As I was hanging out with my 7th grade brother yesterday, I noticed how dependent he was on his Ipad for his homework. Every piece of writing he turns in is typed which I find interesting because he has not handwritten an assignment for school in the longest time. I came across this article from the NY times which was about what a student looses when they type instead of write. Although there have been studies that prove the learning benefits of hand writing over typing, according to this article from CNN, the state of Indiana has recently dropped the district requirement to teach cursive writing and instead students must learn to type on a keyboard. 46 other states have also adopted the Common Core Standards which is a set of educational guidelines that does not require students to learn cursive. Why would American schools stop the requirement of students learning cursive even though there are proven benefits?
I think that America has become so dependent on technology because it often makes life so much easier. Sending an e-mail can take 2 min, while writing a handwritten letter could take up to twenty. To Americans, saving time even in the simplest actions is important. Even if typing something rather than handwriting only saves 20 minutes in someone's day, I still think an American would choose to type.
Although it is a scary thought I think that Jan Olsen, founder of "Handwriting Without Tears," is right. She said, "If you stop teaching handwriting in the second grade, you're going to have a generation of people who write like second graders."
No comments:
Post a Comment