Kyle Hoang AP Lang Ms. Brown April 9, 2024 Handwriting Synthesis Handwriting has stood as a universal and timeless skill that remains upheld and timeless throughout history. Undoubtedly, handwriting instruction holds inherent significance throughout life, granting a skill individuals can utilize in daily life. Yet, as education evolves, questions emerge concerning whether valuable educational time should be reserved for practicing handwriting in schools. Although this skill holds value in the grand scheme, the handwriting instruction curriculum should not be enforced in schools because the curriculum in which penmanship is taught is outdated, valuable time during school can be allocated to other important skills, and the curriculum fails to …show more content…
These standpoints highlight the dissonance between traditional handwriting instruction and current educational skills needed in the 21st century. For example, amidst a rapidly digitizing society, students should instead be prepared for “contemporary communication... [and] the move outside our schools... is toward technology” (Source A). In an era characterized by rapid technological advancement, the change in educational demands demonstrates the evolution of skills needed, and enforcing students to cultivate an outdated skill through countless hours of practice in handwriting will not facilitate future success. Instead, educational focus should pivot toward enhancing digital literacy and preparing students to thrive in a technology-driven society. Moreover, requiring the teaching of handwriting is not only unnecessary but also counterproductive, as handwriting bears time from other essential skills taught in school. Considering a standard day of school averages eight hours, dedicating portions of this time to penmanship can be consuming and wasteful to …show more content…
For instance, teachers who instruct handwriting education, such as Deb Fitzgerald, have voiced their opinions about handwriting instruction in schools. Fitzgerald expressed a strong preference to “move on” and concentrate the little time they have in class on other subjects (Source A). Many educators share a similar feat, recognizing the importance of focusing on skills that correspond more closely with the demands of today's world and ensuring students are equipped with the skills necessary for success. Allocating time solely to focus on improving penmanship diverts precious resources and attention from students, slowing the development of other critical skills that are paramount for the future. In contrast, some advocate the development benefits of handwriting instruction in schools and emphasize the importance of building a foundational practice that improves reading, writing, and language use. To specify, supporters contend that teaching penmanship in school “activates the regions of the brain associated with thinking, short-term memory, and language” (Source
In “Writing to Learn: Writing across the Disciplines,” Anne J. Herrington finds different sources stating that writing is to be taken serious. Janet Emig says, "writing represents a unique mode of learning-not merely valuable, not merely special, but unique” (1) meaning that writing is far more essential than we ought to make it seem. Anne Herrington wants educators teaching in economics, history, chemistry or any other subject to guide their students into understanding why progressing their writing skills will be more helpful to them. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the educator; whether he/she wants their students to use writing as a way for students to adapt to different disciplines.
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).
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.
Technology is not killing our ability to write, but it is reviving it and pushing our literacy to new directions. Andrea Lunsford, from Stanford University, conducted an experiment to scrutinize college students way of writing. Her results were alarming, "I think we are in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization." Lunsford discovered that only 38% of students writing occurred within the classroom, the rest was written in their own free time. Most of our socializing now takes place online and always involves text or writing. Before the Internet, most of our communication was verbal. The only time Americans wrote was for a school assignment and if their job required writing. Otherwise most people didn't write another paragraph once they left
Fortunately, wasting time on technology is not wasting time. Using technology is vital to our everyday lives and even enhances the life we are living. Thompson refutes the report that technology is to blame for the inability of children to write by composing a story for a magazine. This story shows how children today write more often than ever because of technology. Before technology, children would only write for school, but now they write all the time.
What happened to the pen and paper quality of literacy? Traditional elements such as the pen and paper method has been changed due to the advancement of technology the quality of learning has been digitized to fit this day and age. “Just as the nature of and expectation for literacy has changed in the past century and a half, so has the nature of writing. Much of that change has been due to technological developments from pen and paper, to typewriter, to word processor to network computer, to design software capable of com...
Handwriting is essential in today’s society. Learning to handwrite helps improve motor skills, memory, and comprehension. These skills are necessary for students’ success in school and in their future. Due to technological advancements, schools deem such handwriting unnecessary. This is not practical, but it is.
The same ideology reigns true for cursive writing; it needs to be treated like a foreign language, not something glazed over with a single-use worksheet. As students age, the use of the paper versus technology is shocking, with the increase of paper assessments becoming at least twice that done on
For centuries, cursive handwriting has been considered an art. However, to a increasing number of young people the form is becoming extinct. The graceful letters of the cursive alphabet have been transcribed on innumerable love letters, acted as the method for articulating thoughts in journals and diaries, and have been scrawled across elementary school chalkboards for generations. Yet, cursive is gradually vanishing due to the accessibility to keyboards and smartphones. While the loss of the cursive alphabet may appear inconsequential, recent studies have revealed that in fact the gradual death of the fancier ABC’s instigates concerns for future generations.
In the book “The Shallows” Nicholas Carr really stress how technology is ruining many brains. He believes in the natural ways of learning, the way of learning that drives a person away from technology. What Nicholas Carr fail to realize is that technology is toughening children’s ability to gather information quickly and thoroughly. Nicholas Carr said, “The net’s interactivity gives us powerful new tools for finding information, expressing ourselves, and conversing with others. It also turns us into lab rats. Contently pressing levers to get tiny pellets of social or intellectual nourishment.” This usage of technology by children has claim to be handy in writing skills because children are able to access sites and games that can help their writing performance. Children can also access information and sites about writing that teachers can’t show them. Sites such as “Read&Write,” “iWriteWords,” and “Write About This” (Saxenal 1). “Read&Write” is an app that helps children write letters (Saxena 1). “IWriteWords” helps and teaches children ways to improve handwriting. This app has up to 70 levels that require a child to trace letters both lowercase and uppercase (Saxena 1). “Write About This” is another app that helps with teaching and practicing different writing skills. This writing app is suitable for children of all ages and this app is also geared for children to be creative with their writing style (Saxena 1). Some people
Public school students should be taught how to wirte in cursive as a required part of the cirriculum . I believe that cursive is essential to students now a days . Even though there are so many technological advances now a days , I have always written in cursive because i recieve information in class better and it sticks in my head, also cursive looks good when you perfect it , as well as cursive handwriting is great for your mind ! Being a student in highschool taking tons of notes etc , i have always found handwriting my notes for test in class was more beneficial rather than typing them. Handwriting my notes allowed me to process all of the matiereal better .
This editorial was written by the Denver post editorial board and discusses the opposing views on keeping cursive writing in U.S schools curriculums. It emphasizes cursive as a dying art form and expounds on how technology is more important than the traditions of cursive hand writing in this new day and age. It argues that cursive should be taken out of the curriculum completely and recently it has been. Cursive has been deemed irrelevant and kicked to the curb, but for this paper I will be dissecting the editorial and not this direct issue. That being said, in every argument it is important to remember three things; ethos, pathos and logos. These things give any argument strength and appeal. In this paper I will be discussing the authors of this editorials use of these wringing principles.
Handwriting is a complex motor skill requiring the integration of information from a number of perceptual, motor and cognitive processes to make sure accurate and correct handwriting production (Schneck & Amundson, 2012). Handwriting is essential for all children to participate in school and engage in independent life styles. According to Case Smith (2002), handwriting is a fundamental skill required to participate in school activities enabling students to demonstrate knowledge. Handwriting also significant as the most immediate form of communication that provides a means to project thoughts, feelings and ideas which are the important components of learning during school age. Writing is a process that involves the synthesis and integration
Have you ever thought about teaching elementary kids to write in cursive? Well stop thinking because we don’t need to know cursive! Schools should not teach cursive writing. It is so pointless now these days we have technology and you can really use technology for everything you do, cursive handwriting it not important anymore it used to be useful back in the day when everybody didn’t have technology. Everything these days are on the phone or computer. If you have bills to pay you could call and pay them or you can do it on their website. Nobody uses cursive writing everybody uses print writing.
Getting the mail was the best part of the day. The thrill of opening the mailbox door and seeing a letter with your name was both incomparable and indescribable. Writing letters made writing fun. For centuries, letter writing has been a significant form of communication- regardless of social class, age, and gender. In fact, letter writing “remains one of the most pervasive literate activities in human society” to this day (Barton and Hall 1). When looking closely at the foundations of literacy, it is impossible to ignore the influence of letter writing. Not only does writing letters influence a person’s writing, but it changes the way a person looks at writing. Writing suddenly