Why Don\u2019t Users Read? over at Blankenthoughts was talking about how many people do not read instructions when it comes to computer usage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I agree with this blogger about how people don\u2019t read directions these days.\u00a0 I have to also agree that it seems handwriting is a thing of the past.\u00a0 I don\u2019t fully know if it\u2019s due to computers having taken over much of what we used to do by pen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t click on the NY Times article simply because something told me that if it\u2019s at least a month old, it won\u2019t come up for the pulic anymore.\u00a0\u00a0 However, Blankenthoughts has\u00a0inspired me to post something of my own on the topic.<\/p>\n
America is just plain dumb and lazy\u00a0when it comes to doing things for ourselves.\u00a0 And we are sloppy writers who depend on computers.<\/p>\n
Seems going through one or two paragraphs about how to perform a task is more daunting than actually trying to hack it out yourself, only to spend a longer amount of time going back to read them, or worse, trying to get someone to help you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As far as the\u00a0decline of handwriting, I think it\u00a0is because public schools are not even teaching\u00a0penmanship anymore. Ask any kid under 20, if they even heard the word, \u2018penmanship\u2019.\u00a0 Chances are likely they haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because of the gradual onset of technology that replaces many things, or if it\u2019s because we are all so busy, many households having 2 adults working outside of the home and kids taking on so many extracurricular activities but I think that theory is bullshit, on both counts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for handwriting, I think that if you told a class of 33 students they had to turn in a 20 page paper on loose-leaf notebook\u00a0sheets, they ought to\u00a0be able to\u00a0do it.\u00a0\u00a0This seems like something that does not happen today, because of schools neccessitating a computer for each child in school.\u00a0\u00a0No gawd-dang wonder my nephew turns up at my place with a boat load of various and sundry order forms for fundraiser junk, not more than a week after school opens, ever year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I say that if teachers think each child needs a computer they are full of it.\u00a0 Microsoft Word is not that hard to learn and if you want to have a vocation in computers, take that shit as an elective or go off and study them in college, like the rest of us had to.\u00a0 Computer skills\u00a0have been\u00a0more and more of a prerequisite for jobs in the last couple of decades but these things can be learned\u00a0through the use of\u00a0libraries, community education courses and the like.<\/p>\n
As for my personal experience in these areas\u2026<\/p>\n
I was taught penmanship in school, and\u00a0I retain a modicum of what I learned.\u00a0 Mine\u00a0handwriting is\u00a0a\u00a0blend of print and cursive, which\u2013depending on the day\u2013resembles a bit of my mom\u2019s\u00a0or my dad\u2019s hand.\u00a0 Tis kind of sloppy most of the time, but It looks good when I really make an effort, like with Christmas cards, and thank-you\u2019s.\u00a0 However I\u2019m proud of it.\u00a0 Not because it is great, but because it is mine.\u00a0 It\u2019s a piece of my identity,\u00a0something unique that no one else in the world can match.\u00a0 My parents both worked out of the home and I fondly recall having Mrs. Kunz holler, \u201cLong, easy strokes!\u00a0 Next line is your \u2018e\u2019s!\u00a0 Ready?\u201d over her record player with the soundtrack to Chariots of Fire playing on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was in the Girl Scouts, volleyball, Indian Princess, and had many playmates and things to run off and do, but I still had time for homework and learning.\u00a0 So to say that we have no time to read directions and do homework and\/or other tasks the right way the first time, so the excuse \u201ctoo many activities\u201d\u00a0can\u2019t be a major factor for the dwindling of our minds, either.<\/p>\n
I think that we don\u2019t take the time to take a deep breath and read directions because of the fact that we can all be reachable at any time, and virtually anwhere (advent of cell phones), we mess around on the computer\u00a0too much\u00a0(computers more widely available in our homes, and the advent of the internet), and we want to spend lots of time in front of the TV (too many cable channels, TIVO, DVD mania, etc.).<\/p>\n
And I think that we don\u2019t handwrite enough because many things don\u2019t require it, such as e-mail, faxing, word processing, and text-messaging,\u00a0thus making it very easy for schools to erase handwriting, penmanship, and writing in general, from curriculums across the country.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s because we are just plain lazy.<\/p>\n
\nOther posts on this day:<\/p>\n
Why Don\u2019t Users Read? over at Blankenthoughts was talking about how many people do not read instructions when it comes to computer usage.\u00a0 I agree with this blogger about how people don\u2019t read directions these days.\u00a0 I have to also agree that it seems handwriting is a thing of the past.\u00a0 I don\u2019t fully know … <\/p>\n