Handwriting is dead, long live keyboard skills!

书写已逝，键盘技能万岁！

So says the Finnish education system. From 2016 handwriting will no longer be taught in Finnish schools. And when a high-performing country like Finland makes an educational move, the rest of us who are slipping down the international ladder of academic performance should at least consider whether there would be any benefit in following in their footsteps.

这是芬兰教育制度所传达的信息。从2016年开始，芬兰学校的写字课将不复存在。当像芬兰这样一个教育如此发达的国家有此行动时，其他在学术表现逊色的国家至少应该想想效仿芬兰是否能带来益处。

Should we ditch handwriting lessons too?

我们是不是也应该废除写字课？

Does handwriting matter?

书写重要吗？

Most would agree that everyone should at least be able to pick up a pen or pencil and craft a message that others can read. But beyond legibility, does it matter how you form your letters when you hand write?

很多人都同意每个人至少应能拿起笔写出清晰可辨的信息。但是除了可读性之外，书写的方式真的重要吗？

There is research linking fluent handwriting with better written compositions. But the key isn’t the quality, form or style of the handwriting, but rather the automaticity of the handwriting. That is, the less you have to concentrate on getting your letters right, the more brain space you can devote to getting your message right. So, your handwriting just needs to feel natural for you.

有研究表明流畅的书写与更好的文笔具有相关性。但关键不在于书写的质量、形式或风格，而在于书写的自动化程度。也就是说，你在写好字上花的精力越少，你构思文章的精力就越多。因此，你的书写只需自然流畅即可。

Typing versus¹ handwriting

打字vs手写

Writing automaticity is just as easily achieved on a keyboard. It is actually more time efficient to teach a child to type than it is to teach them a particular handwriting style. By the time they are eight years old, they can already type faster than they can handwrite.

写字的自动化程度很容易通过键盘来实现。实际上，教一个孩子打字比教他们一种特定的字体有效率多了。等到他们八岁的时候，他们打字速度已经比手写要快了。

In 2016, the national standardized² literacy and numeracy tests, NAPLAN, will be completed online. We can assume this means students will type their compositions rather than handwrite them. And perhaps the nation’s writing scores will improve as a result. Typed written assessments³ typically score more highly than handwritten compositions. Assessors rate them as better organized, and, quite simply, easier to read.

2016年，芬兰国家标准化识读与运算测试（NAPLAN）将采用机试。我们可以认为，这意味着考生们会用键盘打字而非手写，而且全国整体的写作分数也可能会有所提高。一般来说，打出来的文章比手写的文章得分更高。阅卷者会认为打出来的文章构思更好，当然，也更易读。

Should we bother teaching handwriting?

我们应该把精力花在教学生写字上吗？

As prevalent as keyboards are, handwriting isn’t obsolete⁴ quite yet, so it remains⁵ important to teach letter formation to young children.

虽然键盘大行其道，但是手写至今也还未过时，所以将字母编排教给幼儿依然重要。

The letters of the alphabet are complex abstract symbols and children can’t begin to write their letters until they can draw a circle. If they can’t draw a circle then they can’t form letters like a, b, d, o, p, q.

字母表中的字母是复杂而抽象的符号，只有等孩子们可以画圆圈时，他们才可以开始书写字母。如果他们不会画圈，那么他们便写不出a、b、d、o、p、q这些字母来。

This ability to draw an enclosed shape is a very important marker of both cognitive⁶ and physical development, and it is a skill that emerges from their scribbles⁷. So drawing, scribbling⁸ and playing with crayons and pencils are an important part of learning to hand write.

画封闭图形的能力是认知和身体发展的重要标志，这项技能从涂鸦开始形成。所以画画、涂鸦和摆弄蜡笔与铅笔是学习写字的重要部分。

An old-fashioned anachronism?

手写过时了？

The history of handwriting has always been one of convenience and change according to the writing technologies available.

方便省事和根据已有书写技术产生的演变共同谱写出了手写体的发展史。

In our first alphabets, Phoenician, Greek and Roman, the letters were angular due to the writing technologies of the day - chisels⁹, granite¹⁰, marble and clay. The first writing was from right to left across the page – a more natural direction for the chiseller¹¹.

在最早的字母表——腓尼基、希腊和罗马字母表中，由于当时的手写技术为錾子、花岗岩、大理石和粘土，字母呈一定的角度。最初人们写字的方向是从右到左的，对凿工来说，这一顺序来得更自然。

But when ink and paper came along, moving from right to left was too messy for right handed writers and the direction of our writing changed from left to right. (To the chagrin¹² of all left handers, until the invention of the fast drying ballpoint pen!)

人类发明了纸和墨之后，对习惯于用右手写字的人来说从右到左写字太麻烦了，于是书写的方向就变成了从左到右（但这也让左撇子们恼怒不已，这种情况直到人类发明了速干圆珠笔之后才得以改变。）

It wasn’t just directionality that changed as we made the shift from stone to paper. Pen and ink made it easier to produce curves rather than angles, and the shape of our letters changed accordingly.

在我们的书写载体从石头到纸张演变的过程中，改变的不仅仅是书写的方向。笔墨让画弧线变得比画角度容易，字母的形状也由此改变。

The technology of the fountain pen meant directionality of strokes became important. Down strokes were important because the shape of the nib¹³ and flow of the ink didn’t easily allow for upstrokes.

钢笔的发明让笔画的方向性变得重要起来。要知道钢笔尖和墨水的流动是不利于写向上的笔画的，因此向下的笔画很重要。

The invention of the ballpoint pen meant we no longer relied on ink refills, and nib shapes. Felt tip pens meant that even gravity no longer played a role in the way we write. Yet children still complete pages of handwriting exercises based on the technology of the fountain pen and ink.

圆珠笔的发明意味着我们不再需要勤换墨水，不再受笔尖形状的限制。签字笔意味着甚至连重力都不再影响我们书写的方式。然而，小孩子仍然需要用钢笔来完成一页又一页的书写练习。

Handwriting vs writing

手写vs写作

Handwriting is often wrongly conflated with writing ability. You only need to glance at the handwritten manuscripts of our greatest writers to know there isn’t a link between handwriting skills and literacy skills.

人们往往错误地把书写能力和写作能力混同起来。你只要看看我们那些伟大作家的字迹，便可知道书写技能与写作水平无关。

I remember my son’s Year 2 teacher was very worried about his handwriting. Apparently¹⁴ he started his letters at the bottom, using upstrokes instead of downstrokes. His teacher was concerned it may hamper¹⁵ his literacy development in some way, and that I should “train” him out of it.

我记得我儿子读二年级的时候老师十分担心他的书写。很显然，他写字都是从底部开始，用向上的笔画而非向下的笔画。老师担心这可能在某种程度上阻碍他写作能力的发展，而认为我应该多教孩子写字。

There may have been a few reasons why he wrote his letters this way. The first language he learned to write was Greek, which has a different alphabet. He is also a left-hander and they often do things a little differently as they try to reconcile their way of seeing the world with that of their right handed teachers. Or maybe it was just his style; natural and automatic to him.

他这样写字可能有以下几点原因。他最早学习的语言是希腊语，而希腊语有着一套不同的字母体系。他也是个左撇子，这使得他在协调自己看待世界的方式与习惯于用右手写字的老师看待世界的方式的时候，写字的上下顺序有所不同。或许他的书写风格就是这样，他写起来流畅自然。

It was not, however, an indication of a literacy difficulty.

然而，这并不表明他的写作能力低下。

Perhaps there are more important things to do

也许我们还有一些更重要的事情要做

With so many things to do in a school day, it is hard to see why dedicated¹⁶ handwriting lessons persist.

学校的一天当中有那么多事情要做，很难说专门的写字课为什么要保留。

No matter how standardized we attempt to make handwriting, we all end up with our own style. So perhaps there are better things to do in the school day than have children complete pages of handwriting exercises. Perhaps we’d do just as well to let children play with drawing and writing implements¹⁷ and find their own style.

不管我们试图让自己的书写变得多么标准，我们最后总会以自己的风格去写字。所以，比起让孩子们完成数页的写字练习，在学校可能还有更重要的事情值得去做。也许，我们只需要让孩子们学会使用写字画画的工具，从而发现自己的风格。