Handwriting: Should it continue to be taught?

[Doctor Glocktor]

Handwriting? Yes.

Cursive? Hah, no.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

Yeah its one of those things thats just needed. I write all my notes down, it just at that point sticks with me. So ill just assume it has some brain development in it.

 

[bdcjacko]

Yes, I think it should. Granted, we don't use longhand as much as we once did, thanks to netbooks and tablet and such, but it's still important for your writing to be legible. I think what we're really talking about here is "penmanship," which is simply teaching kids how to make letters properly. Chinese calligraphy goes rather beyond that, I think, so I can see why kids find it particularly frustrating, but for Arabic letters, I can't see the harm in students taking a few minutes a day to work on it.

I apologize if someone else already pointed that out, but we use Arabic numerals, not letters. Our letter originate from Latin. The arabic alphabet looks like this: أ ب ج د ه و ز ح ط ي ك ل م ن س ع ف ص ق ر ش ت ث خ ذ ض ظ غ

 

[Susan Arendt]

Yes, I think it should. Granted, we don't use longhand as much as we once did, thanks to netbooks and tablet and such, but it's still important for your writing to be legible. I think what we're really talking about here is "penmanship," which is simply teaching kids how to make letters properly. Chinese calligraphy goes rather beyond that, I think, so I can see why kids find it particularly frustrating, but for Arabic letters, I can't see the harm in students taking a few minutes a day to work on it.

I apologize if someone else already pointed that out, but we use Arabic numerals, not letters. Our letter originate from Latin. The arabic alphabet looks like this: أ ب ج د ه و ز ح ط ي ك ل م ن س ع ف ص ق ر ش ت ث خ ذ ض ظ غ

Oh, yes, you're right, of course.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Basic handwriting, yes. But an extensive education in it isn't necessary; I, for one, have never used cursive in my handwriting, and probably never will.

 

[Merkavar]

teaching people how to write is imortant. cursive or running righting not so much in my books. so manpeople use running writting and it might as well be chinese its so messy, inconsistent etc

when i write i write each letter and its clear, legible, fast and anyone can read it.

with rnning writing you have to adjust to each ersons style to read it

and sorry about the pelling mistakes this keyboard is gi me the shits and its late.

 

[Craorach]

I'm a tech head, I have multiple computers, consoles, tablets, etc.. I very rarely, if ever, write by hand if I can get away with it.

Because my handwriting is so bad it has actively held me back in life. I literally cannot write legibly without taking a long time and printing. I can't read my own writing, let alone someone else trying too.

This is, primarily, because my school gave up trying to teach anyone who had trouble and just sat us in front of computers and recommended our parents got one too. Now, without a computer I'd have done significantly worse at school and wouldn't be where I am today, but I could also have really benefited from handwriting lessons, because there are still alot of jobs where it is needed.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Even with computers being so common, it's still a good skill to have.
Especially if you go into any sort of field that requires surveying.

 

[iLeikHip]

I was actually never taught at my school.
It was very awkward setting up my bank card...

 

[SirDoom]

It entirely depends. The ability to write legibly on a piece of paper with a pen is a vital skill that should be taught. The ability to write in a perfect 12 point Lucidia font with the same degree of precision as a machine, on the other hand, is not really that vital.

I mean sure, you handwriting should be legible, but there is something called overdoing it. Once you get the letters down and remember to dot your i's and cross your t's, you really don't need to be concerned with font or style.

As for cursive? Learn to sign your name in cursive, then stop. Hell, you really don't even need to learn to sign your name. Just learn the first letter of your name and how to make a fancy scribble after said letter, and you're good to go.

 

[aba1]

Handwriting in general, no. That is still very important. Cursive on the other hand, past learning to sign our names I don't see the point. I remember all my teachers telling me that I would use it every day for the rest of my life. How many times have I used it other than to sign my name? Probably about twice in the ten or so years since I learned it.

I always saw it as a preference I personally prefer to write in cursive I find it smoother and more fluent therfore easier.

 

[King of Wei]

It should still be taught for the sake of at least knowing how - for the few occasions it is still necessary. However handwriting skills are largely obsolete in the digital age and I wouldn't be surprised if it's fazed out altogether in a decade or two.