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The NY Times asks does handwriting matter? The Common Core standards stop teaching handwriting after the first grade, preferring a proficiency in typing after that.
However, studies are showing that children learn faster, are able to retain more information, and generate new ideas when they first learn to write by hand. The process of thinking about how to form a letter and putting it on the page stimulates more areas of the brain. This come from the inherent messiness in free-form writing, which can be a valuable learning tool.
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Next Friday will not be your lucky day. As a matter of fact, you don't
have a lucky day this year.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @10:57AM
I type faster than I write by hand, with fewer spelling errors and higher legibility.
Handwriting is obsolete. Transcribing is the machine's job.
(Score: 1) by gargoyle on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:25AM
How much do you recall a month after writing the note without having to refer back to it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:29AM
All of it, by remembering the act of typing things I typed a month ago.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:48AM
Before comparing what he remembers from typing with what you remember from hand writing, you need to be aware that this stuff works different for different people.
I never wrote down any notes in school. Except for one subject, where for unknown reasons I did. In that one subject, I learned absolutely nothing, except for the one day I tried not taking notes. I can still tell what I learned that day, but nothing about what I learned the rest of the year.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:56AM
No no no, everyone must learn the same way, or the Common Core won't work properly.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:31AM
you really do learn better when writing stuff by hand. i remember essentially nothing when i'm typing because my mind never enters it - like how people normally converse, words just flow out through my finger half-consciously (now, if only i could use my voice that way). writing stuff out by hand engages several parts of the brain at once and you spend more time thinking about it, so you're more likely to remember it. i've seen studies on this kinda thing before, but i dont care enough to sort through google for any of them since i already know its true from personal experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:38AM
And herein lies the problem. Normal people do not communicate to exchange information. Normal people converse to control each other. Normal people are SHIT.
(Score: 2) by carguy on Wednesday June 04 2014, @02:26PM
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
...and after reading this quote/meme for years, I finally searched and found that it's from Simpsons, doh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:54AM
No, YOU are more likely to remember it. Because YOU learn that way. I don't. I can't learn and concentrate on taking notes at the same time. I've tried it in school, and I learned absolutely nothing in that subject. Except for the one day I didn't take notes, I still remember what we learned that day.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday June 04 2014, @07:34PM
Ah, I remember that day! We took the ferry, and I wore an onion tied to my belt, as that was the fashion at the time. Or was it that you wore blue, and the Nazis wore gray? Play it again, Sam!
I am always amazed at how well people remember having learned nothing. Nothing must really make an impression.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by cmn32480 on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:35AM
I disagree. Something of value IS lost.
I receive Thank You notes from customers for help that we have given on a regular basis. The typed ones that come in via email are appreciated, but they get filed. The very few hand written ones that I get mean a lot more, and get hung on the bulletin board because somebody too the time to actually site down and write it.
There is value there, and it is a shame that people seems to think it is a skill that can be thrown away.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 04 2014, @11:41AM
You treat a handwritten note as a proxy for kissing your ass? What a queer life you lead.
(Score: 2) by khchung on Wednesday June 04 2014, @12:44PM
I bet you would value it more if the "Thank You" were chiseled on a piece of rock or wood, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea to have EVERYONE spent a year or two in school to learn how to do it.
Yes, there is value there, but is the value worth the time of every school child?
(Score: 2) by Leebert on Wednesday June 04 2014, @07:56PM
I note that you said "hand written", not "written in cursive".
A note can be hand written in print. I know; I've written a lot (including love letters!) in print.