CURSIVE OUTLAWED?

I recently attended a meeting wherein one of the people I met with asked me my opinion about typing on a computer versus handwriting. He'd recently been to a school function where they mentioned they were considering (or planning to) not teach writing with a pen and paper any longer, citing the proliferation of communication by email and text message. In my opinion, this is insane. Perhaps we should get rid of whole words all together and just teach acronyms like WTF or LMAO or IKR or JK or BRB. Maybe we should outlaw words and just use capital letters that can mean differing things depending on the reader's imagination.

I am a proponent of both the written word on screen, in type and in a notebook, written out with a pen or pencil, cursive or not. I use both methods for varying applications in my writing life. Of course, some things must go out in type like emails or submissions or books. I believe most everything meant to be shared with the world should end up in typewritten form eventually, but it doesn't necessarily have to start there.

I know several people who write all of their initial drafts out long hand and then type them into the computer. I've read that the physical act of feeling your ink or lead flow over a piece of paper frees creativity and allows one to tap more deeply into his or her self-conscious. Plus in the transition from written long-hand to typed-in, the piece will undergo at least one round of revision. In my own practice, when I'm free writing, whether just stream-of-consciousness, see-what-will-come-out writing or if I'm free writing on a specific topic or planning of a piece, I use a pen and paper, usually my journal. When I have a specific piece I'm working on, like my novel or an article for which I'm using notes, I type it directly into the computer. I may use handwriting to make notes, plan a piece, or write bits of it which I'll then type in directly from my journal, but I almost never write an entire piece out by hand and then type it in.

Clearly, there is a place for typing and handwriting - at least enough of a place where both should still be taught to our children. Sure, with smart phones and tablets, usually we will always have some device available on which to type, but what if our devices die and there isn't an outlet nearby? At least pen, pencil, and paper don't need plugged in...

What do you think? Does this school need a clunk on the head or are they on the write track? Feel free to comment int he comment section below.

Happy Writing - However you do it!
-The Wordsy Woman