[SENco-forum] Handwriting

From: Jamie Munro <jmunro at djsn.co.uk>

I've just come back from walking my dog at lunch time.  While I was out I
was listening to the 1953 BBC Radio series "Journey into Space", which I've
just downloaded from the Internet, on my iPod.  How's that for a heady mix
of old and new.  I was laughing at a description of a space ship pilot
pouring over his log tables working out the routes and trajectories to the
moon.

Now when I was at school I was taught to use sine-cosine table, the tangent
table, the logarithm table, the log-sin-cos table, and the log-tan table.
Then when I went on to college, I got a slide rule and used that instead.
Then almost immediately after I mastered the slide rule, out came the first
scientific pocket calculators, so I dumped my slide rule and moved to using
one of them instead.

Now I bet that no one in any maths departments out there is insisting that
students go back to using a slide rule or log tables instead of a
calculator.  In fact when I just mentioned slide rules and log tables to two
30 year olds in my office, they looked at me like I was speaking gibberish.

Yet when I hear people talking about using proper ink pens to write flowing
cursive script as somehow relevant to pupils today, it sounds to me just as
much an anachronism as space ship pilots with log tables.

But probably not as odd as the thought of British astronauts being first on
the moon or Mars!

Jamie

> From: Jamie Munro <jmunro at djsn.co.uk>
> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:15:00 +0100
> To: <SEN at tringham.net>, Becta Senco <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
> Conversation: [SENco-forum] Handwriting
> Subject: Re: [SENco-forum] Handwriting
> 
>> My son's writing is so slow (< bottom 10%) and poor that it looks
>> like a 6 year olds whereas he is 11 with a 130+ IQ & dyslexia.  He would
>> love to be able to use a computer all the time, but schools do not allow it.
> 
> That's terrible!  It's like saying he uses a wheelchair but the school
> wouldn't let him use it because "we all walk around here".  If using a
> computer helps him overcome his dyslexia then not letting him use one is
> discriminating against his disability which I thought was illegal.
> 
> But in general, what the replies I've seen so far seem to be saying is that
> it is wrong and unfair but we all have to put up with it and just carry on
> in the way we've always done it.  So how do we change it?
> 
> As an employer, I doubt if I've ever seen any of my staff's handwriting and
> whether or not they could write cursive script would not exactly be high on
> my list of expected skills.  Yes, I have heard of large employers asking for
> handwritten applications so they can use graphology to get information on
> the writer, but this has largely been discredited.  Here's a quote from a UK
> job finding website:
> 
> "Unless otherwise requested, always type your covering letter.  Even if you
> have the most exquisite handwriting, employers much prefer to see a word
> processed letter which is legible and clear to read.  It is quite rare these
> days for employers to ask for a handwritten letter - handwriting is usually
> irrelevant to a job, and graphology (the study of handwriting) has been
> shown to be a poor predictor of someone¹s suitability for a job."
> 
> However as an employer I see IT skills as critical.  Without some generic IT
> skills (the ability to use a word processor, an email program, a
> spreadsheet, access the internet, etc.) I would not even consider someone
> for employment, however neat their handwriting.
> 
> Jamie
> 
> 
>> From: <SEN at tringham.net>
>> Reply-To: <SEN at tringham.net>
>> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:27:20 +0100
>> To: Becta Senco <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
>> Subject: RE: [SENco-forum] Handwriting
>> 
>> Human beings are...human and individually we are attracted to things that
>> are like ourselves.
>> 
>>  If we have nice writing and use extended expressive language we respond
>> more positively to those who do the same.  However fair or liberal the views
>> we express research shows it is hard to shake of preconceptions and
>> stereotypes and gender or stereotypical behaviour and as teachers our
>> responses to student's written work is the same.  Even Ruth puts the worst
>> ones to last and grits her teeth and I would say she is one of the good
>> ones.
>> 
>> Believe me I would rather the news were otherwise.   I have a scrawl that I
>> find hard to decipher if I go back and try to read it after any length of
>> time.  My son's writing is so slow (< bottom 10%) and poor that it looks
>> like a 6 year olds whereas he is 11 with a 130+ IQ & dyslexia.  He would
>> love to be able to use a computer all the time, but schools do not allow it.
>> Likewise may employers are now asking for hand written applications to help
>> them whittle the list down.  Grossly unfair?  Discriminatory?
>> 
>> I have recently heard that teachers have now overtaken doctors as having the
>> most illegible writing!  Perhaps I am aiming the Speed Up & cursive lessons
>> at the wrong people!
>> 
>> Sharon
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
>> [mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]On Behalf Of Jamie Munro
>> Sent: 23 July 2007 10:26
>> To: SEN at tringham.net; Sharon Fawcitt; Becta Senco
>> Subject: Re: [SENco-forum] Handwriting
>> 
>> 
>> I feel I've wandered into a discussion from a previous century.  It's 2007
>> not 1897 (or even 1987), why are we placing so much emphasis on handwriting
>> when a lot of us not in school simply don't do it at all any more.  The only
>> handwriting I ever do is writing cheques, and chip and pin have seen to most
>> of that.  Oh, maybe the odd shopping list that only I will read.
>> 
>> I'm communicating this by email, over the weekend I communicated with my
>> local council via their web site, wrote a letter to my local newspaper via
>> email.  In meetings I take notes using a laptop, I write appointments in my
>> electronic diary on my mobile phone/PDA.
>> 
>> An essay in flowing cursive deserves an exam grade better than one in print?
>> Bizarre and grossly unfair!
>> 
>> Jamie
>> 
>> 
>>> From: <SEN at tringham.net>
>>> Reply-To: <SEN at tringham.net>
>>> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:30:33 +0100
>>> To: Sharon Fawcitt <sfawcitt at dsl.pipex.com>, Becta Senco
>>> <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
>>> Subject: RE: [SENco-forum] Handwriting
>>> 
>>> Those who are adamant they do not need to change - style or speed are the
>>> most resistant so it has to be student choice.  I tell them the facts -
>>> print essays while equal in speed are likely to be marked down by one exam
>>> grade.  Untidy writing (2 comparable essays) was marked down 2 grades C as
>>> opposed to A.  My  11 year olds are not to worried by this as GCSE's are
>> not
>>> for another 5 years.  As teachers we should be really worried.  For the
>>> students I am dealing with this is going to be the difference between a
>> GSCE
>>> pass and fail and this needs addressing.  The biggest question for me is
>>> when is the best time to tackle the current handwriting problems -
>> Reception
>>> or  KS2.  Secondary students are going to have acquired habits that are
>>> really hard to influence positively.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
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