A question that parents often raise with educators is, “why teach children to write at all – should we not just teach them to type? Eventually the child will mostly be using laptops and mobiles.”
So, there is this constant debate in the field of education about whether to teach children to write at all. Among Parents and Educators even within our Montessori community itself this question comes up a lot.
Let us consider this issue.
Typewriting using a keyboard with the added advantage of copying / pasting and easily and neatly deleting, checking your grammar and spellings are definitely a technological marvel. I have personally used a manual typewriter, using white ink for corrections – so, for sure, I know the difference. But then, does it mean typewriting can replace handwriting?
We all agree that if we want to make a note, we will quickly grab the pen and paper and scribble it out, rather than pulling out a mobile, or sitting to type at a keyboard.
There is no denying the fact that the physical act of actually forming words with your pen on paper definitely contributes to cognitive development. Let’s see why and how…
Researchers from Norway and France have identified very distinct advantages of handwriting over typewriting. When you write with your pen/pencil, your entire attention is directed towards the tip of your pen and towards graphically forming the letters. Once you become fluent with writing, it is like riding a bicycle.
The kinesthetic memory retains the formation of letters and there is a free flow between the mind and the hand. The writer does not have to think about the formation of each letter when writing a familiar word. With enough practice, this becomes an automated process with barely any spelling errors. With an uninterrupted flow of thoughts from your brain there occurs a flow of hand writing the words and sentences. But this happens provided the thoughts are steadily flowing from your brain.
Keyboarding, what we call touch typing, or even the two-finger typing can also become an automated process with the kinesthetic memory of the letters. But then, there is always this back and forth movement, checking on typographical errors. When you type, each key feels the same as the earlier one, or the next one, so we do not have any sensory feedback on whether the letters and thus the word that was typed were correct or not. There is no message going to the brain from a wrongly-typed letter or word. So, when what we intended to type does not appear on the screen as we wanted it to be, it causes us to stop typing and correct the error. Thus the smooth, uninterrupted flow of thoughts converting to words does not happen during the creation of your typewritten work.
But with handwriting there is a stronger connection between our pens forming the words and the flow of thoughts.
This is especially true among children. Since they have not yet developed the kinesthetic memory of letters on the keyboard, their attention constantly switches between the keyboard and the screen if they have not yet acquired the touch-typing technique.
When you type, your fingers are typing the letters not your brain, so it is easier to forget what you have typed. Not so, if you have handwritten. Writing things down helps us remember better. When you write down, say something like a shopping list, and you have forgotten to carry it with you, you will still recall most of the items on the list, and even where on the paper you have written it. So when you write on paper you are also writing on your brain as both the visual and kinesthetic senses come into play. The more the number of senses involved in any kind of activity, the better is the retention.
That is the reason, when you attend lectures / conferences, if you have taken down notes; it stays with you better than just viewing slides on a screen.
There is clear evidence to prove that the physical act of creating the letters using a pencil forms a clear picture in your mind. Dr. Jason Barton, a Canadian Neurologist believes that we recognize handwriting much like how we recognize faces. Barton says “If the handwriting is familiar, it activates a memory trace, bringing back emotions, knowledge and all the different facets of information and experiences with that person stored from the past.”
What handwriting reveals about a person, a type-written note can never do! You may decorate your typed content with different fonts and sizes etc. but it will never say anything about the character of the person who has created that uniform keyed-in writing. Handwriting reveals the writer’s personality and mood and character in a unique way. We have specialized people call Graphologists who are able to read a person’s inner thoughts and say a lot about the person, just by analyzing his/her handwriting.
Now, let us talk about Reading. Reading what is handwritten may have as many benefits as writing by hand. Handwriting is not something you are born with. You have to practice and learn how to write – but then it gets engraved into our brain and leaves a deep impression inside our brain.
Studies have shown that
- When children write by hand, they are able to express more ideas and faster than when they wrote it on a keyboard. This study was done for the 6-12-year-old children.
- The regions of the brain activated during reading were also activated when writing, but failed to do so when typing on a keyboard.
- The repeated physical act of forming words on the page helps us to not only develop better handwriting through practice, but also to develop neural networks that then convert to memories and knowledge.
- Further studies by the University of Washington say that “forming a written word by pen may leave a stronger memory of the written words than producing the word using a keyboard – especially so for growing children who are just beginning to write.
Absolutely amazing facts have been discovered regarding the benefits Cursive Writing has on cognitive development. According to one study, it was concluded that children in the Early Childhood Period require at least “15 minute of handwriting daily for cognitive, writing and motor skills and the improvement in reading comprehension”.
So, if your purpose is not to record something to be retrieved and revised later, or to share it with others, handwriting is an obvious choice, something we surely need to teach our children.
We save all the handwritten notes that our loved ones send us, right? When we receive a greeting card, say for a festive occasion, a get-well-soon card, a birthday card… or any such card, what do you do first?
You don’t read the typewritten beautiful poem that may be printed on the inside of the card. All you are interested in reading is what is handwritten by the person who sent that card to you. That is what matters the most; that is what conveys the sender’s actual feelings.
Writing is what connects all human beings globally. Writing a letter will always be considered more precious than a typewritten note, whatever be the content – so let us not deprive our children of this great gift.