Doctors aren't the only ones with indecipherable handwriting.
Many of us, myself included, have fallen prey to the temptation to neglect the art of penmanship in favor of barely legible scratch that most other people cannot easily read. This is easier and easier to do, of course, given how much of our writing we now do on keyboards of various types.
Using a keyboard, without the need to consciously form individual letters, we can write much, much faster, it's true. But is there a cost to ignoring the art of proper handwriting?
The administrators, teachers, and students of the Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School in Edinburgh, Scotland would say yes, absolutely, there is a severe cost to be paid for ignoring the ancient art of penmanship.
The real cost is not in developing the embarrassing scrawl that passes so often these days as handwriting, but rather in missing out on the boosted levels of effort and intention forced by the use of the traditional fountain pen itself. Apparently, the mechanics of the implement require one to enter a higher state of focus and concentration which then transfers over to the information one is writing about, producing a habit of greater commitment and energy that directly translates into better learning of course content, as well.
At these two Scottish schools, all students and teachers are required to take special handwriting instruction, and do most of their work utilizing modern fountain pens.
It all really seems to work rather well.
Once you've gotten the feel of the classic writing implement, a task made much easier by modern improvements in fountain pens, it's something you'd never want to give up, they say.
The article is a very interesting read:
School shuns tech, teaches fountain pen
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