Thumbs: The Brain's (New) Writing Instrument

Conspectus Borealis Volume 5 Issue 1 5th Anniversary Issue Article 7 12-2019 Thumbs: The Brain's (New) Writing Instrument Mariel Morton Northern Michigan University, Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.nmu.edu/conspectus_borealis Part of the Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, and the Elementary Education Commons Recommended Citation Morton, Mariel (2019) "Thumbs: The Brain's (New) Writing Instrument," Conspectus Borealis: Vol. 5 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://commons.nmu.edu/conspectus_borealis/vol5/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Peer-Reviewed Series at NMU Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Conspectus Borealis by an authorized administrator of NMU Commons. For more information, please contact Kevin McDonough. Thumbs: The Brain’s (New) Writing Instrument Close your eyes. Imagine this; the year is 1955, the Vietnam War has just begun. You are happily married, you live in a cute, little town, but your significant other has just been drafted into the service. The only form of contact you will have with one another is via letters. Your love for him is so strong, you write vigorously: sharing your days, the town gossip, and everything good and new in an attempt to keep his spirits up. Now, on the other end of the story, you are in Vietnam. Your days are spent fighting, missing home, and longing for your loved one. Times are hard, your only goal is to survive. Finally, you receive letters in the mail, from her. Upon opening them, you recognize the writing: beautiful, swirling cursive. It looks as though it took hours to write, the font making each word even sweeter. There is nothing else like that letter in the world; nothing else that could bring you the joy of her unique, twirling cursive writing. Years later, you look back at those treasured letters, reading them to your grandchildren. Their eyes glisten with admiration for the distant romance. Your hope for the love letters is to instill the importance of cursive writing, both for them and the generations to come while never fully allowing the effects of texting or typing to limit their brains’ development. Fast forward to 2019, where this “fancy” writing is no longer in the curriculum of Common Core education (Doverspike, 2015). As of 2014, nearly 45 American states did not require handwriting in their everyday learning (Petrescu, 2014). Microsoft Word is the new calligraphy while pens are collecting dust (Petrescu, 2014). Cursive remains an art form; however, now according to The New York Times, it is becoming more of a mystery to the approaching generation (Zezima, 2011). Endless love letters are being replaced with emotionless text messages and emails (Petrescu, 2014). Yet, cursive is said to be a language that gives one’s hand writing personal style (Weidmann, 2014). According to The Federalist, “Children no less than adults long to express their individuality and creativity” (Doverspike, 2015). What better way to do it than a customized signature? While printing today may be more legible than makeshift cursive from people who do not know how to use it, Heidi Harralson, a graphologist interviewed by “The New York Times,” reveals this blocky writing puts people at a higher risk of forgery (Zezima, 2011). The lack of complexity in printing allows others to easily copy someone else’s signature (Zezima, 2011). However, this risk seems to be unimportant to today’s educators. In an interview for “The New York Times,” principal Jacqueline DeChiaro, from an elementary school in New York, claims, “Schools today, we say we’re preparing our kids for the 21st century,” questioning whether or not cursive really is a 21st century skill (Zezima, 2011). Other instructors interviewed by The Times reveal that unless the topic is preparing students for standardized testing, there is not enough time to focus on their adequate handwriting skills (Zezima, 2011). This idea brings the subject back around to cursive as an art form. Ken Robinson did a lecture at a TedTalk convention, informing viewers that schools kill creativity. In his talk, he claims educators are prioritizing what subjects are useful for work later in life, steering students away from so-called “fun” (Robinson, 2013). However, according to Anca Petrescu (2014), almost all employers still require some sort of handwriting. Robinson (2013) also states that academic ability and intelligence dominate creativity. However, there are three things people must remember about intelligence; intelligence is diverse, distinct, and dynamic: meaning students do not have to be only math geniuses to be considered smart (Robinson, 2013). The only solution to this problem that so many face, is to consider the gift of the human imagination (Robinson, 2013). Educators are said to “mine the minds of students, looking for a particular commodity,” while they should be worrying about educating the whole being (Robinson, 2013). Learning cursive will help this diminishing creativity to flourish in the classroom (Doverspike 2015). According to Weidmann (2014), in his TedTalk lecture on 21st century writing, “handwriting helps develop the brain.” This claim is backed up by an article from The Federalist admitting that writing is indeed slower, but it allows students to take better notes by summarizing, pointing out key words and phrasing- all written in a way they understand (Doverspike, 2015). The process of handwritten notes stimulates the brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS): highlighting what is right in front the notetaker and allowing them to be more focused on the material (Doverspike, 2015). The manner in which the brain uses writing to take notes actually accelerates students’ learning: improving both their test scores and their ability to pick up a new language (Doverspike, 2015). In an attempt to increase the benefits of handwriting, Goodwin recommends teaching typing should be held off until the age of 10 to 12, after a child’s ability to write is fully developed. (Goodwin, 2018). As Maria Montessori once stated, “the hand is the instrument to the brain,” but what happens to the brain when that device is limited to two thumbs and a six-inch phone screen (Petrescu, 2014)? According to The Federalist, the importance of writing is so prominent that “the relationship between handwriting and composition quality is even seen on an MRI” (Doverspike, 2015). A brain with good handwriting is shown to be more active in the areas that deal with cognition, language and executive functioning- such as managing oneself (Doverspike, 2015). A study at Indiana University brought in “pre-literate” 5-year-olds for MRIs (Petrescu, 2014). Results showed children who practiced printing had an enhanced neural activity, more adult-like than those simply looking at the letters when typing on a keyboard, indicating that a form of learning took place (Petrescu, 2014). According to A Dilemma of the Dig (...truncated)