Are We Losing The Ability and Chance to Write?

Not a day goes by where I am not seeing the debate about technology and the true hand written word on the Internet or newspaper (for those who actually still read a paper you hold in your hand that gets delivered to your home).  A definite strong debate about the pros and cons is happening everywhere.

 I first wrote about this debate on this blog back in June, 2011. "The Written Word Changing How We Communicate? My last comment in that blog; "don't take away something that makes each person unique". In a time where we keep pushing individuality and non-conformity why are we still having this debate?

In just about every article I have read on the subject the first statement made is "schools don't have the time to teach due to constant-changing curriculum". Penmanship, a word most over the age of 20 know but those under probably need to Google should still be important as it is what makes individuals unique.

In both an article I read recently that a friend tagged on Facebook, written by Melinda Carstensen for the Lake Elsinore, CA-Wildomar Patch News and also this past weekend in our local Sedalia Democrat Newspaper by Bob Satnan was that computers are replacing the true written word.

I know it may seem strange as I am typing this blog that by doing so I have went the way of the computer, but I still do a good majority with a pen or pencil in hand. I personally still write and sign checks, I write my grocery list, I even write thank you notes. I take notes to even help with what I am writing on the computer.  Although my cursive writing isn't as clean as it used to be and my print gets sloppy (I got rid of the knuckle bump years ago) people that have known me for years say my writing still looks pretty much the same.

Mr. Satan told of a story in his article that went back to his school years in that a teacher accused him of having someone else complete an assignment he turned in. As it turned out after his mother accompanied him back to school and explained the difference was the first part had been done before he was told he couldn't go to basketball practice until after his homework was done. (remember those days of rushing through something just to get it done so you could do what you wanted to do?) If  he had done his assignment as they do today on a computer how do you verify it belongs to that person and someone else hasn't done the keystrokes?

Everyone has those days of rushing through something and not taking the time to do something presentable the first time. Is that where we have come to with regards to the hand written or cursive word? Are teachers, because of scheduling not wanting to take the time? Are parents not having enough time in the daily schedule to help children learn?

My oldest granddaughter is just starting to learn letters and numbers. I told my daughter why not use both. Let her use the computer/tablet to trace over the letters to learn but also have paper to actually put pencil in hand and get experience in writing it. I would not just want her or any of my grandchildren to just mark X as a signature or not know how to write. That will go back to the times of illiterate people who couldn't read or write. Wouldn't it?

Even learning keyboard functioning makes for a lot of room for errors. Since our local newspaper was purchased by a larger company in the Midwest and have let go many local writers I have noticed the proofreading practices are below acceptable. Not an issue goes by that I don't notice a proofreading error or a duplicate article written in the same paper with a different headline. Is this because someone is getting sloppy and doesn't have the time? It probably wouldn't matter if they were hand writing it or typing but its just another sloppy short cut.

Some sad statistics that were covered in the article by Melinda Carstensen are truly disturbing:

45 states and the District of Columbia have followed Common Core Standards since 2010 which gives schools the option to teach cursive but DON'T require it. (so far I am not a proponent of Common Core)

Many educators no longer feel cursive is worthwhile, as writing moves to tablets and computers and state tests dictate curricula

By grade 12, half of classroom assignments are written on computers. Many schools around the country are also assignment a computer to each child for the school year.

Most parents state children can not read their teacher's cursive handwriting.

States such as Georgia, Massachusetts and California have taken steps toward making cursive mandatory. Tennessee lawmakers are fighting to keep.

One sad look toward the future of why hand writing is detrimental to how our society will evolve is during the George Zimmerman murder trial, 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel testified she couldn't read a letter that a lawyer handed her. It was written in cursive. Sad and unacceptable.

I will continue to take pad to paper and will use my trusty computer and tablet. You can do both if you put your mind and hand to it. No one can take that away, unless you let them.