When I was in elementary school, we spent about a day a week in a computer lab learning how to type. There was this game we played that involved typing to fly a spaceship through space that taught us where to place our fingers (I still place mine "wrong" but it works for me). My earliest memories of writing on a computer were in this lab, as early as third grade, when we had to type a report about one of the past Presidents of the United States. I chose Andrew Jackson because my family is distantly related to him. These early experiences were the death of my handwriting and our generation's emphasis on typing over writing is certainly notable. They aren't even teaching cursive in schools anymore because people consider it a waste of time.
Personally I find it a little scary that a potential employer might say no to me based on my handwriting alone because my penmanship is especially terrible. If I'm writing at my own pace, say a grocery list or something, it usually turns out somewhat legible, but if I'm writing notes for a class where the professor goes through entirely too quickly, forget about being able to read it. I've tried to remedy it by slowing down and practicing several different strokes, but to no avail. I think my hands shake too much. I wouldn't want a graphologist hired by a firm to look at my handwriting and think "hmm, maybe she's neurotic" or something equally as horrible just because my penmanship stinks.
I did find the general topic of handwriting and the National Handwriting Day particularly interesting however because everyone's handwriting is distinctive and it is something that can be an asset in any workplace.
I really like your post because I also relate to this. When I was younger penmanship was extremely important and it is interesting that with the development of technologies, there is hardly a need to handwrite anything. One good example of how this affects us in our education today is that back in the day we often would write a "rough draft." This would be the handwritten version before our final paper was turned in. Now when we write a paper it is all processed in Word. Although this may seem like not a huge deal, it is indeed interesting to see how writing how evolved in just a few short years.
ReplyDeleteI like your post and reflection on the way you learned how to write and type on the computer. I have a similar experience with learning to type and placing my fingers in the "correct" position in order to type the fastest. In contrast however, I was taught very careful penmanship and there was a lot of emphasis placed on handwriting throughout my education. I think this is because I was homeschooled and my mom placed a lot of importance on learning to write in cursive and print legibly (probably because she didn’t want to have to decipher what I was trying to say) . I don't think that a lot of employers place emphasis on our handwriting abilities in today's workplace, however. Unless large amounts of people are going to be reading something you hand write, which is highly unlikely, then I don't think perfect handwriting is necessary for most jobs today.
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