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[nomad soul]

Nation of adults who will write like children?
By Katia Hetter, Special to CNN | August 10, 2011
(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/10/handwriting.horror/index.html)

(CNN) -- A glance at (American) teen stars Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber's letters to their younger selves makes one thing clear: their handwriting is terrible. In the letters, part of the Habbo Celebrity "Advice to My Teenage Self" book, the content is messy and their cursive signatures are barely legible. The handwriting of today's teen stars "is so atrocious, it's talked about and recognized through the industry," says Justin King, a Toronto-based paparazzi for Flynet Pictures and independent autograph seller. "With stars ages 30 and above, they generally have a much more full, legible signature. When you deal with these new people like (teen actress) Elle Fanning, you're lucky if you get an E and F and a heart for her signature."

It's just not the teen stars who can't write properly. Most states don't require children to learn cursive writing anymore. Some 46 states have adopted the Common Core Standards, a set of educational guidelines that do not require cursive writing as part of a school's curriculum. The state of Indiana recently announced it would drop a district requirement to teach cursive writing as of this fall. Instead, students must be able to type on keyboards.

Technology has pushed cursive writing off the agenda of many school systems across the country. As a result, Handwriting Without Tears founder Jan Olsen sees more sloppy handwriting in schools today. "If you stop teaching handwriting in the second grade, you're going to have a generation of people who write like second graders," says Olsen, whose company teaches a clean and simple style of cursive that avoids the fancy curls and swirls of old-fashioned script.

Are we becoming a country of adults who write like children? Will we be able to understand the power of John Hancock's actual signature on the Declaration of Independence if we can't read the original document? How can we feel the magic of Jane Austen's earliest, unpublished, handwritten manuscript, "The Watsons," which recently sold for $1.6 million at auction? Will younger generations not know the powerful emotions that come from receiving a handwritten love letter that describes all the love someone else feels for you? What about the fear and courage that comes from writing your first love letter that contains all the love you feel for someone else?

"Handwritten documents convey important cultural information about authors," says Davis Schneiderman, novelist and chair of the English Department at Lake Forest College. "These documents also suggest an authenticity that electronically produced documents do not. The Declaration is an index of its time as well as clue to the physicality of its signers. Imagine 'John Hancock' typed in an 18-point Times New Roman font. The proud fury behind his oversized signature would be lost."

Retired schoolteacher Carol Collin also mourns the loss of cursive in children's lives. "They miss the sense of pride they get when they can write neatly and elegantly in cursive instead of only knowing manuscript (print)," says Collin, who taught for 40 years in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District in California and still substitute teaches. "There are many times in school and as an adult where being able to write elegantly is an advantage. Prospective employers will be impressed by clear, readable, attractive writing." Granted, most workplaces are more likely to be dominated by computers and technology than pens and pencils and handwritten thank you notes. Its makes sense that computers are the go-to resource for researching and writing papers and other homework assignments. And some writing experts aren't worried about children not being able to read the original Declaration of Independence or sign their names in cursive. Historical documents can be reprinted in print form and children can be taught to sign their names in cursive for legal documents and birthday cards.

Yet teens who can't write legibly -- multimillionaire teen celebrities aside -- do suffer. Even though many children use computers to write papers at home, most writing done within the school walls is still done by hand. (The country's ongoing economic problems won't likely add many computers to our nation's public school classrooms in the next few years.) "Without it [cursive handwriting] you lose the sense of having your thought process through your hand movements to create your language and thoughts to someone else," says Michael Sull, a master penman in Spencerian script; past president of the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting; and author of four books on handwriting including, "American Cursive Handwriting," which was released last month. "There is a great loss in the progress that could be made with children fostering their motor skill development, literacy training and concepts of communication."

Sloppiness makes the reader think the writer's ideas aren't any good, studies show. "If you have sloppy handwriting, people make (negative) judgments about the quality of your ideas," says Steven Graham, professor of education at Vanderbilt University. And poor handwriting slows down the writer. If you write slowly, your hand may not be able to keep up with your mind's attempt to have a thought, form it into a sentence and remember it long enough to write it down. "Until you can do this skill quickly and without thinking, it will interfere with your output," says Graham. "You better learn to write."

[johnslat]

Dear nomad soul,

Interesting article - so, is the handwriting on the wall for penman (or penwoman) ship - so to speak?

It's tempting to agree, but geezer that I am, I've been hearing about the "death of handwriting" for as long as I've heard about "the death of the novel."

I suspect the reports of both deaths are very premature:

"That being said, my guess is that proclamations the death of fluent handwriting are a generational refrain. As part of the licensing process to become an elementary school teacher in Ohio in the 1950's, Aunt Jody and other aspiring elementary school teachers took a required penmanship course. Teachers-to-be received weekly assignments by mail from the Zaner-Bloser company (originally the Zanerian College of Penmanship established in Columbus, Ohio in 1888). The teachers-to-be completed the assignments and then returned them to Zaner-Bloser for feedback and grading. Conformity to the standard style (sample immediately above) was the basis on which teachers-to-be were graded. Folks trained under that system no doubt lamented the inability of my generation to write in "proper" cursive.

It's true that my handwriting doesn't hold a candle to Aunt Jody's, but it's not that horrible either. And my students' handwriting is quite comprehensible. So, I won't join the "death of handwriting" chorus but I will praise Aunt Jody's neat script all the same."

http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2011/05/my-aunt-jody-has-the-neatest-and-most-proper-handwriting-of-anyone-i-know-as-a-very-young-child-receiving-a-letter-from-my.html

Regards,
John

[dean_a_jones]

[Sashadroogie]

Having citizens who are totally dependent on computers and electronic devices for reading and writing is an excellent form of social control. Every thing can be tracked and monitored, and, if needed, switched off. Perfect! My national security agencies love it!