DoAmericanchildrenstilllearnhandwritinginschool?Intheageofthekeyboardsomepeopleseemtothinkhandwritinglessonsareonthewayout.90%ofteacherssaytheyarerequiredtoteachhandwriting.Butstudieshaveyettoanswerthequestionofhowwelltheyareteachingit.Onestudypublishedthisyearfoundthataboutthreeoutofeveryfourteacherssaytheyarenotpreparedtoteachhandwriting.Someteachersareteachinghandwritingbyprovidinginstructionfortentofifteenminutesadayandthenotherteacherswhobasicallyteachitforsixtytoseventyminutesaday-whichreallyisprettymuchforhandwriting.

Manyadultsrememberlearningthatway-bycopyinglettersoverandoveragain.Today’sthinkingisthatshortperiodsofpracticearebetter.Manyexpertsalsothinkhandwritingshouldnotbetaughtbyitself.Insteadtheysayitshouldbeusedasawaytogetstudentstoexpressideas.Afterallthatiswhywewrite.

Handwritinginvolvestwoskills.Oneislegibilitywhichmeansformingtheletterssotheycanberead.Theotherisfluency-writingwithouthavingtothinkaboutit.Fluencycontinuestodevelopupuntilhighschool.

Butnoteveryonemasterstheseskills.Teacherscommonlyreportthataboutonefourthoftheirkidshavepoorhandwriting.Somepeoplemightthinkhandwritingisnotimportantanymorebecauseofcomputersandvoicerecognitionprograms.

ButSteveGrahamatVanderbiltsayswordprocessingisrarelydoneinelementaryschoolespeciallyintheearlyyears.Americanchildrentraditionallyfirstlearntoprintandthentowriteincursivewhichconnectstheletters.ButguesswhatwelearnedfromaspokeswomanfortheCollegeBoardwhichadministerstheSATcollegeadmissiontest.Morethan75%ofstudentschoosetoprinttheiressayonthetestratherthanwriteincursive.

1.Wecaninferfromthefirstparagraphthat______.

A.teachersspendlittletimeinteachinghandwriting.

B.mostteachersattachimportancetoteachinghandwriting.

C.handwritingteachingisnotcommonlyrequired.

D.mostteachersareatalosshowtoteachhandwriting

2.WhichofthefollowingabouttraditionalhandwritingintheUSAisNOTtrue?

A.Thestudentsaretaughtbypracticingalongp