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Post #81
Handwriting is still needed. Since we still write up reports. Unless you go to a online school. Although, cursive is no longer needed nor is it really used by anyone. Most people cannot even read cursive. It is not practical as writing in print.
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I feel hand writing notes helps me retain information. I assume it's the same for a lot of people born before 2000.
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I find cursive quite handy when you need to write thinks up if time is a consideration, for a recent two-hour test at school I was able to get nine pages of writing done thanks to cursive, and the writing was still legible. I think it's a matter of people not bothering to sharpen their skill with cursive, rather than cursive being un-readable in general.
Heh, now I know what conservatives feel like when their "old ways" are threatened by more progressive ones. I'm actually scared in regard to the number of people in this thread who want to see hand writing totally abolished.
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Basic writing yes, cursive and other artsy forms of writing are completely unnecessary. Sure they look nice, but it's completely aesthetic and often hard to read.
There's a hejibits comic string about this topic and it sums it up perfectly but i don't have it on hand, shouldn't be hard to find though
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This pretty much sums up my opinion.
I only use handwriting when I have to sign something. For everything else I use a computer or my phone.
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No, only signatures.
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I Have a mild case of dysgraphia (fucked up hand eye co-ordination pertaining to fine movements)
The school I was In divided it's maths based and literacy based subjects as separate areas and thus had different "sets" which were classes depending on how advanced a student was, 1 being highest 4 being lowest.
Now In the maths and science set I was 2, I was one of the better students in that set, I was pretty good at maths. However for the English set I was 4, i had to go to "support classes" because of this.
This was all when I had to handwrite everything, and the end result looked like someone had thrown blue spaghetti at the paper.
Then they let me use a laptop in class, and suddenly I got promoted in both sets when it turned out my work was really good.
I think that if they were to do away with handwriting in the next few generations, nothing much would change for better or worse.
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I use it from time to time because of my job. Otherwise I wouldn't write anything with my hand anymore.
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I think saying you don't need to know how to write because you can use a keyboard is like saying you don't need to know how to math because you can use a calculator
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I believe that people should know how to write, but writing with amazing neat-ness is not required. Having said that, I would be biased because my handwriting is ugly as shit.
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Maths and science are probably two key areas where it's infinitely more handy to be able to write than use like a laptop if you're taking notes in class for example. Especially if there are things like diagrams or graphs that are displayed that it's handy to copy down for reference to later on.
I'm currently leaning over a calculator, some pens, and a dozen sheets of paper to type this because I'm sick and fucking tired of trying to use the god damned computer to do science reports. I can use a calculator and write down my answers five times more quickly than I can open wolfram alpha, type it all in, wait for it to load, and then copy it down.
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Even though our mediums don't have as much permanence as the Mesopotamian's, it's still a good thing to note that the reason we know they started using a written language is because we can read it from their preserved clay tablets.
Cursive isn't made to be fancy, it's made to be fast. Those loops and twists are turning words into single strokes, as well as not allowing ink to splatter from your fountain pen/quill.
With children, writing by hand is one of the main methods by which their develop their fine motor skills, and they are made to write every day to continue bolstering this skill-set, what in writing's place, could be used to develop fine motor skills?
You who complain of illegibility or hand pains just haven't learned how to write properly, it's hardly your fault you were a child, but you are in the minority and saying that everyone should just stop handwriting because you had a good experience with a computer is ridiculous.
Smart phones are useful, yes you can take notes on them, but they have nothing on being able to multi-task with tangible objects; eg. a notepad and a calculator side-by-side for Maths, or writing information onto an already printed piece of paper, being able to switch between writing and drawing and Maths equations without any hindrance.
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Cursive writing ruined my handwriting but it also helped me right faster which helps when taking notes
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I really wonder why so many people bitch about writing in cursive, that's the only writing style we learn in school in germany, and i dunno how people can write as fast as me without even joining the letters :S
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I'm not a very good writer but compared to the good non cursive writers,I have like a 4-6 second time advantage in writing compared to them
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It's good for filling in forms, that's about it. I've not hand written anything for years really, apart from cards, forms and notes to myself/others.
The way I see it, hand writing things is only good for people who enjoy it. For example my girlfriend finds hand writing to be better for inspiration, she would rather hand write something then once she's finished drafting type it up if necessary. I can see exactly why, although I'm the opposite.
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I feel you there. We still need handwriting. Although I cant write legibly as it is.
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Hence hand writing is still necessary. If you couldn't write, you would not have been able to jot down notes, write out forms etc
There's only so much online integration that can be expected but even if everyone was connected to the internet 24/7 (what a horrible thought) and you never had to write anything, it's important to be able to write anyway. What if the mobile network goes down, or there's a powercut, or you lose your digital input device?
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I actually know that this is going to happen to me; my writing position is actually so bad that during an English exam for two hours, I got a blister on my finger because I was going as fast as I could without stopping.
Plus the internal hand pain is a real bitch, but no teacher or examiner is going to care shit if your hand locks up, so you may as well keep going.
Here's an example of my writing position and my awful handwriting:
As you can see, by index finger has the last joint bent really far back and the pen rests on top of my ring finger's last joint. My middle finger's last joint will also bend back really far like my index.
They don't teach you how to hold a pen correctly last time I checked, so all I end up with is this, and it's impossible to write with any stability in any other positioning because I've been doing this since forever.
My handwriting is also so bad that in exams I'm cleared to use a laptop because examiners are finding it hard to read. It's difficult to read my handwriting in the picture above, imagine that, in a massive paragraph 3 quarters of an A4 page, and I'm writing it quicker, so it's more scrawly and more dense.
Thankfully when my next exam comes around I'll be able to get far better marks, it can literally mean the difference between a B and a high A, purely on handwriting, as seen in my GCSE law exam. The result was a B, they sent it back and the result went up a whole 10 marks to an A, probably because they couldn't read my handwriting.
I think that using a laptop is a little unfair however, because I can type faster on a keyboard than I can write, and I'm a really fast writer.
I would say that writing it up on a computer would be easier, but as you are writing you do have less room for something we call typos, but your handwriting could make it even worse.
Computers are expensive to go writing on though, and pen and paper is always a cheaper alternative, at least in the short term, plus, if we rid the world of writing utensils how are we going to do fun shit like this and annoy teachers:
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I only handwrite notes. I don't think total reliance on technology is a good thing though.
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it also made me write my numbers in cursive so they're all joined up and i keep failing assignments because of this
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Handwriting reflects a person's personality, and one can tell what type of person or mood they were in just by looking at one's writing. For example, a person with miniscule handwriting may be very stressed, or a person who rights slanted to one side may always be in a rush. Handwriting gives a piece of writing a special unique flavor that monotone computer typing can't compete with. I agree that it may be more efficient to type, and it is also faster, but hand writing can be done anywhere as long as you have a paper and pencil for quick notes or things you need to remember. Both should be used to equal extents.
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More Schools should embrace allowing students to type. People who write slow and/or have poor handwriting (such as myself) do much better when typing. Neither should be phased out or enforced. They should both be an option for the individual to choose.
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Handwriting representing someone's personality has never really been proven, aside from the obvious that it is not as neat as you write faster.
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What about equations and problem solving? In engineering, it's pretty normal to take a couple hand written pages of of formulas and work to solve a decent problem. Not to mention note taking. All my classes are mathematics oriented. I'm not going to dick around with some formula editor while the prof is writing equations out. It just doesn't work well.
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I agree. For maths and math-based sciences, its a whole lot easier to use handwriting, since have a lot more freedom. I tried taking notes in chemistry only using a keyboard, its just far too slow.
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Yes, it is necessary. Computer Word Processing/Text Editing is AWESOME, but I'm pretty sure that the person who wrote their job application in good handwriting has the upper-hand against the person who didn't - It just looks lazy. Also, writing by hand looks more personal while typing just looks robotic and generic.
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Ideally digital tablets would be one of the better solutions. All the benifits of it being digital (Saves paper / trees, easilly stored and transfered via email, changes and edits area really easy and simple to make. and you'd still know how to write with a pen and paper if tech failed us for w/e reason)
I won't lie, i'll pick typing over pen and paper all the time. But i'd never say writing by hand is useless.
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I think as long as you can write in a way people can understand, there's no point in "perfecting it".
Being in the digital age and all, unless your particular occupation requires a lot of hand writing, most people don't use it all that much.
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They made me learn cursive in 1st grade (private school). They drilled it deep deep deep into my head every day. They told me that in second grade the teachers wouldn't accept any work unless it was done in cursive.
I left the hellish school, went to 2nd grade in public school, did everything in cursive, and my teacher was like "uh... wat?" and I was like "WOAH I DONT HAVE TO USE THIS ANNOYING FUCKING FORMAT?! NO WAY"
never used it again. fuck handwriting.
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I find handwriting a better way to get my thoughts down, seeing the words flow in front of me instead of block letters on a computer help my trail of thought. Also on paper, when putting ideas down I find it far easier to connect them, and bring them together. I think its more personal. For example, if I got a thank you letter or a loved up note that was typed on computer I would be like " Oh, that's nice, cheers man!", if it was handwritten however I would be like " Wow, that extra bit of effort means a lot, what a legend". Little details.
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Its so irregular that i actually write something by hand nowadays that even writing an address makes my hand hurt for like an hour.
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I know what you mean, sometimes I'll start writing and it'll just be a mess. My eleven year old sister has got neater handwriting than me. Imagine going back to school and having to write all day D: We've become adapted to something far easier. Lazy I suppose, but as long as I don't suddenly forget how to write with a pen then I'm fine with that! As I said earlier, I always hand write something if I want to add a personnel touch.
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Yes, because pen and paper never runs out of batteries.
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The day that we stop teaching children how to write without a keyboard is the day I am 100% convinced humanity has become retarded.
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As in Florida Virtual School? I've been with them for 3 years and I haven't ever had to do that
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imo, timed things like exams should use something simple like an electronic typewriter (a really basic computer with no possible way to access the internet during an exam) at least as an option. So many students (including me) can type dozens of times faster than they can write.
also handwriting is going to continue to be a useful skill for at least a couple more decades
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If I have to write, I prefer cursive to print any day. Its faster, fancier, and people compliment me on it all the time. If I have the choice though, typing at 90-100 WPM just blows writing out of the water. (except for math/science)
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It's needed to do most drawings. I like art, so yeah I think it's still needed. As for actual handwriting, yes for right now. However once the digital age progresses enough it will cease being important. However that is a long way off.
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When you never did any practice at school and you have such shitty handwriting as mine I feel it's pretty damn needed.
