schools anymore, and I bet people thought that was horrible too. HOWEVER, this means children won't learn to READ cursive, either. And that is a problem. While most historic, business and public documents are easily available in print, their own personal history isn't, and will probably be in cursive. How with they read Grandma's journals or Grandpa's business ledgers? How will they know who these people in the old photographs are?

[amberleadavis]

I'm disappointed that it isn't taught in schools here in Nevada and I'm surprised when we have FPNers ask about the reviews being typed because they can't read cursive. At some point, I may give in and only type, but for now, I write in cursive.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

By the way, when I said I could not read my moms Cursive, it was because it was unreadable (penmanship) and not because I had no idea on how to read cursive in general. Like have you ever tried to read the RX you doctor wrote?

 

That's why i would emphasize learning penmanship over learning cursive.

 

Just wanted to make that clear.

 

Cramer

[amberleadavis]

I wasn't trying to criticize. When I was scrapbooking, the lady teaching the class had each of us write "I love you" on a sheet of paper. Then she had various kids come in the room one at a time. Each kid - even when they could not read cursive - could identify which note was written by his/her mom. It was really weird.

 

As for reading cursive...struggling through the spelling and writing is part of the process, and I still ponder what some of my penpals are writing. Mr.Charlie has the most perfect school letter Z-B penmanship I've ever seen. He can't say the same for me. I frequently misspell proper nouns.