Celebrating National Handwriting Day!
Since more people are communicating electronically instead of writing and communicating by hand, penmanship has fallen in the trenches. The pride taken in one’s penmanship is not as detail-oriented as it was before the popularity of computers and electronic keyboard devices.
It is amazing that there is a continuing controversy about the role of handwriting lessons in schools. A great number of teachers support teaching children using keyboards, while other teachers feel that handwriting (particularly cursive handwriting) will have a better impact on a child’s ability to read and write. How can we expect kids to understand how to read cursive writing, if they are not taught how to write and understand the aesthetics of it?
Personally, I am an advocate for good, legible handwriting although I use my keyboards a lot as an adult. Throughout elementary school, writing was a very instrumental piece of our learning process and communications. I feel that it should be taught in schools like it once was, because in reality it seems to be a dying art. We always seem to be in a rush when writing and it clearly shows that when others try to read it.
I witness everyday evidence of handwriting that many of my schoolteachers would cringe at. My mother used to call it “chicken-scratch” and while growing up, she was adamant about all of her children learning to write legibly and to develop good writing habits. Good handwriting promotes an organized approach to communication and creativity. Practice good handwriting habits and you just may find that it opens a core of creative opportunity that you never imagined.
