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December 3, 2024 Login
Opinion

Students must retain handwriting skills

By Karim Meleis, November 8th, 2024

How messy is your handwriting, and does it even matter? As of 2022, 24 percent of U.S. adults write by hand only a few times a month. At Berkeley High School, learning has become highly digitized. Most, if not all assignments in some classes are given online, instead of on paper. While digital learning is more convenient than paper-based assignments, its prevalence has led to the neglect of a vital skill: handwriting. 

According to Scientific American, students who learn to read and write using a digital tablet find it harder to distinguish between similar-looking letters. Writing the letter "p" requires a very different hand motion from writing the letter "d," which mentally reinforces how those two letters are different. However, typing a “p” vs. a “d” requires almost identical hand motions, which makes it easier for students to confuse them. If students do not get enough practice with writing by hand, they may never develop the ability to produce clear handwriting. Also, not being able to hand-write properly will be an obstacle in many future careers.  

However, the benefits of handwriting go beyond the acquisition of basic writing skills. When students hand-write, the areas of their brains that control sensory processing, motor coordination, and memory are activated. However, when they type, these areas are activated a lot less. Automatic, rather than active processes take over. 

Handwriting is also a better way to take notes. A student who takes notes by typing, notes down everything, and therefore does not need to actively process it. However, a hand-writing student cannot write down everything that is said, so they must decide what is most important. This forces them to fully process the information they are hearing, helping them to retain it.

A study published in The Journal of Language and Linguistics in Society explains that students with good handwriting not only do better in school as a whole, but that the ease of typing and auto-correct can cause students to pay less attention to spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation; this can impair language development. Students must be able to write well without digital assistance because if they become reliant on it, they will not be able to write effectively in  certain situations, such as standardized tests, creative projects, and surprise exams. Spontaneous situations such as these will only become more prevalent in adulthood and in students' future careers.

In summary, handwriting is a vital skill that has been undervalued by the digital revolution in schools. Even in the digital age, it is of utmost importance that students retain their handwriting skills — their language and writing skills may depend on it.