Should Penmanship Return to School?

[johnr55]

With apparently few schools in the US spending any significant amount of time on handwriting and penmanship, should we press for a return to the handwriting classes of the past?

[*david*]

No. We should simply start teaching.

[chud]

I'm still on the fence here. It's easy to say "yes" because it's something that we here are interested in, but how essential is it really, in the big picture?

 

Let me throw out a related question... do you think handwriting is a fundamental skill, along with literacy and basic mathematics, or is it an artistic, cultural, general "well-roundedness" skill more akin to music, art, dance, and the like?

 

In this context, I mean handwriting beyond the basic ability to leave a mostly-legible note when needed -- I think we'll all agree that that's an essential skill, but it doesn't have to be very developed in order to be functional in an age where writing of any length can be typed.

[*david*]

I think music education is more important to a person's life than is any mathematics past elementary school. Mainly, this demonstrates that any large group of people will never be able to agree on what is most important in education.

 

(I didn't mean to say we should all be school teachers, by the way - just that people who are good at writing should simply start showing anyone who's interested.)

Edited November 7, 2006 by *david*

[Escribiente]

Let me throw out a related question... do you think handwriting is a fundamental skill, along with literacy and basic mathematics, or is it an artistic, cultural, general "well-roundedness" skill more akin to music, art, dance, and the like?

It is true, as David I says, that it is impossible for a large number of people to agree about one specific issue. Yet, total agreement has never been necessary to promote and implement policies. As long as they are supported, and benefit the majority, one hopes that they are adopted.

 

Is handwriting a fundamental skill? I believe that one should distinguish three kinds of handwriting here.

• One, the ability to draw the letters well enough to fill out forms, or to write a legible note, and so forth. I believe that few will argue against considering this a fundamental ability.
• Two, the ability to handwrite fluently, and legibly, so that others understand what one has written. This is the basic ability practiced enough until it becomes second nature. I would argue that if you don’t plan to go to college, and do not plan to work in a business in which you need to share your notes--law and medicine, for instance--you probably don’t need this skill. While giving midterms, or in-class essays or finals, it’s painful to watch some students struggle with the mechanics of handwriting, a fact that hinders their thought process. On the other hand, if you don’t understand what students write, you cannot give them a good grade, no matter how brilliant the essay.
• Three, the ability to write beautifully, and with panache. Few people have the gift, and the patience to develop this kind of handwriting. And, of course, I would argue against its across-the-board teaching; yet, I would encourage any student who has the inclination.

Yes, laptops are ubiquitous nowadays, and that’s great. But handwriting has hardly died as a skill. Notice for instance the amount of research and investment devoted to Tablet PCs.

[Ann Finley]

Let me throw out a related question... do you think handwriting is a fundamental skill, along with literacy and basic mathematics, or is it an artistic, cultural, general "well-roundedness" skill more akin to music, art, dance, and the like?

 

In this context, I mean handwriting beyond the basic ability to leave a mostly-legible note when needed -- I think we'll all agree that that's an essential skill, but it doesn't have to be very developed in order to be functional in an age where writing of any length can be typed.

I think handwriting is a fundamental skill. A "mostly legible" note may well not be a legible note if an important word isn't legible, or if a given letter were to be mistaken for another one and the word was read as a different word.

 

Yes, I'd say penmanship should be taught in school, as well as typing/keyboarding. Both are relevant, important skills.

 

Best, Ann

[Ray]

It *is* taught formally in the UK as a fundamental part of the literacy element of the National Curriculum and starts at age 5.

 

Ray

[girlieg33k]

Let me throw out a related question... do you think handwriting is a fundamental skill, along with literacy and basic mathematics, or is it an artistic, cultural, general "well-roundedness" skill more akin to music, art, dance, and the like?

 

In this context, I mean handwriting beyond the basic ability to leave a mostly-legible note when needed -- I think we'll all agree that that's an essential skill, but it doesn't have to be very developed in order to be functional in an age where writing of any length can be typed.

I actually think it's both -- both a fundamental skill one should learn, as well as an artistic skill. People who can write in different languages using different characters (e.g., Japanese, Chinese, Urdu, Korean, and so forth) would probably agree that it’s both a fundamental skill that has to be learned and an artistic skill that has to be practiced and improved upon over time.

 

A friend of mine is a guidance school counselor and she remarked the other day that there are an increasing number of kids in "special education" classes because their handwriting is so illegible, they themselves cannot decipher what they wrote. Some suffer from a neurological disorder called dysgraphia -- which is similar to similar to dyslexia -- but sometimes they just have very poor handwriting. Ironically, these same kids are often also classified as "gifted," but due to visual/spatial difficulties, their handwriting is either illegible or they cannot write at all.

 

The ability to write legibly (and well) is a mode of communication just like speaking and typing. I was taught how to type in junior high, and I was taught to handwrite at home (my mother was a teacher) and in grade school. Maybe it was a Catholic school thing. I improved on those skills on my own. I doubt I could have made it through high school, college, law school, and Bar exams if my handwriting was illegible. And I grew up in the age of computers.

 

With regard to handwriting being an "essential skill" -- I think it's more essential in certain professions/fields. For instance, here's an interesting article about a handwriting course for physicians:

http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-04-...llegibledoctors

 

Yes, most things that we write these days can be reduced to typewritten form, but not always. And would we want them to be? A world full of keyboardists would be like a house with only white walls and beige carpeting.

Edited November 7, 2006 by girlieg33k

[phillychuck]

I think music education is more important to a person's life than is any mathematics past elementary school.

While music education will be useful in a person having a well rounded life, without a fundamental appreciation of math well beyond elementary school, this person will have important and well paying (and growing and essential) career options foreclosed.

 

In North America, and possibly elsewhere, there is a looming shortage of engineers and scientists. WIthout educating students in math through high school, these career options become seriously foreclosed.

 

(an engineering educator)

[WillAdams]

Learning to write well is an important key to learning the underlying structure of letters and to recognize them so as to be able to read.

 

Learning music is an important social skill. If children were better trained in this, stoplights wouldn't be so disgustingly, vulgarly noisy. Also helps with communicating some math concepts, and with learning languages which use tones.

 

William

[*david*]

While music education will be useful in a person having a well rounded life, without a fundamental appreciation of math well beyond elementary school, this person will have important and well paying (and growing and essential) career options foreclosed.

Do you have a musical education yourself, on which to base your comparison?

 

I did quite well in science and math in high school. It was entertaining stuff to learn, but none of what I got in those classes has been of any value to me since then.

[Green Maned Lion]

I am left handed, have a mild case of cereberal palsy (AKA CP), and can't write very well. Because of the limited control of fine motor skills inherent to my minor disorder, I have never been able to write well. I would never be able to do well in such a course, even if I put in my very very best.

 

Doing something in school has never given me much drive to do it. I really never learned much in school. I think that school-based education is not as good as everyone says it is. Without trying to sound concieted, I was an unuaully bright kid. My parents taught me how to read, and I read the entire Hardy Boys series before first grade (which in my district is where reading is first taught).

 

My parents taught me basic arithmetic, and I was pretty well versed in math in mulitplying and deviding decimals and fractions when kids in my second grade class were struggling with adding and subtracting large whole numbers. My parents stopped teaching me around that time, but I didn't stop learning. I taught myself.

 

By fourth grade I was struggling my way, on my own, through pre-algebra. My dad would help me with things I didn't understand, but the majority i did on my own. I rarely did homework even then, which brought my grade down. But I rarely got less than an A on tests and quizes. I was so far ahead of my class the whole thing bored me. I sometimes slept through classes.

 

I remember so very clearly a conversation I had with my fourth grade teacher after the first math test of the year. She told me I had to put effort into my test and not put down any old answer. She told me this because I had finished in 10 minutes what took the rest of the class most of the period. I had already taken out the book I was going to read while waiting for the period to end. I told her to grade it, and with the first wrong answer, to come grab me and I would go over the whole test again. I got a 100% on that one. Why? Because by that time doing fraction multiplication was a mental math operation, so it took me no time at all. She stopped bugging me at that point.

 

Despite the fact that I have gone through the public school system, and with dismal grades mostly due to my ignoring homework as a waste of time, I would say I am self taught and effectively home schooled. I learned little in school and never developed many friendships. Especially after I realized the people who were trying to befriend me only wanted my help with school work. I doubt there are many people who graduated high school with a 1.5 (minimim requirement- actually I had a 1.48 but a friend in the school administration rounded it up so I could graduate) GPA and a 1580 on their SAT, but I am one of them.

 

My point is, I wouldn't benefit from a handwriting course taken as required by the public school system. I would have ignored it. I couldn't write well then, and being a computer nerd I would have seen no point to trying.

 

When I was younger my CP affected me more because of the fact that It caused my heel to stay up and made my balance awful. The first doctor told us that as I got older I would lose the ability to walk. A second doctor told us he could do some surgery to prevent that, although I would still be limited in my mobility and have a permanent limp. I do limp, I'll give him that. But I ran in the new york marathon 3 years ago. I didn't win, but I did finish. The doctors statements drove me to do it. "Limited mobility, oh great doctor? HA!"

 

This is all a long winded lead up to something relevant, I promise.

 

So here I am, I have a disorder limiting my fine motor control, I am left handed, I can't write very well, and I am an avid lover of writing with fountain pens. I WILL IMPROVE MY HANDWRITING! They tell me I will never write well. THE HELL I WON'T!

 

I am interested in this because I want to do it. I am working on it and will succeed because I am determined to do so. I intend to throw my weight behind this project of mine because I internally feel the desire. Nobody externally could have convinced me to do this. It was a decision I made inside.

 

I took a history course in high school. I remember an extra credit exam question oh so clearly. It was an essay type. "Who won World War II? Why? How? What makes you arrive at this conclusion?" As a short answer question, obviously the answer is "The Allies". But as an essay question, it is open to debate. Winning is not an open or shut case. Then there is the philisophical concept: Can anyone win in an enterprise that involves millions of people dieing? I wrote two pages as my answer, eventually concluding that the winner of the war was infact Switzerland, since they were almost non-involved.

 

I also remember ever so clearly, the valedictorian of the class coming up to me after the class and asking me how dumb can a question get. It was clearly a short answer, there was no explaination possible. It clearly states in the book that the allies won she said, so that is obviously the answer. (I was the only person in the class to actually get the extra credit v.v) She studied diligently what was written in the book. She memorized the dates, remembered all the terms. She studied the essay question given out before the test and wrote it down based on what was in the book. And she understood none of it. She learned nothing of value. She graduated valedictorian yet couldn't understand that concept.

 

A handwriting course? It would end up like foriegn language in so many american schools. They can translate, pass the exam, and limp along in pidgeon speak of the language they take. They don't know the language, can't speak it, and have no value added to their processed brains. Handwriting is not a science, nor a discipline. It is an art, and only people with the inclination and determination to learn that art will ever benefit from being taught it. So no, teaching it in school would be worthless.

[Erik]

I think it should be taught. I'd love to learn it, since I'm currently in school. My handwriting is good enough as it is, but I'd still like classes to improve it if I could have them.

[Patrick Hand]

It is an art, and only people with the inclination and determination to learn that art will ever benefit from being taught it.

 

I have to agree with that..... in Art class we were taught calligraphy..... but I learned it because I wanted to.....

 

I think a basic standard of writting is nessicary..... (OK... spelling is something I compleatly messed up on...) but beyond writting so someone else can read it..... then we're back into Art.....

[umenohana]

I learned the hard way that by holding the pen incorrectly, one is more prone to getting hand cramps and shoulder aches after long essay tests. Also, the right posture taught during penmanship class should reduce the number of students falling asleep in class.

 

-Hana

[Jlgreer]

Studies have shown that teaching handwriting to young children creates connections within the brain that are vital to higher learning. Similar studies have been done with musical studies for children and the same holds true. At our Grammar School we teach both "keyboarding" skills and "handwriting" skills. But the emphasis is on handwriting. Why? Because when you are writing by hand you do not have spell-check and punctuation tools at your disposal. The student must understand composition and proper sentence structure as well as proper spelling in order to communicate effectively.

 

Written communication requires accuracy and clarity of thought key tools to being successful in life..I am stepping off my soapbox now...

 

What a great initial question! The exchanges in this thread are wonderful!

 

[girlieg33k]

Studies have shown that teaching handwriting to young children creates connections within the brain that are vital to higher learning. Similar studies have been done with musical studies for children and the same holds true.

I've actually noticed that the more dependent I became on computers/keyboards to "write," the more difficult it was for me to articulate my thoughts when I took pen to paper. I started to journal on the computer when I was in high school, and I believe that I missed out on half of the therapeutic benefit of journaling. I'm back to journaling in longhand, and I notice that my synapses work better when I do. Not only do I get to practice my penmanship this way, but I also benefit from the tactile joy of writing.

[Titivillus]

With apparently few schools in the US spending any significant amount of time on handwriting and penmanship, should we press for a return to the handwriting classes of the past?

In our area it never left.

 

 

K

[HDoug]

I don't know about penmanship and the school system and society and the benefit to the community and humanity etc., but I myself find satisfaction and benefit from fluency in both the keyboard and pen. So I'm thinking, why deprive the kids?

 

Doug

[playpen]

I wonder if our opinions count. I can tell you first-hand that very little of what is taught in school is of any use in the outside world. Every second of my school day is spent preparing the students for the reading test coming up in January. If our supervisor sees one shred of anything being taught that is not directly related to that test, she immediately walks into the classrooms and halts the lessons.

In my school we are lucky if a half dozen kids out of classes of more than thirty hand in their homework. If they do decide to do it and hand it in, it's such a mish mosh it can't be read. We must be VERY careful how we handle this because if we say something to upset the kids, we could be brought up on charges (real or otherwise) that could ruin our careers and families.

It amuses me how many people have a bone to pick with teachers but imagine working in a profession where your bosses (a thousand and a half of them) were born (this year at least) in 1994.

Edited November 10, 2006 by playpen