Write and Wrong
Why Are Preschools Teaching Penmanship?
By Elizabeth Chang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 7, 2002; Page H07
I never wanted to be a fuddy-duddy complaining about how much things have changed since I was a child, but when my younger daughter Sara's preschool teachers told me they were worried about her poor writing, well, then I started thinking things had gone too far.
The first time this happened, Sara had just turned 4. Four!
The second time it happened, Sara had just turned 5. But I was cowed enough to call a therapist, Joye Newman of Bethesda, who pretty much laughed at me. She's a baby, she said. Give her time.
So we asked the teacher to please lay off on the handwriting thing, and as the year went on, Sara's printing and "artwork" improved dramatically, probably because she had finally naturally gotten interested in writing and developed the skills do it.
So I have to wonder, what kind of world is it where parents are fretting about their 4-year-olds' handwriting? Why are we rushing everything? Why do we encourage preschoolers to print before they can properly hold a pencil, yet neglect to take the time to teach our children how to read clocks instead of digital displays, or to tie their shoes instead of using Velcro? Why can so many kids maneuver a mouse before they can ride a bike?
Well, I can't take on all of our hurried society at once, but in the handwriting realm, at least, I'm going to have my say. Because most research and the specialists I've talked to agree that children are generally ready to be introduced to writing -- and have the necessary motor and visual skills -- sometime during kindergarten. In fact, not even every kindergartner is prepared to write, say the experts, all of whom advocate waiting until a student is ready and receptive. "It's easier to learn something when everything is in place," says Newman, who is a perceptual motor therapist, runs movement classes for children and thinks kids need to exercise and move to develop good pre-writing skills.
Yet many preschools persist in teaching children to write, and even evaluating that writing, before the students have the skills they need.
There was a time, according to Tamara Plakins Thornton's history, "Handwriting in America," when some educators advocated waiting until fourth grade; only then could children be expected to master handwriting, because it was believed that not until then did they attain the necessary motor skills. This was still in the days when schools taught only cursive, however.
Remember the progression when we were in elementary school? Printing in kindergarten and/or first grade. Cursive in third. Penmanship grades. Most assignments in elementary school were handwritten. Typing didn't come until sometime in middle or high school.
Compare that with today's curriculum. Handwriting in preschool, probably in reaction to the tougher kindergarten curriculum. Then, in second grade, sometimes before they have the basics of handwriting down, children are often introduced to typing. Cursive still comes around third grade, but nowadays it's often a rushed program, with some people arguing that one script should suffice, especially since most kids are going to wind up on computers. And forget penmanship; kids are lucky if they are taught to sit properly and form their letters efficiently. In fact, according to the experts, not only do most teachers have no training in handwriting instruction, they don't have the time to teach it thoroughly.
There can be a real down side to this more compressed approach to handwriting, specialists say. Because people do need to write -- messages to one another, notes in class, shopping lists. And people need to be able to accomplish two things when they write: They need to be able to do it legibly and do it fluently. If a child, and others, can't read her own handwriting, it's useless as a form of communication. And if she can't do it fluently, she will either avoid it or will be so focused on it that she will have trouble composing sentences or will miss information she's receiving from others.
"Unless you have your symbols under control and fully available to use, you're stuck in mechanics," says Jan Olsen, the local founder of Handwriting Without Tears. "It's a nuisance to not be able to read what you write or get it down quickly."
Shortchanging handwriting instruction could endanger both legibility and fluency, and some experts, such as Newman, argue that pushing handwriting instruction on children early does so as well. Even getting rid of cursive could have a negative impact, according to University of Maryland special education professor Steven Graham, because most people have found that they can write most quickly and legibly using a mixture of manuscript (print) and cursive letters.
But though some experts complain about the lack of time and attention being given to handwriting, that doesn't mean they think schools should start teaching it earlier. "I think it's a mistake to depend on day-care providers and preschool teachers to teach handwriting," Olsen says, because various day-care centers and preschools have such different standards and philosophies.
In Olsen's view, "a kindergarten teacher should be responsible for taking a child and teaching them how to print capital letters, numbers and lowercase letters, and a few simple words," something that often happens in preschool nowadays. Kindergarten teachers should be trained to know where each child is developmentally, she says, and to deal with the vast range of developmental differences that occur at that age. "If you push children developmentally before they're ready, you hurt them," she says. "The earlier they push academics on children, the sooner they're going to have failures."
University of Maryland professor Graham agrees that "it's kind of ridiculous to expect that kids aren't ready for kindergarten if they don't form letters well by that time." He also thinks it's unrealistic, given society's vast differences in income and educational levels, to expect children to arrive in kindergarten with a certain level of home instruction; he, too, believes it's the role of the kindergarten teacher to teach children how to form letters and write systematically. But he says that even at the end of kindergarten, educators shouldn't be "overly concerned if . . . not everyone in the class is great at handwriting."
So here I am, vowing not to be alarmed even if Sara doesn't write well in kindergarten, and feeling comfortable in that rather retro attitude. I suppose my parents, and grandparents, can feel vindicated, too. For it turns out that, even in this age of computers, children need to write, and to write well -- and that some of the advice that should help them do so isn't so different from the stuff we heard from our elders: Go outside and play. Don't spend so many hours in front of a screen.
And, to parents, give your kids time. Don't rush things.
For Newman, writing can wait. "All those little kids need to do is learn to play and learn to be good people. As long as they've got that and they believe in themselves, they can do almost anything."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company |
