Short BBC clip on "Is handwriting still important?"

[umsami]

Thought some may find it interesting.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22157892

 

 

As on add on, what age do you teach typing/keyboarding? Do you prefer handwriting to be well-established or are you worried about your kids developing bad keyboarding habits so you teach early?

[shawthorne44]

I work in a technical office. I spend all day in front of a computer. Our business is computer based and half the employees are programmers. I still think handwriting is important. We still write notes and use a white board during meetings. When brilliant big boss tells me something, I have a legal pad and pen in hand to write down what he says. If I couldn't write better than a kid, I'd look like an idiot.

So, not only will my daughter learn hand-writing. She will learn attractive handwriting.

[LolaT]

I agree. I used to work as a programmer/DBA. I think it is important to learn to write and to preserve the skill of writing in cursive as well. My daughter is just now learning to type. Ironically, I don't feel I need to spend as much time or energy emphasizing computer skills. I didn't learn to type until Junior High. I learned to program after I graduated from college with a different degree. They'll learn to type, writing needs to be taught more explicitly.

[Peplophoros]

Most college exams must still be written by hand. As a professor, if I get a super-sloppy exam that takes me twice as long to read because of the handwriting, I get pretty peeved. Peeved is not what you want your professor to feel when grading your exam :glare:

[pixeldog]

I let my son (now 8th grade) start keyboarding in fifth grade, however, he still doesn't use cursive. He prefers to use script. I told him that as long as it's legible and he can make notes quickly, he can use whichever he prefers. He is now in boarding school and it varies with the instructor on whether he makes notes by hand or on his laptop in class. Some profs have definate preferences.....I'm happy that he is required to use both.

 

My 4th grade son really wants to learn keyboarding but he knows that until he's up to par with the legibility and speed of his handwriting, he will have to continue to work by hand. He loves his cursive and has been working more recently with italic. Once he's able to pick up the pace and it still looks good, we'll mix it up a bit; some handwritten work and some typed work.

 

Additionally, I thought I'd remembered that there is a brain/handwriting link....here's an article that reflects what I'd remembered: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html. It reminds me of the crawling before walking research....