That's So Old School

Lately I've been rereading the letters and cards I've saved from my Nan over the years. Up until her ninetieth year I'd still get a Christmas Card from her, and I'd know without even looking at the return address on the envelope that it was from  her.  Her distinctive handwriting is as unique as her soulful smile, and it amazes me how much you can tell about someone by how they loop their letters together.  It's an art form from the beginning of time.  An old school skill that is almost extinct.

In an era where students spend their days blogging on iPads and reading e-books there are basic skills that have been pushed to the wayside because in today's modern society they are deemed archaic. Handwriting or cursive writing is not valued as an essential skill to teach so it has been cut from the BC curriculum, to make room for designing wikis and other "technology" IEP's.  In the past ten years I've noticed a significant decline in the neatness of printing, to the point where I've asked students decipher their own work for me.  As a person who values the weight of a pen; the crispness of blank paper; and the scent of dusty books, this has been a difficult pill to swallow.  The gravity of the situation didn't hit home until my niece (aged 8) innocently informed me she will never be able to read Nan's letters and cards because she can't read cursive.  Her comment alone makes me wonder if we educators have thrown the baby out with the bath water, so to speak, when we decided to focus on technology instead of fundamental skills.  Now don't get me wrong, I see the purpose of technology in the classroom and in my daily life; I love my iPad and laptop.  But give me a blank journal and a new pen and I get giddy.  There is something that transforms inside me when I put a pen to paper- my ideas flow.  This hardly ever happens when I type on the key board.  All of my blog posts and creative endeavors start with the old school tools.

Penmanship is not the only skill lost in our high- tech society; being able to read an analogue clock, and how to use a dictionary are among other basic skills not taught.  Of course you don't need these skills to survive the modern world, but what we have lost with these things is how to be patient, and the satisfaction of discovery.  Most kids are used to getting information literally at their finger tips; they don't have to to think about an answer; they just Google it.  They are not taught how to wait or persevere when things get tough. Qualities like being introspective, patient and having good manners are being weeded out in this high paced society.

Maybe I should have been a teacher from the olden days so I could instill the value of penmanship, good manners, accountability, and how to make a friend.  Yes, I said how to make a friend.  This year alone I have had handful of students express their desire to make friends but they don't know how.  It's a skill that didn't need to be taught until this generation.  We have enabled these kids with social media, video games and technology but they don't know how to socialize face to face.  They need to master some basic social skills, like making small talk, before we let them text away.

I'm not saying we have to stop progression, but I think we need to place some value on the old letters our grandmothers wrote to us that sit in the bottom of a drawer.