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Training young humans in basic manual dexterity seems pretty reasonable to me. It would be good to require more manual training than just minimal and mediocre h
by jacobolus 7y ago
Training young humans in basic manual dexterity seems pretty reasonable to me. It would be good to require more manual training than just minimal and mediocre handwriting practice, and get young people folding origami, sewing, drawing, sculpting clay, cutting food with a knife, using chopsticks, playing musical instruments, tying knots, ...
Paper furthermore remains a much more flexible and fluent tool than computer interfaces for a wide variety of tasks.
- Iv 7y agoWe do far more than train them with "mediocre handwriting". We introduce letters by showing script (which is a confusing style almost never used anywhere in the real world) and insist for years on the correct shape to use on this totally obsolete style. Any of the activity you mention would be a better way to train manual dexterity.
- jacobolus 7y agoThis varies a lot from place to place. My school mostly focused on print letters, and didn’t provide much useful guidance to students. I agree the typical American “cursive” letters are quite terrible, and that in many places pedagogy is not very effective. Personally I think students should learn some type of simplified italic-type script, using a pen with ink that flows well enough that they don’t need to use much pressure.