Importance of Handwriting - a guess this is a rant

[shawthorne44]

There is a bright, capable young man that I work with.  He is probably mid-20's and a college graduate.  I needed him to write down a complicated computer generated password for me.  He underlined the letters that were supposed to be capitalized because He Didn't Know How To Write Lower Case, so all the letters were in upper case.  I am aghast.  This isn't a nit-wit.  In fact, I've been lobbying for a position to open up a my team for him.  I have to think that this is the schools not teaching this.  Or his school at least.  

 

I am feeling a bit curmudgeonly.  

[wintermom]

My dh has a PhD in Statistics and is a University prof. Often neither he nor I can read his handwriting. Poor handwriting is not a sign of lack of intelligence or lousy elementary school teachers. Handwriting is close to a fine art. Amount of practice, interest and many other factors play a role in the quality of a person's handwriting.

 

Personally, I love reading notes written neatly in all caps. I have a couple friends who are trained in drafting and their capital letters are gorgeous!  

 

Also, on may application forms, there is a note that writing in capital letters is requested because it is a lot easier to tell the difference between letters.

 

I think you are over-reacting a little.

 

ETA: Are you certain that this particular person didn't know how to write in lower case, or just preferred upper case? With so many of the letters being identical, I'm guessing that he just prefers and/or it's become a habit.

[Bluegoat]

Wow.  That seems less than functional.  I can't imagine reading a whole page in handwritten all caps.  It used to drive me a little nuts in the army reading typed messages that way.

[Bluegoat]

My dh has a PhD in Statistics and is a University prof. Often neither he nor I can read his handwriting. Poor handwriting is not a sign of lack of intelligence or lousy elementary school teachers. Handwriting is close to a fine art. Amount of practice, interest and many other factors play a role in the quality of a person's handwriting.

 

Personally, I love reading notes written neatly in all caps. I have a couple friends who are trained in drafting and their capital letters are gorgeous! 

 

I think you are over-reacting a little.

 

I wouldn't say it was a sign of low intelligence, but as far as teaching, it seems like it must be a sign of crappy teaching either systematically or by individuals.  If no one can read what you write, and you can't either, what good is that?  I wouldn't expect everyone to be producing things worthy of an illuminated manuscript, but it really ought to be readable.

[wintermom]

I wouldn't say it was a sign of low intelligence, but as far as teaching, it seems like it must be a sign of crappy teaching either systematically or by individuals.  If no one can read what you write, and you can't either, what good is that?  I wouldn't expect everyone to be producing things worthy of an illuminated manuscript, but it really ought to be readable.

 

You'd think, eh? Somehow he survived and flourished, though. 

 

I asked my doctor once why his handwriting was so messy and he said it was good up until med school when he had to take notes so fast he had no time for neatness.

 

My mom's style of cursive is very flowing and exactly like what her teachers' taught back in her day. She can read it fine, and I learned how to read it, but most people can't. 

[wintermom]

I wouldn't say it was a sign of low intelligence, but as far as teaching, it seems like it must be a sign of crappy teaching either systematically or by individuals.  If no one can read what you write, and you can't either, what good is that?  I wouldn't expect everyone to be producing things worthy of an illuminated manuscript, but it really ought to be readable.

 

If this is really the case, then we all fail in North America. The nicest cursive I've ever seen in my life is from my neighbour's son's second grade notebook. He was educated in India. They spend a lot of time on "handwriting," and start with cursive. The next most lovely writing is Japanese done with traditional brushes. It's an art form.

[fairfarmhand]

My dh writes in all caps when he prints. It's because of drafting.

 

I went to school with a young man who did the same. In English class when the teacher insisted on capitalization, he just made the capital letters twice as large as the rest of his writing.

[Bluegoat]

If this is really the case, then we all fail in North America. The nicest cursive I've ever seen in my life is from my neighbour's son's second grade notebook. He was educated in India. They spend a lot of time on "handwriting," and start with cursive. The next most lovely writing is Japanese done with traditional brushes. It's an art form.

 

Well, there is something really weird about our educational priorities if they go to the trouble to teach something, but don't even spend enough time on it for it to be functional.  I think that there is considerable merit in doing all things we do as an art form, but it is not just an art form but a skill.  It seems teaching to a non-functional level is a waste of time, and leaves people without an important skill.  It's a sloppy way to educate.

 

 

 

 

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[FairProspects]

Sorry, but I think you are way off base here. I know several dyslexic/dysgraphics who write in all caps because they actually cannot remember how to write lowercase without reversals otherwise. This could be a symptom of an LD that you know nothing about and as long as you can understand his system, I think you should be more compassionate. It may have absolutely nothing to do with sloppy teaching and everything to do with brain processing.

[shawthorne44]

I hadn't thought of dysgraphia.    I've never known anyone who had that.  

 

What had struck me was that he said he couldn't write in lower case.  At the time I took that to mean he didn't know how.  I can totally understand someone preferring to write in capitals.   I remember drafting classes spent some time on even all-capital writing.  But, a case-sensitive password seems like when you need to be able to write lower-case.  I am trying to think back to the handwriting.  It might have been bad because the one he gave me didn't work.   But the writing sample was so small I can't be sure.  

 

I still want him on my team.  

[MomatHWTK]

A dear friend of mine has an adult child with dysgraphia.

[vonfirmath]

My dh writes in all caps when he prints. It's because of drafting.

 

I went to school with a young man who did the same. In English class when the teacher insisted on capitalization, he just made the capital letters twice as large as the rest of his writing.

 

This is my dad. When he writes by hand, he prints -- and in all caps.

 

Anymore, he does EVERYTHING typewritten. He knows how to write otherwise. But it is not legible.

 

My dad was also a drafter at one point. had a draft table growing up, etc. I do wonder if it related.

[forty-two]

My dh writes in all caps when he prints. It's because of drafting.

 

I went to school with a young man who did the same. In English class when the teacher insisted on capitalization, he just made the capital letters twice as large as the rest of his writing.

 

I wrote that way sometimes in high school, because it looked a lot neater than my cursive, and my teachers warned me not to do that on the state tests, because the graders would count me off for not capitalizing "properly".

[mathmarm]

There is a bright, capable young man that I work with.  He is probably mid-20's and a college graduate.  I needed him to write down a complicated computer generated password for me.  He underlined the letters that were supposed to be capitalized because He Didn't Know How To Write Lower Case, so all the letters were in upper case.  I am aghast.  This isn't a nit-wit.  In fact, I've been lobbying for a position to open up a my team for him.  I have to think that this is the schools not teaching this.  Or his school at least.  

 

I am feeling a bit curmudgeonly.  

While I understand that there might be a perfectly good reason that he writes this way, it would also make my eyes twitch.

[AndyJoy]

I had a 7th grade English student who once turned in an essay test with no capitalization (all lowercase). She claimed to not know her capital letters, so I very neatly wrote out the alphabet for her in both capital and lc and told her to go fix her test. I very sweetly told her to keep that paper in her binder for reference. She never tried that again ;)

 

My mom taught high school courses to two brothers (9 years apart) who wrote in all capitals, but they used larger capitals for the letters that should have been capitalized. Their mom was even an English teacher at our school. They were both quite bright and stubborn and after a while of trying to correct this the teachers decided it wasn't a hill to die on as it was perfectly legible. They used to claim they couldn't remember the lowercase letters too and I've always wondered if there was some truth to that. I was curious how they made it through elementary school written work because I've never seen that allowed in elementary.

[OneStepAtATime]

I hadn't thought of dysgraphia.    I've never known anyone who had that.  

 

What had struck me was that he said he couldn't write in lower case.  At the time I took that to mean he didn't know how.  I can totally understand someone preferring to write in capitals.   I remember drafting classes spent some time on even all-capital writing.  But, a case-sensitive password seems like when you need to be able to write lower-case.  I am trying to think back to the handwriting.  It might have been bad because the one he gave me didn't work.   But the writing sample was so small I can't be sure.  

 

I still want him on my team.  

FWIW, dysgraphia takes many forms.  Dysgraphia does not automatically mean illegible handwriting.  

 

My nephew has dysgraphia and his handwriting in ANY form is virtually illegible.  He is now in college and has a 4.0 GPA.  He types everything.  When he has to hand write, he does all caps so there is at least a possibility that others can read it.   Lower case letters are completely illegible.  Like you can't even tell they are letters.  All the targeted practice in the world has not helped his handwriting.

 

On the flip side, though, my son has dysgraphia, too.  When he writes very slowly, on lined paper, with guidelines to show him the heights of the letters, his print is way better than mine.  In fact, when he concentrates, going slowly, it is beautiful.  If he has to write quickly, or on blank paper, or paper with very narrow lines, his handwriting is horribly sloppy, sometimes illegible and definitely all sizes and spacing.  Practice has helped...but it only gets him so far.

[Mama Geek]

My dh knows how to write but it is hard to read.  He doesn't do much of anything without a computer other than sign his name.