Penmanship is Important
By: Sydney
Do you find yourself using technology more and simply writing by hand less? In case you didn’t know, penmanship is the art or skill of writing by hand. Penmanship is a skill we have had ever since we were little. Penmanship is involved in our everyday lives, is a big part in lowered academic success, and becoming less and less important in this day and age. Therefore, penmanship needs to be considered more important because if its everyday appearance in our lives, effects on grades and this society.
Believe it or not, penmanship is within our everyday chaotic lives. At school, you need to be able to read and write. It’s simple. Some examples are, completing assignments, taking notes, and even writing tests. Another event in our daily life where penmanship is important is work. If you do not have writing skills, the chances of being hired are slim. With poor penmanship mistakes being made, it would lead to confusion and more mistakes being made. Job resumes are a perfect example. Lastly, little everyday necessities are one of the ways we use penmanship in a day. It is handy to be able to write notes, lists or even reminders. Therefore, penmanship
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New apps, shortcuts, and helpful sites have been invented in attempt to make our busy lives “simple.” Some examples are, the calendar, reminder and “notes” apps on the iphone. Secondly, schools all over the map have been going “paperless.” Basically this means more use of technology and the rare occasion of using paper. Because of this situation, students have lowered academic success because they do not have proper note taking skills, or even writing skills at all. An example is Google. It autocorrects automatically, and has many easy to use and pre made note taking sites at your fingertips. Lastly, Students have relied on technology resources for a long time, and rely on their smart devices too
Students are becoming more distracted in class because of technology resulting them to do poorly in education. In the story, “New Class(room) War: Teacher Versus Technology” by Samuel Freedman is about a teacher name Ali Nazemi that created a policy regarding no technology because the students are not paying attention anymore in class. Freedman’s states that, “Their perpetual war of attrition with defiantly inattentive students has escalated from the quaint pursuits of pigtail-pulling, spitball-lobbing and notebook-doodling to a high-tech arsenal of laptops, cellphones, Blackberries and the like”
Just spending some time in the modern-day classroom; I have observed several students on their phones. During my high school years we did not have to worry about cell phones or laptops being a constant problem. In Annie Murphy Paul’s “You’ll Never Learn!” she explains the studies of multitasking while students do their homework with the modern-day distraction of the digital age; resulting in a lower quality of learning. I agree with Paul that the digital age is becoming a problem in education, even though educators are leaning towards teaching on a digital spectrum. In this essay, I will explain how a digital age versus a non-digital age is effecting everyone involved in a higher education.
With the swarm of technology, handwriting, a vital skill, may be on the brink of extinction, despite that it is able to create a “model citizen, assimilate immigrants, and even reform juvenile delinquents” (Korper). Believe it or not: handwriting is important. However, the debate about handwriting is still questionable. Handwriting allows for effective memory retention and is an significant and unique action to develop certain regions of your brain (Grossberg). However, handwriting is also outdated and lacks the agility of the keyboard (Korper). Nonetheless, some of these positive aspects of handwriting are largely due to the ‘drill’ factor emphasized in the Palmer Method of handwriting used present day (Korper).
In The Power of Writing by Joel Swerdlow, we are presented to the importance of writing to our civilization. Throughout the years written information has emerged as a primary method of communication. Individuals use whatever is available to write to convey their message. Early forms of writing include carving symbols in stone and bone, written leaves, silk, papyrus, parchment and paper. At the present time writing is used in many settings; for example we have books, text messages, online blogs, lyrics, street signs and emails. There are no limits to written information, and most importantly it can be preserved indefinitely. Writing helps me communicate to others, my identity, creativity and imagination. Individually, I use writing to compose lyrics, write about my personal experiences and to connect with my family. In my opinion, writing is an important tool of communication in my personal and professional development, because it gives an insight of my individual ideas.
Handwriting is a means of expressing language, just like speech. However, handwriting is not taught in school as much as in previous years. In the past, handwriting was taught as a precursor to reading and spelling. Today, students of all ages are rigorously tested on their writing skills, yet they are not allowed the time it takes to develop this skill. I remember writing in a Big Chief notebook, holding a chubby pencil, trying my best to make the curves and lines of the letters just right. When I attended elementary school, the teacher devoted at least forty-five minutes to handwriting each day. Handwriting should still be taught in school because it is an essential first step to reading and expressing one’s thoughts and feelings and because of its impact on higher education.
Thomas Jefferson said it best in 1796, when he said, “Go on doing with your pen what is other times done with the sword.” This old adage has held true for hundreds of years. But what type of penmanship was Jefferson referring to? Cursive, of course.
A pencil is a form of paint brush, a blank canvas can be turned in the most beautiful and colorful masterpiece that the creator didn't even know about in the beginning. Writing is how people get their thoughts and emotions out, thoughts and emotions are not technicality, they are a basic human action. Everybody can learn about the technicalities of writing, but the way people write will be the same. Humans want original thoughts and not the same- old ideas that they can get from someone else. By writing only with the technicalities, makes the paper basic, boring, and expected. People can tell when someone got caught up in the technicalities of writing, instead of writing the way they want
Maria Konnikova states in her article “What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades” that “[I]n alexia, or impaired reading ability, some individuals who are unable to process print can still read cursive, and vice versa.” This fact proves how vital at least a few lessons on cursive writing could be. Children suffering from various learning disabilities will be more successful if they are taught more ways to succeed. For some children cursive will be a real challenge and they would much prefer to use standard writing. For others, cursive will help them remember things more
thing about me is that I hate writing anything with a pen and a paper. Most of the time
It can cause many distractions, it can be difficult to use and can take away from learning time. People are convinced that technology is an effective tool that will further learning. This can be true, but when you use tablets and different devices in class for an hour every day, the students will not be focused on schoolwork. In the article “Technology in the Classroom: Beginnings and Endings”, Mary Ann Matras suggests that, “The pencil is still the most efficient tool”.
The importance of writing can be seen everywhere. It is a necessity, without which most individuals would not be able to complete basic tasks during the day like sending letters or filling out forms (Colorado). Aside from the obvious needs in the world itself, writing grants a range of other valuable skills.
Over the past few years technology has taken on a whole new meaning. We have moved from the days of chalkboards, to whiteboards, to interactive whiteboards. Our students seem to be more computer savvy than their teachers. Home telephones are starting to become a thing of the past, and cell phones have turned into mini-computers. Technological geniuses have even tried to eliminate books by creating electronic books, for example the Kindle and Nook. It has become pretty evident that being technologically smart is a necessity in today's world.
Paper has officially been replaced with iPads. Just kidding, but there are over 1.5 million iPads that are being used in classrooms by students on a daily bases rather than using printed textbooks as main learning resources (Graduating With Technology). With recent advancements in technology, many school districts have turned the focus off traditional learning methods of using textbooks, and are now focusing on integrating the use of tablets and computers as the main means of learning for students. Technology is going to continue to advance throughout this digital age and is going to gain popularity within education, but there are questions arising of how effective technology is when used in the classroom. The opportunity of using new technology to enhance learning should be seized, but textbooks should not become extinct within the education system or become a secondary learning method due to tablets and other types of technology becoming more popular in the education system. Textbooks are reliable, they can be used by anyone, and there are enough textbooks for each student to have their own, and be able to take them home. Also, technology is impacting the way the brain receives information. Reading digital print isn't as productive for readers as printed text, and there is limited access to resources needed for tablets to be effective when used by students. While this is true there are benefits to using tablets and other forms of technology in the classroom. It is easier for teachers to have assignments emailed directly to them, or post assignments on the internet, the use of technology is required in many core classes, and textbooks are easily worn, and expensive.
Technology has had a negative impact on education by causing distractions during class lectures and assignments. The over use of technology is leading to a loss in communication skills and troubles in reading. The use of technology causes many people to have the temptation for cheating in and out of classrooms, resulting in students not wanting to study. Not every student has the capability of connecting to the internet or have contact to technology. This creates difficulties for those students without connection to the internet to complete online assignments or have accesses to their school’s resources. Also, for online courses, students have to wait for an email response in order to get help or to understand a lecture that the professor is
... all ages do not know how to write in cursive anymore. Some students may not know how to sign their name in cursive since it wont be taught anymore. One thing that many people worry about with digital learning is that students will spend too much time in front of a screen and keyboard. It is believed that these kids will have less of a social life and will be less likely to communicate through talking, but choosing to communicate through online messaging and texting. Though students have a variety of information at their finger tips, this can cause temptation for students to plagiarize. Devices such as iPads and laptops are useful learning tools, but at the same time they can be a huge source of distractions. While students should be taking notes, they could be browsing the web, updating social media sites, watching videos, playing games or other distracting things.