Handwriting

HANDWRITING HAS TO GO!

By Stephen Wilson

 

MOSCOW -- I was astonished to hear the news! An Orthodox priest told me he had obtained a pile of letters written to the church he served addressed to myself .This person had last met me twenty years ago. When I looked at the letters a few things surprised me. They were long and the unique handwriting conveyed an exceptional beautiful style rarely encountered. In deed, few people send handwritten letters to each other those days .So I felt I was going back in time to a bygone era. For the beauty of handwriting is now derisively dismissed as 'snail mail'. Why take the trouble if you can send a letter instantly with e-mail? After I replied to those letters my mind got absorbed with the imminent beginning of the new academic year. In a sense, this event is a more profound date than New Year's Day. At least for teachers and school kids.

What caught my attention was the endless proposals to change the teaching process. Schools had to be modernized so many old customs or way of teaching had to go. Of course, teachers are never consulted about whether they approve of those changes or not. Some of those proposals seem banal. For instance , the Minister of Education made a speech calling for the ban of mobile phones from the classroom. Other politicians called for either the Day of Knowledge to be put forward to October. Another proposal is to radically change the geography of the classroom by doing away with traditional desks. However the most controversial proposal which has deeply divided educators is a radical proposal to abandon teaching Russian school children how to hand write. Instead proponents are arguing that all writing should be done via computer. So pupils don't need to worry about how neat or beautiful their handwriting is. Electronic writing is more effective, efficient and rapid. Children have to learn quickly to adapt to the new technology. Anyone arguing against those proposals can be ridiculed as reactionary or conservatives as if they are against 'progress'.

According to a child psychologist Olga Zuyiva, a personal computer has become an integral part of the life of a child. Parents inform her that unless their children learn advanced computer skills they won't be able to cope with life after school. They need to master computer literacy. It is more important than beautifully intricate handwriting.

Sergei Gorbun, a chairman of a Union, argues: "Being able to type with your hands helps you to quickly adapt to an ocean of knowledge . Every adult knows how difficult it is to get a child to sit behind a desk. But with a computer the child works with pleasure This according to experts, motivates as well as strengthens the use of the memory and paying attention."

However, not everyone welcomes this step. They don't subscribe to the view that computers are a magic wand which with a wave creates discipline making a child more developed and intelligent. Firstly, the child becomes more and more like an appendage to a machine. Rather than controlling the machine, the machine controls him.

in addition, very few people draw attention to the bad side effects of using such technology. The eye-sight of the child worsens, his or her spine begins to ache and they get headaches. Using a pencil and pen to write messages does allow you more time to pause, ponder think and rewrite a text." When a child writes, the link between his brain and fingers improves his mental capacity ", argues speech therapist Anastasia Medvedeva. In contrast , when people write automatically, they stop thinking. However, there is something very personal about handwriting which you can't get from an electronic letter. Handwriting remains a unique expression of our identity. Deprive children of the right to master handwriting and you are impeding one important aspect of free self expression.The Russian philosopher Nicholas Fyodorov grasped this point. He claimed that speed writing by typing or shorthand instead of handwriting can depersonalize and even degrade work. Quicker does not mean better. He declared, 'This rapidity deprives all work, not only mechanical but also intellectual work, of artistic attractiveness, turning it into a means of profit without any goal whatever, unless sense pleasure is to be considered a goal.'

Why go to extremes? What if handwriting can be seen as actually assisting computer literacy rather than hindering it? Sending a handwritten letter to a friend is much more moving and touching than a letter sent by e-mail. It indicates the amount of time and effort you go to write and post it off. Abandoning the teaching of handwriting would not be progress but represent regression to an age where technology dictates the rules.