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Sponsored by 710 BookStore - - - http://www.seventen.com/The dying art of penmanship
And how it's more important for some than others
Tom Poon
Pulse Reporter
As more students forsake the handwritten word for the computer, there are some who are worried cursive and good penmanship may one day go the way of the Dodo.
There are many reasons why handwriting is endangered. From schools placing a decrease in importance to penmanship, to the growth in popularity of personal computers, today's generation of writers simply don't depend on the handwritten word as much as past generations.
While the decline has been noticeable, it has not surprised Karen Powell, a fourth grade teacher at Washington Elementary School in Marion.
"In this day and age, not many things are in cursive," Powell said. "How many things do you pick up and read that are in cursive? Not many."
That doesn't mean good penmanship isn't important. Powell also said good penmanship can reveal a lot about a child, and from her experience, students with good penmanship are usually more creative and do better in classes, especially math.
Powell said the most important aspect of having good penmanship in elementary school is that it teaches a child to take pride in the work they do at an early age.
"When a child has good penmanship, it usually means they're paying attention to detail," Powell said. "It's never too early to learn attention to detail since we live in a detail-oriented world."
Although students at Washington Elementary learn cursive in the second grade, Powell said she's noticed a general decline in penmanship as computers became the preferred method of communication.
The obvious answer to better handwriting is to devote more time to penmanship, but it's not that simple. With standardized testing in math, reading comprehension, social studies and other subjects, teachers just don't have the time to devote to penmanship.
"We don't focus on penmanship as much anymore because testing doesn't give us the luxury of time to teach it," Powell said.
That may change with the College Board's new Scholastic Aptitude Test. The new SATs now include an essay section, and although SAT graders are not supposed to allow sloppy handwriting to affect how they score an essay, studies by Steven Graham, a professor at Vanderbilt University, have shown graders will generally give neatly written essays a higher mark.
Graham said in an interview on his Web site that there's a general tendency to equate neat, legible handwriting with intelligence.
"For kids whose handwriting is less legible, the scorers will not to be able to ignore that, even though they're going to be given directions to ignore handwriting when scoring for ideation and quality of content," Graham said. "There's a lot of research that suggests adults cannot do that."
For some people, Graham's theory makes sense and it's the reason they place an importance of writing legibly.
Andrea Krueger, a freshman studying mortuary science from Milford, said penmanship is something she takes pride in because she wants to give a good impression to the reader.
"Having sloppy handwriting can make people think you don't care about what you're writing," Krueger said. "I make sure to write neatly because it shows you're not in a rush and you're careful in what you do."
Then there are those who think too much is being made about penmanship.
Matt Cox, a freshman studying animal science from Herrin, said people might be overanalyzing penmanship and what it might mean about a person. Cox, who admits to having bad handwriting, said the reason his parents and grandparents have much better penmanship than he does is because it was something schools stressed on in the past.
In previous generations, handwriting was an essential form of communication and people had no choice but to write if they wanted to correspond with others. That's not the case for Cox. He said the penmanship lessons he learned in school were sparse and were never really stressed. It's also something Cox doesn't worry about.
"I don't think it's that big a deal," said Cox, while typing away on his laptop. "I'm an organized person, but my handwriting is a mess because I don't focus on it."
While there might be debate on the importance of handwriting, one thing that is hard to dispute is the emotional impact a well-written letter can have on the reader.
Karen Brooks, president of the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting, said it's important for people to realize good penmanship communicates in ways a computer and printer cannot.
"When you can print things up so easily on a computer, it loses its value," Brooks said. "When you send a nice handwritten card to someone, it makes people feel special because they know it took time to do it instead of running it through a printer."
Brooks said people should keep alive the skill of handwriting because it's a vital means of communication. With handwriting, you never have to worry about issues like computer access or crashes.
Perhaps the most important reason to keep good handwriting alive is also the most obvious. Brooks said handwriting will endure because hand written cards and letters can be heart-warming and powerful. Or to put it another way, when was the last time you kept an e-card or computer printed love letter?
"It's always nice to have a personal, human touch," Brooks said.
The Daily Egyptian, the student-run newspaper of SIUC, is committed to being a trusted source of information, commentary and public discourse while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.
The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester. The Pulse, Carbondale Entertainment Guide, is published once a week on Thursday.Last update: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 8:07:05 PM
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