Timothy Shanahan reassesses the role of handwriting in literacy development
My father, who had no more than an eighth-grade education, wrote in a beautiful Palmer hand. His one-room schoolhouse education did not promise to take him far, but it did allow him to place words on paper in an elegant and readable manner. And this skill had practical utility beyond its aesthetic beauty, since he worked for many years as a bookkeeper.
But the public value of handwriting has diminished during the ensuing century. In fact, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) don’t even mention handwriting, cursive, or manuscript printing.
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