The Gauteng provincial government has this awesome idea to put tablets, PCs and interactive screens into every classroom in the next five years, in a project that will cost taxpayers R2 billion.
We just don't write. This fills me with sadness.
Moving to e-classrooms is a most excellent idea. The possibilities are endless: online research to do a project, online editing tools to create graphics - online everything. I'm super-chuffed that the school my angel goes to will finally offer the same technology as what she gets at home.
My "almost six!"-year-old has had a tablet for years. Actually, she stole mine several years ago and I responded by loading kiddie-appropriate games on it so she can use it as a learning tool. She goes to computer classes at her government school - which we chose for a variety of reasons, including wanting angel to mix with other kids who don't have it all - but apparently never uses the PCs.
That's probably just as well: no teacher wants to be shown up by a five-year-old who can navigate her way around a machine. Sadly, whatever the reason for the PC lab being off limits for now, this is just not good enough. She needs to be online, safely, learning, typing, even programming. Good grief, she's found her way around a tablet faster than I could.
So, I'm glad government schools will offer interactive technology. It's about time they join the rest of us. I'm sure being able to use hi-tech resources will help little people study better.
Lamentable
But...
Moving to tablets and PCs only means kids won't write anymore. I mean actual, physical writing. I distinctly remember the pleasure I gained from receiving a hand-written letter in the post. Love letters from my first crush, letters from my cousin in the UK, notes passed in class from friends...
No one writes anymore. A colleague asked me when I last wrote in my personal capacity and, apart from the shopping list, it was days ago that I wrote in princess's journal. We just don't write. This fills me with sadness.
Years ago, too many to admit to, my dad gave me a fountain pen. It was stolen from me at varsity, but the pain at that theft was not so much the loss of a physical item, but more the loss of what it represented. My dad had worked out that I'm a writer. Writers need pens.
Or not. Apparently, we just need something to type on. Which is just as well for my colleagues, because my handwriting is - erm - horrid and illegible. Worse than a doctor's, if I'm quite frank.
Technology will come in useful in these instances. Scripts that can be read. Wow. Apart from one small issue: signatures. One day, biometrics will fill that void, but for now, we need to prove that someone authorised something, and for that, we need to be able to sign our name.
Already, schools are phasing out cursive - or joined up - writing in favour of the more legible, but cumbersome, block writing. Apparently, it's now a choice as to whether kids want to use cursive or block writing. I'll be sad to see cursive go; it gives everyone their own unique flavour when it comes to writing, which block writing does not.
A lost art
By the time my little one gets to grade seven, no one will be actually writing at all. No more hand-written letters. Granted, I won't miss the messy fountain pen that I was forced to use during my brief stint in the English education system, but I would hate to miss out on my kid's grown-up handwriting.
Graphologists believe there is much one can glean from how a person writes. That science will be lost forever if we ignore the power of the written word, and only niche specialists will be able to write, not type.
Calligraphy will remain, but only for a privileged few. Back to the days of the scribes we go...
We've progressed from fountain pens to ballpoint and from typewriters to PCs and tablets. I wish someone has done some sort of study to determine what happens with handwriting as we advance technologically, and the link between handwriting and intellectual prowess.
Sadly, as much as we progress technologically, we will inevitably leave important things behind. Like the gift of a handwritten letter. Boy, is my stamp collection going to be worth something huge one day. *geek*
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