The New York times had an article recently about the demise of cursive handwriting among the younger generation. The article focused on the practical implications for students unable to use cursive–like having a hard time reading materials in cursive (a grandmother’s journal, primary sources for history class) or not being able to write an essay in cursive for the SAT. The article ends with a concern of one man for the loss of the artistic skill and pure aesthetics of cursive handwriting.
Edward Tenner at The Atlantic felt the NYT article didn’t make a strong enough argument for retaining and reviving cursive education in schools. He goes even further, citing research that suggests that developing your handwriting (making a brain/hand connection) can have positive effects on language acquisition, reading fluency, and other areas of development. Tenner quotes Linda Spencer’s research summary here. Spencer makes a point that, to me, is one of the biggest implications for snail mail and other handwritten arts:
Since cursive writing isn’t emphasized after third grade, few students are getting enough practice or reinforcement to make cursive automatic. In other words, when the student no longer needs to think about how to write but can focus on what they want to say in their writing, the skill becomes automatic. How long this process takes may vary from child to child but it is certainly longer than the third grade. When kids aren’t taught how to learn penmanship properly, they make it up, develop bad habits and handwriting never becomes fluid or routine.
If students, when they are hand writing materials, are focusing more on the mechanics of it, they lose the ability to get “lost” in the writing and just enjoy the creation of something new. I know letter writing isn’t popular among the vast majority of society these days, and is especially foreign to young people who have only lived in a world with email, but it saddens me that these young people may never fully experience the pleasures of journaling or writing ten-page letters to a friend.
I know kids may be able to text at lightening speed, but somehow I doubt that texting skills translate into fine motor skills that can be used in drawing or painting or other creative forms of expression. One press of a button makes an “h” another press of an exactly same type of button forms a “q.”
I’ll be interested in seeing what the research ends up confirming, but it seems no coincidence to me that creativity has dramatically decreased among children in the last two decades as schools have focused less on hands-on activities like handwriting or arts or music and focused more on filling in bubbles and drilling math facts AND as children spend more time inside, passively absorbing information beamed at them from a screen (or interacting only through their thumbs).
The loss of handwriting, and arts and crafts, and outside play will have real effects on our children. I blog, I use email, I love watching movies and playing guitar hero. I’m not against any of these technologies per se. But I grew up in the country, I camped, gardened, invented imaginary scenarios with my sister and acted them out, rode horses, stared at shapes in the clouds, wrote letters, painted, and picked wildflower bouquets. These things shaped my brain in ways that allow me to be both analytical and creative. So I can make the best use of all parts of my brain and spirit.
I know that there’s still a place in this world for the handmade arts–and others have begun to revive traditional arts, crafts, and skills–from knitting to canning food to letter press to calligraphy. I hope to be a part of a movement that preserves these skills, introduces young people to their joys and helps build a more creative generation as a result.
Is that too melodramatic for a Thursday?