Handwriting will no longer be taught in Finnish schools(3)

人們往往錯誤地把書寫能力和寫作能力混同起來.你只要看看我們那些偉大作家的字跡,便可知道書寫技能與寫作水平無關(guān).

I remember my son's Year 2 teacher was very worried about his handwriting. Apparently he started his letters at the bottom, using upstrokes instead of downstrokes. His teacher was concerned it may hamper his literacy development in some way, and that I should "train" him out of it.

我記得我兒子讀二年級的時候老師十分擔心他的書寫.很顯然,他寫字都是從底部開始,用向上的筆畫而非向下的筆畫.老師擔心這可能在某種程度上阻礙他寫作能力的發(fā)展,而認為我應該多教孩子寫字.

There may have been a few reasons why he wrote his letters this way. The first language he learned to write was Greek, which has a different alphabet. He is also a left-hander and they often do things a little differently as they try to reconcile their way of seeing the world with that of their right handed teachers. Or maybe it was just his style; natural and automatic to him.

他這樣寫字可能有以下幾點原因.他最早學習的語言是希臘語,而希臘語有著一套不同的字母體系.他也是個左撇子,這使得他在協(xié)調(diào)自己看待世界的方式與習慣于用右手寫字的老師看待世界的方式的時候,寫字的上下順序有所不同.或許他的書寫風格就是這樣,他寫起來流暢自然.

It was not, however, an indication of a literacy difficulty.

然而,這并不表明他的寫作能力低下.

Perhaps there are more important things to do

也許我們還有一些更重要的事情要做

With so many things to do in a school day, it is hard to see why dedicated handwriting lessons persist.

學校的一天當中有那么多事情要做,很難說專門的寫字課為什么要保留.

No matter how standardized we attempt to make handwriting, we all end up with our own style. So perhaps there are better things to do in the school day than have children complete pages of handwriting exercises. Perhaps we'd do just as well to let children play with drawing and writing implements and find their own style.

不管我們試圖讓自己的書寫變得多么標準,我們最后總會以自己的風格去寫字.所以,比起讓孩子們完成數(shù)頁的寫字練習,在學校可能還有更重要的事情值得去做.也許,我們只需要讓孩子們學會使用寫字畫畫的工具,從而發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的風格.