Thursday, June 07, 2018

Will Handwriting Disappear?

Many people are lamenting the disappearing act of teaching cursive writing in schools. Even teaching print is declining in deference to the Common Core standard of teaching typewriting. Those who dread this change argue that a deep connection exists between handwriting and cognitive skills development. 

I have always been skeptical about this claim, because typewriting also helps develop cognitive skills. In a New York Times opinion piece, author Anne Trubek doesn't think this evolution will harm childhood education. 

Should handwriting be left to museums and libraries solely for scholarly analysis  of future generations like Ancient Greek and Latin?