Comments on: Handwriting Is History

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 06:08:18 +0000

Thanks for your article. I have serious problems handwriting and I've avoided it for so long that I've completely forgotten how to do it. I also hold my pen/pencil in a different way then other people do. I can't write or print at all if I hold my pen/pencil the 'normal' way. I learned to type early on and my printing is very neat. I'm not sure what it is with handwriting that makes it so difficult for me.

I have recollections of so many Nazi english teachers from a few of the comments here. Newsflash — Boys and left handers are generally going to handwrite poorly. Dokcing them marks and endlessly harrasing them only make their lives a living hell. They don't learn anything. They CAN'T handwrite better.

By: James Fort

James Fort — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:06:00 +0000

Txtin bral myth wuld b fusure, a?

By: Delia Turner

Delia Turner — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:00:27 +0000

I’m of several minds about this. I was just sitting in a meeting about handwriting–I teach sixth grade boys, and many of them have horrible handwriting and write much more fluently on a computer. But there are still many situations in which it is handy to make notes, and I suspect that the keyboard will go away, but handwriting my linger. I just bought an iPad, for instance–with a touch screen, do you really need a keyboard-mimicking graphic on your screen?

I write a great deal on the computer, but I also carry a fountain pen and a handwritten journal because there are times when being able to write private marks on a private piece of paper is very handy.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:25:39 +0000

All your points are valid, yes, and I agree that rigid handwriting is quite daunting for a child just learning to write. Perhaps the problem is with the educational system’s mentality and not children’s inability to master it.
I, for one, don’t handwrite in any “correct” way; in fact I employ a sort of bastardized half printing, half cursive script, but never in my life would I give it up for typing. My creative brain shuts down when I stare at a computer screen and type, and I find it very hard to come up with the words I could. When writing in my notebook, the time it takes me to finish writing a word is the time I have to consolidate and synthesize my next ones. That time, small as it may be, is invaluable. You cite as your example a child wanting to get his ideas out — but so what? Not all ideas should be set to permanent paper, that’s what editing is for. So speed is not in fact a necessary result of writing. I write stories entirely by hand, then type them out and edit. The tactile quality of writing and the calming feel of forming letters out can never be replaced by the staccato clacking of a keyboard; in fact I would argue that thought is better stimulated by the flow of pen on paper than by up and down motions, which cut off my thoughts before they’re started. That’s just my feeling, though.

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:43:59 +0000

I agree with this study. Being left handed

By: John Dirry

John Dirry — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:43:58 +0000

I note almost anything with my keyboard. In my work

By: Bill Webb

Bill Webb — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:43:58 +0000

I learned to type when I was 12. Prior to that

By: Mary Strebel

Mary Strebel — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:43:58 +0000

I adamantly agree that writing taps into some part of our being that typing does not. When I was writing a journal entry recently

By: Marjorie Preston

Marjorie Preston — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:31:13 +0000

As an artist and art teacher, I’ve always believed I can draw because I was taught the Palmer method (yes, by nuns!), and spent hours drawing ovals in preparation for forming letters. All drawing comes down to ovals, and I really think there’s a connection. So please don’t dismiss the importance of cursive writing. It’s a beautiful thing.

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:41:13 +0000

Dear Anne,Thanks so much for your thoughtful piece about the place of handwriting today. The volume of feedback is a sure sign that you’re on to something. I have posted my fuller thoughts at my blog, The Book Report, here:http://piperlab.mcgill.ca/TheBookReport/?p=268But as I write there:Watching my son learn to write letters is a fascinating experience. The thought of having him not learn this seems profoundly troubling, as the articles’ many readers have attested. But this worry seems, I think, to have less to do with my own nostalgia for the handwritten letter. Rather, it stems from concerns having to do with a missing piece of our mental puzzle. My son is learning to draw while he learns to write and he is learning to read while he learns to write, and all those aspects are bound together in his brain. The thought of disassociating them seems to disempower some of his cognitive and creative potential — not to mention having one less tool at his disposal to convey his future self to another.But perhaps most importantly, in learning to write with his hand he is learning to make those letters, just like he is learning to make the figures he draws. There is a craftmanship to letter writing (and drawing) that I do not wish to lose. Unlike typewritten letters, handwritten letters are constructed; it is this learning of construction that marks out the single most important aspect of handwriting to my way of thinking.Who would want to lose that as part of the saga of human creativity? Surely it is worth the effort.

By: david duboie

david duboie — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:56:49 +0000

A newer method of teaching penmanship was developed in the mid-1970′s by Donald Neal Thurber, called D’Nealian style. It uses slanted letters to teach printing, in order for children to transition more easily to cursive writing. This has also become a popular method taught in U.S. schools.Regards – Car Leasing

By: Bonnie Clancy

Bonnie Clancy — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:04:07 +0000

keyboarding may be faster and preferable for some writing, but my email box shows that it is TOO fast for some peoples brains. If they would sit down and write out the stuff they send, they might think twice. I teach handwriting in public school and think it is a valuable tool. You may someday be in a situation where you cant text.Also some letters should be handwritten, such as get well, thank you and sympathy messages. An email or even worse a text, says I’m in too much of a hurry to bother.

By: c r

c r — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:30:55 +0000

Handwriting is not natural, the author writes. True, but neither is reading, or using cutlery, or wiping your behind after conducting your business for that matter, all of which are still necessary to counting yourself as part of civilization. Early typing was still a careful exercise, you had to mind your self to avoid errors. Now everyone can mash the keyboard and fire off their thoughts in an instant. This often entails little reflection. Even with the most advanced spell checkers, dictionaries and the like available, people still manage to make awful spelling and grammar errors. I’ve noticed this has crept into professional communication, such as emails from my superiors. I think we’ve made the mistake of assuming that because the mode of delivery is nearly instantaneous, that we need to try to match that speed in our composition too. There is a reason for the rigid practice of standardized letter making taught in school, which is so that we can understand each other. Maybe some kids will have trouble, but schools boards should be prepared to offer individualized learning for those kids, not just throw the whole thing out the window. The so called rigid and repetitive style of schooling produced people like my Grandfather, who could write beautifully, do more complex multiplication, sums and long division in his head and had a vocabulary that would shame most college grads today. This extends way beyond handwriting to spelling, grammar and vocabulary. We’ve gone from an English language with many words that have a specific meaning, allowing very complex, nuanced description. Now every idiot with a built in thesaurus can right-click and substitute a synonym, assuming that all words offered up are interchangable regardless of context or meaning.

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:44:29 +0000

John McLean Harrington penned 277 newspapers during 1858 and 1869, all by hand. He handwrote these newspapers in rural North Carolina in Harnett County, 30 miles south of Raleigh, and he used the fluid Spencerian method. The big question is why he handwrote his newspapers and how did he manage to copy each one up to 100 times. Today he takes a writer about 60 minutes to handcopy four pages of his work.

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:42:55 +0000

Whether you print or write in cursive, or use some personalized combination of the two, using your hands to physically form words and sentences creates a visceral learning pathway to your brain that rapid typing just can’t emulate. Any accomplished student (not those who use bribery and threats to get top marks) knows that LISTENING to your professors and teachers, READING your texts and notebooks and WRITING (not typing) and rewriting your notes are the three main pathways to truly learning a subject. Sure we can communicate faster using our computer keyboards, but writing allows us to slow down, contemplate and learn.