Is Penmanship a Dying Art?

Technology has made a lot of things easier for us these day. This includes writing. In the old days if people need to get something on paper, they pick up a pen and write them down, even if it is a 60 page report.

The dawn of the typewriting age takes the load off some of those things. I really admire the secretaries of those days, using those manual typewriters that require users to strike each key with Herculean strength. Yet these early day typists still manage to achieve the speed of 60 or more WPM. Still, any typo must be corrected by erasing (white off hasn't been invented yet). Over erasing will usually leave holes in the paper which means that the whole page must be typed all over again. I was lucky that when I started my secretarial course, electronic typewriters and computers were already widely available.

Of course with these modern conveniences available, people are writing less. By writing, I mean actually taking up a pen and putting things on paper by hand. Why bother with messy handwriting when documents can be printed neatly?

I am guilty of that. There was a time when I insisted on printing or typing with every opportunity possible. It got so bad that when I went to sit for an exam, I was struggling during the first 1/2 hour or so. Suddenly, holding a pen was something so alien to me that I had to take the time to reacquaint myself. By the end of the exam, my wrist was aching and I found that my handwriting had deteriorated to that of a kindergarten kid.

It's a pity, really. A handwritten letter or note certainly adds a personal touch to it as opposed to something printed or emailed. I'm not talking about those 60 pages reports, of course. Nowadays, it would just be plain nuts to write something that long by hand :)))