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Keyboarding Killed The Handwriting StarComputers have such a presence in schools today that some experts believe they are a threat to education - especially the teaching of handwriting. In the most digitally advanced classrooms, such as in Canada, the student to computer ratio is as low as five to one. Though this ratio is extraordinary, classrooms have been digital to some degree for decades. Why the protest now?The answer is the notebook. It gives kids a one-to-one ratio, a tool that they can use full-time for "writing," grammar exercises, and note-taking. Old-school teachers are raising their hands in protest. When called upon, they explain that there are still three Rs in grammar school - reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic. Allowing students to rely on laptops robs them of much-needed training in that second R. That will leave them unable to write proper notes and perform in essay exams later in their academic career. Being able to write legibly and quickly, these critics add, is also still an essential real-world skill no matter how digitalized that real world is. The typewriter didn’t banish the pen and pencil to the dustbin of history, and neither will the laptop. Unlike typewriters, though, computers are a much more dynamic presence in students' lives. In many third grade classrooms, for example, children practice how to write neatly, while learning to start and shut down a desktop, save their documents, and draw pretty pictures with graphics software. Then they go home to IM their friends and Web surf. What's more, as proponents point out, notebooks can help learning-disabled children succeed in the classroom. Normally, these children would fall behind their peers because of writing and motor skills issues. But notebooks empower these kids to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps. Notebooks are not going anywhere, and neither are pens, pencils, and paper. Kids may just have to continue to suffer through handwriting class. Old-school educators, for their part, may just have to realize that technology is not the enemy. It may have serious benefits in the classroom. After all, it’s not how you create words that’s important. It’s how you use them that's key. By Matthew Brodsky Wednesday, May 04, 2005 Related articles: - Classroom aid or a needless extravagance - Learning with laptops - In every satchel |
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