THE NEED FOR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
As we advance technologically, the wonders of computers are fantastic and their convenience is overwhelmingly attractive to our need for speedy communication. I can, with the click of a few buttons, find out what’s going on in London or Montreal. I can, with the click of a few buttons, a credit card, find out just about anything I want to know about anyone.
However, it is my opinion, based on what I understand of intellectual evolution, that using a pen or a pencil is extremely important to the development of the brain. First of all, one is either born right or left handed. Through the experience of learning to write, I have become more dexterous and it is important to by equilibrium. Why? For the very same reason that using tools were important to cave people, and I dare you to find someone who can say that we no longer need tools.
When I focus on doing something, I will get it done, however, I must use my hands. The vast majority of human beings must use their hands. Life gets difficult without adept manual dexterity. There is only one sport which requires no hands.
As I trained myself to write under the tutelage of a teacher in Texas, my eyes were trained to look for distinction and my manual dexterity was trained for a specific type of writing, within a specific type of line, which enhanced my ability to read.
Why? Quite simply, left to right conditioning of search. Now, as an adult, I can look at the cover of a book, read the first paragraph, and check the publisher to ascertain whether or not the book is worth my time. In other words, I’m going to know what kind of quality information I’m getting. On the internet, it is different, and I don’t want to rely on the government to decide what I can and cannot read. When paper goes and the ability to write goes, it could mean total intellectual surrender. Is paper or the production of it dangerous to our natural supplies? Then find a creative alternative.
Could I have learned to read without this method? Yes. However, conditioning a child to a qwerty keyboard on a computer, first requires that they know how to read and write. The qwerty, if you think about it, doesn’t make sense to the mind. It makes sense to the hands. It is arranged for manual ease, not intellectual ease. Things which make sense are very important to learning children. That is the reason for education. To make sense.
Further, notation, which is the most basic and helpful means of study/memorizing is very essential.
You might accuse me of being a purist or old fashioned, but I believe that handwriting in a very simple sense is vastly more important than knowing how to use a computer. How simple, but extremely vital? Remove the OS from your computer and see how much you can get done.
If you know anything about History and how it often repeats itself because some base, control freak attempts it, then you will realize that handwriting is something worth fighting for and maintaining.
