> In an editorial published on 4 September 2013, the Los Angeles Times hailed a step forward. “States and schools shouldn’t cling to cursive based on the romantic idea that it’s a tradition, an art form or a basic skill whose disappearance would be a cultural tragedy. Of course, everyone needs to be able to write without computers, but longhand printing generally works fine […] Print is clearer and easier to read than script. For many, it’s easier to write and just about as fast.”

Not all hand writing is meant to just express a point. Some hand writing is also—by itself—an art form. I can easily draw a parallel between penmanship skills and something such as creative writing. An easy to write, and fast way of writing is akin to "Jon kills Joe. Jon marries Susan. The end." Easily written, fast, to the point. And entirely worthless unless you only want to convey the absolute minimum. A fluid style in writing can display nuances, such as which side the gradient leans, what letters have a flourish, or how round the letters are (and which ones aren't).

As a programmer, I need to physically draw and write out how an application and its input/output will all come together. Even something stupid such as a simple box with multiple arrows coming in and out of it can have a big meaning. On paper, it looks like a few lines. But it represents what I actually am thinking about; and putting the pen to paper helps create an extension of my own thoughts, and allows me to move on in my head to further down the problem.

I have tried using text files to keep track of this information, but it can not contain the same meaning for me. Lines of text can change, and the visual representation is foreign, compared to something like my own hand writing and drawings. Even tablets aren't the same. The feeling of ink spilling out has an ephemeral high that is given, where a finger or touch-pen to a tablet just doesn't produce the same kind of feeling or relationship.

It may be an upbringing thing, though. I had been taught in a private school that pushed writing and penmanship from a young age. Any rough drafts had to be hand-written, and it wasn't until the final draft that we were allowed to type. Math problems as well had to be worked out by hand on paper, and calculators were not allowed until we reached pre-calc and geometry. I can see the point of view from someone coming up in a computer-only schooling, and how they might be more comfortable in using a keyboard to express their thoughts, though.

When learning a foreign language, I've found actually writing the words and characters out have a tremendous impact in helping me remember them later on. This is especially true for something like Japanese or Chinese, where I retrace which radical starts the character, and the order in which they go. For someone native to these languages, it may not be as big a deal due to the daily usage. However, it also seems some youths in Asia are forgetting the actual writing of some kanji/hanzi due the convenience of computers[1]. So now we can recognize a kanji and know its meaning, but knowing the kanji and being able to write it without aid may be more difficult.

[1] http://www.tofugu.com/2010/08/27/kanji-amnesia-and-why-its-o...