Folks typically credit score my good handwriting to my Catholic faculty training—like a nun with a ruler and a style for corporal punishment perfected my penmanship. However that’s not why. It’s due to my mother. An engineer by commerce, she will be able to execute the type of good block letters that solely include years of engaged on a drafting board. As a child, I labored to imitate her print in addition to her extremely ornate cursive. I don’t observe these expertise almost sufficient as an grownup, although: As a reporter, velocity trumps magnificence with regards to taking notes. Now, with a lot of my job being accomplished on a keyboard, I fear even that scrawl is in danger.
Mine just isn’t an remoted devolution. Dad and mom, educators, and fellow penmanship advocates have been lamenting the tip of handwriting for years. E mail started edging out playing cards and letters a long time in the past. Then smartphones hit the market, and our reliance on paper notes, wall calendars, and Put up-it reminders dwindled. In US public faculties, the main focus has shifted from handwriting to typing, as an increasing number of youngsters are uncovered to iPads and computer systems in tandem with pencils. And previously few years, AI has made it in order that people barely have to suppose, not to mention jot one thing down. Now greater than ever, it may appear as if handwriting is doomed.
It’s not.
Whereas the handwringing and feelings are at an all-time excessive, the case for handwriting is stronger than ever, too. Certain, among the attachment is nostalgia. Within the US, there’s even a bizarre sense that figuring out cursive is a few kind of civic responsibility for Individuals. All of these arguments for handwriting overlook one thing: There are actual advantages to studying to carry a pen in your hand and use it.
US public faculties nonetheless require that children be taught handwriting, so it’s not but a misplaced artwork, however there’s some proof that digital natives are much less “prepared” for writing now than college students previously, says Karen Ray, a lecturer in occupational remedy on the College of Newcastle in Australia. In 2021, Ray coauthored a research analyzing whether or not youngsters who grew up with gadgets possessed the identical high-quality motor expertise as youngsters who didn’t. Whereas these college students met the anticipated efficiency ranges on handbook dexterity checks, their general motor proficiency was decrease than earlier norms. Finally, the researchers hypothesized, time spent holding gadgets fairly than pencils could be impacting whether or not youngsters had all of the motor expertise they wanted to study handwriting once they entered kindergarten.
But when youngsters at all times have entry to gadgets, does it actually matter whether or not they can write with their palms? Sure and no. If the previous few years of digital nomad work and vibe coding have taught us something it’s that, professionally, handwriting might not be all that obligatory in loads of fields. The issue is that studying handwriting could be essential to study all the things else. “We don’t but know what we’re dropping when it comes to literacy acquisition by de-emphasizing handwriting fluency,” Ray says.
Among the many half-dozen specialists I spoke to for this piece, there have been variations in opinion on whether or not ethical panics over writing instruction have been warranted. For instance, in lots of states lawmakers have handed laws to guarantee youngsters study cursive in US public faculties. Some specialists assist this, however many don’t suppose studying cursive, particularly, is all that necessary. However almost all agree that figuring out the best way to write has cognitive advantages. It helps college students study to learn, and likelihood is if they’ve to consider one thing lengthy sufficient to jot down it down, they’ll keep in mind it extra completely than if it’s typed.
“Handwriting itself actually does matter,” says Robert Wiley, a psychology professor on the College of North Carolina at Greensboro whose analysis focuses on how the mind processes written language. “Not in an absolute sense; folks aren’t going to be illiterate. However will some youngsters have a more durable time studying as a result of they’re lacking that observe? Sure.”
