MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Beginning next year, children in Finland will be taught print handwriting only and spend more time perfecting their keyboard skills, “something we recognise is very important for the job market,” according to Minna Harmanen, a Board of Education spokeswoman.
She added that after Finns moved to a modern handwriting style in 1986, it became more complicated for students to write and for teachers to read, because certain letters look very alike in longhand.
“We used to do joined-up writing so that we could write faster, but these days kids only start learning it in grade two [aged eight] and have a year to get it right before moving on to concentrating on what they write, rather than simply how they write it… They don’t have time to become fast at cursive writing, so it’s not useful for them,” Harmanen said.
While neuroscientists argue that longhand is good for brain and motor skill development, educational authorities in many countries are increasingly eager to drop cursive instruction.
In 2011, CNN reported that 80 percent of US states have phased out or were planning to phase out cursive writing classes from schools curriculum.
