Handwriting is on the decline. With the rapid growth in complacency, struggles in technology usage and decrease in legible penmanship amongst students, many educators are reconsidering a return to the traditional pen and paper.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, a U.S. high school student who took the Preliminary SAT this past year confessed that “audible gasps broke out in the room” when students learned they would have to write a one-sentence statement in cursive.
According to Robert Wiley, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, overreliance on keyboards can lead to “character amnesia”–an individual gradually losing their ability to form letters by hand.
“Some students have lost their fine motor endurance to sit down and write,” English teacher Alexis Feix said. “It can be hard, especially if you’ve become accustomed to typing which many of us have. And frankly, typing is easier and more efficient.”
Basic skills for writing are not the only things that are diminishing through constant typing, the ability to learn and develop are also being undermined. A 2014 study led by psychologists Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer found that performances of students who took class notes by hand performed better on conceptual questions than those who used laptops. The researchers concluded that handwriting aids retention because of the slower pace of writing which encourages the note-taker to think.
The deeper reason behind this phenomenon can be explained by a 2024 study in Frontiers in Psychology. During the study, brain activity was tracked in students taking notes. Results revealed that students who wrote by hand had higher levels of electrical activity across a vast range of interconnected brain regions which play a vital role in movement, vision, sensory processing and memory.
Furthermore, students have expressed struggles while doing digital assignments through AI platforms such as Class Companion, an AI-powered educational platform. Although the program provides convenience to students and teachers, concerns such as inaccurate rubrics and lost points despite fulfilling all requirements of an assignment have led students to flag questions and seek accurate clarification from teachers. These issues cast doubt on the precision of AI, promoting the revitalization of traditional paperwork and grading in writing curriculum.
Feix claims that her class largely depends on writing with pen and paper rather than typing on devices, although students will occasionally complete digital assignments through Class Companion. The purpose behind doing so is to ensure that students feel comfortable in composing their own essays, thinking through mistakes, revising and editing — all without the assistance of artificial intelligence or other technologies.
“When students are in the workforce, functioning in the real world, then they will know when AI is right or wrong,” Feix said. “They will know when it’s giving them a good recommendation and what they can do without it. And it will help build their confidence.”