Word processing kills the art of cursive
Commentary
Joseph Roman Flis
Issue date: 9/24/09 Section: Editorial
We all are now so used to our word processors that typing has become one of the most important skills of modern times.
With the stroke of a key, we can now instantly communicate messages across the world. But as with many things, the birth of the new begins to lead to the death of the old, and this is becoming even more evident with the hand-written word.
I ran across an article the other day by Tom Breen of the Associated Press that really got me thinking about this.
According to the article, teaching the skills of handwriting in grade school is giving way more and more each year to computer and typing skills, leading to a decline in the "lost art" of students learning the smooth loops and flowing letters of cursive writing.
I am an older graduate student at almost 30 years old, so I can remember back when all schoolwork and papers I handed in were still done by hand.
I remember spending hours in elementary school practicing penmanship on wide ruled paper with the dotted line halfway between the lines.
Even when things were typed, I remember having to scrap a whole page because I messed something up at the end, or using globs of Wite-Out and typing over the discolored stain.
The ironic thing about this however, for some reason I can't explain, is that I went back to printing when I started getting used to computers.
Even when I consciously try to write things out in cursive, it eventually ends up being a mixture of cursive and print.
Could this be related to the decline in the need for penmanship in the modern day?
Now don't get me wrong, there will always be a need for knowing how to write out words by hand, but it is becoming less and less important.
Writing down notes to oneself, filling out paperwork or filling out greeting cards by hand come to mind as prime examples. But even with those examples people can type notes to themselves on their cell phones or laptops, and fill out paperwork or send e-cards over the Internet.
With the stroke of a key, we can now instantly communicate messages across the world. But as with many things, the birth of the new begins to lead to the death of the old, and this is becoming even more evident with the hand-written word.
I ran across an article the other day by Tom Breen of the Associated Press that really got me thinking about this.
According to the article, teaching the skills of handwriting in grade school is giving way more and more each year to computer and typing skills, leading to a decline in the "lost art" of students learning the smooth loops and flowing letters of cursive writing.
I am an older graduate student at almost 30 years old, so I can remember back when all schoolwork and papers I handed in were still done by hand.
I remember spending hours in elementary school practicing penmanship on wide ruled paper with the dotted line halfway between the lines.
Even when things were typed, I remember having to scrap a whole page because I messed something up at the end, or using globs of Wite-Out and typing over the discolored stain.
The ironic thing about this however, for some reason I can't explain, is that I went back to printing when I started getting used to computers.
Even when I consciously try to write things out in cursive, it eventually ends up being a mixture of cursive and print.
Could this be related to the decline in the need for penmanship in the modern day?
Now don't get me wrong, there will always be a need for knowing how to write out words by hand, but it is becoming less and less important.
Writing down notes to oneself, filling out paperwork or filling out greeting cards by hand come to mind as prime examples. But even with those examples people can type notes to themselves on their cell phones or laptops, and fill out paperwork or send e-cards over the Internet.
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