Friday, July 1, 2011

Handwritten

Yesterday the state of Indiana joined 40 other states when it said it was no longer mandatory to teach handwriting in schools.

I take the bus to work each day and I see the print in the notebooks of University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State College students. They all look as if a 5 year old was the one to take their notes. Everything is printed and ill-spaced. It is embarrassing.

Japanese students must learn hiragana and katakana (over 40 characters) plus kanji (2,000 characters) as well as our alphabet (26 letters) and how to form all these on paper and we can't even teach something as simple as handwriting? Studies have proven that handwriting helps people learn and retain information(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html), yet states and even many parents are saying handwriting is a waste of time.

Are Americans really this stupid?

Yesterday when WKRC-TV Channel 12 in Cincinnati broadcast the news about the decision in Indiana they took a viewer poll and the results showed over 90% of viewers were against the idea of eliminating handwriting from schools. What I want to know is if we don't teach 1st graders this, what are we teaching them in its stead? Indiana claims it is typing. Typing has been shown not to help in memory retention or learning, unlike handwriting. So are we helping or hurting our children? I know geography has largely been eliminated already. Is school really just another baby-sitting service? Do we care?

Or are Americans really just that stupid?

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