...to think learning to write by hand will soon not be a priority?

[WalkingOnTheCracks]

My teenage daughter wrote a letter yesterday. I mean, on paper, to go in an envelope.

It occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time I saw her use a pen.

It then occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time I used a pen. And I'm a writer.

Birthday cards - that's about it.

So, how long will it be before handwriting becomes a non-core subject in schools, like art or woodwork?

To put it another way, for what reason will the ability to write by hand be vital to prospering in the world?

Signature? No, there are much more reliable ways of identifying a person, and they're already becoming the norm.

Work? I can't think of many jobs in which anything vital is communicated in handwriting. Teachers marking homework, possibly, but you can see how that might become obsolete. Writing on whiteboards in meetings? Yeah, there's still a lot of that. And even my doctor prints out prescriptions. There are few jobs for which the ability to write by hand is essential.

Just the sheer pleasure of doing it? Yep, possibly. But in that case handwriting will become like turning wood or cultivating bonsais - something that you might learn to do because you're interested, but unlikely to be a priority in the curriculum.

For formal or significant things - love letters, expressions of condolence? Well, possibly, but that's a remnant of a time when writing a letter was an important gesture. I'm not sure that it'll have the same significance for my grandchildren, because they'll have seen so few handwritten documents that it'll seem archaic rather than important.

One might say, 'But what if all the computers in the world crashed? People would still need to communicate in writing." And that's true, but it wouldn't be reason enough to spend money on teaching people to do it. Just as, in the event of all the cars grinding to a halt, people would still need to get around - but we haven't spent money on making sure everyone can ride a horse. We don't invest in teaching things that the vast majority of people are unlikely to have to do.

So, to be clear here, I'm not suggesting that handwriting should be dropped from the curriculum tomorrow. I'm asking what the justification will be for keeping it on the curriculum in a few decades from now.

YABU - there will always be practical, compelling reasons for teaching people to write by hand, and here they are...

YANBU - handwriting is probably going the way of archery or sewing. Some people will learn to do it, but most people won't ever need to, so it won't be a core subject in schools.

@CounsellorTroi

University - lecture notes? Work - taking notes at meetings, taking phone messages? And of course greeting cards and gift tags.

Loads of my peers did lecture notes on computers and that was 15 years ago. Admittedly on a computer based course, but I bet it's more widespread now.

@110APiccadilly

I write all the time. Shopping lists, birthday cards, addresses, notes in work meetings, etc.

It would be very difficult to teach maths (beyond basic arithmetic) to someone who couldn't write. Ever tried putting an equation into Word? And I don't see teaching 10 year olds how to use LaTeX as a good idea (would be very hard to learn anyway if you didn't already know how to do it in writing). Almost all maths university students still write notes, either on paper or with a pen and tablet or similar.

My DS's maths homework can be done completely on computer. He has a stylus that he uses to write on the computer which is similar to writing on paper, but there is a difference in that they're not encouraged to write the equations out lots of times. I think this is hampering his ability to get to grips with it.

Due to a permanent injury, I can no longer use my dominant hand to write. I didn't write letters (apart from thank yous) but I really, really miss being able to write. Try not doing it for a few weeks!

I can't see it going anywhere from core curriculum.

A friend in Canada told me their kids no longer learn cursive writing

I can’t see it going anywhere and nor should it. Even if it’s not used as much as it once was there is still very much a place for it and a place for the basic motor skills it helps to develop.

I always have a pen and paper nearby and often have to grab it to note something down

This is a pertinent point for me. DS is autistic
and dyspraxic and his handwriting is almost non-existent. He can do a couple of words, very slowly and they are barely legible. He can however type faster than I can, both on a computer keyboard and a phone touchscreen (as he cannot talk this is his primary method of communication, his typed vocabulary is above average). So the decision was made years ago not to spend much educational or recreational time developing handwriting (or drawing, which he is even worse at) skills, but to focus instead on typing.

DH is a hospital dr and although some stuff is printed or dictated he still writes (scrawls like a spider) a lot in a day
I'm an architect and although I do a lot on the computer all my calculations and notes are handwritten - in fact I have a project notebook on my desk where I note calls, thoughts, ideas, notes, sketches etc every day.
13yo DS does loads on the computer but still does a lot of working out on paper.
I think a lot of 'final product' is now computerised but al lot of people still do their jotting down by hand.

I hope writing doesn't go, its such a basic, vital thing! I write all the time and I'm not a big letter writer. I work in probation and all of the stuff we need signing still needs a manual signature. Its a lot quicker to grab a pen and paper and jot down a few notes when On the phone or on a meeting rather than sit and type. You can maintain eye contact more too, if taking notes during interview- quick glance away to jot something down then back to paying attention to your audience.

To be fair I don't write in cursive - but I do think reading and writing are just really important skills and hope they don't die out.

I partially write by hand at least first because the process of writing imprints info into my brain in a way that typing doesn't.
I write out my shopping list just before I go round the shop even though I have an app on my phone that I fill in through the week. I rarely even look at the list I've written whilst I'm shopping because the act of physically writing it helps it stick in my head.

My DD is doing art GCSE and writes up notes to go in her sketch book it seems logical as she has pens and paper out to do the actual art, but most other stuff is typed.

DS is year 7 and their school are introducing ipads next year that parents are to pay for, in instalments, so i imagine this will take over a lot of writing.and spend even longer during the day on a screen

I was told that all architects would only use CAD when I started (20+ yrs ago) and true final plans are usually produced on CAD and even have developed so we draw in 3D but most of use still sketch initial thoughts with a pen.

Australian schools seem to be going towards and iPad/apple pencil rather than a laptop, at least until grade 10. There's so much evidence of benefits in terms of neural pathways and fine motor skills. Handwriting can be done one-handed whereas typing requires both hands. That's surprisingly useful.

Writing is good for your brain.

canlab.sitehost.iu.edu/handwriting.html

Since loads of IT work is remote now - and lots has been for a decade - we use digital tools to sit around a whiteboard and we type notes for those.

Depends where you are and what budget you have I suppose. The diversity of experiences now is astonishing. Budgets will always limit access to IT, that’s part of my point.

One of my DC doesn't write at all. He was given an alpha smart (these were discontinued a few years ago now) in primary school, then moved to laptop, iPad and eventually a surface pro. He is at university now and uses the surface pro for everything. He never managed to master handwriting so between school and home we found a workaround. He is autistic and we just did what we could.

As an aside I'm in Scotland where we don't have the crazy cursive/pen licence thing going on. I do hope that gets dropped for English schools, what a nonsense.

I "don’t know the mechanisms of it but I find that I retain information noticeably better if I’ve written it by hand over typing or reading."

That's a very good point. I always made my pupils take notes, rather than just give them a handout. The sorting and arranging of their own notes ensures they have a real working knowledge of what is being learned.

At the last school I worked at , there were 12 laptops for 2year groups ( 180 pupils.)
At least four or five laptops didn't work or had buttons missing.

So, no, handwriting isn't going to disappear any day soon.

I write every day in my job. We generate reams of handwritten paperwork every day.

I haven't done Pythagoras, simultaneous equations, angles of triangles, written a poem, dissected an extract of Shakespeare or needed to know the aspects of a plant cell since leaving school.
I was still made to learn it though!

It will still be taught for many many years!