:) While writing my original post, I tried to mention that copy/paste wasn't common knowledge at the time, but couldn't form a communicative sentence on the mat

:) While writing my original post, I tried to mention that copy/paste wasn't common knowledge at the time, but couldn't form a communicative sentence on the matter. I certainly didn't know how to copy/paste at the time. This was in the days of Windows 3.1, and I was programming in QuickBasic 4.5 on DOS. I think the word processor I used when typing may have been Word Perfect. > Regardless, I’d think the main goal of forcing repetitive writing is improving handwriting and word recognition, which require a pen(cil) and not a keyboard. I think the goal was for us to memorize spelling of the word. Maybe improved handwriting was a sub-goal, I don't know. By that age, I don't think teachers really focused on our penmanship. I consider word recognition to be more of a reading skill. I was a lazy student. Spelling was never a priority for me. I never did well on tests because I never studied my spelling words. I was more into math and science. My parents never hassled me about my bad spelling test grades.