Handwriting in College

First, a couple of sad truths

Years ago, before you were in school, someone in the Ohio Department of Education (or some similar government office) decided that computers were THE thing of the future, so they stopped teaching elementary school children how to write. I see the result every time I teach a class. If I give a quiz, there is a general panic because several of my students showed up for a college class without paper or pen. Nobody is taking notes, so if I say something in a lecture, they have no way to remember it. If I write something on the board, several people will stand up and take pictures of it with their phones because they lack the equipment and skill to write it down.

That’s sad. It’s like these students never got beyond the first or second grade. (I understand, by the way, that Ohio has realized how foolish it was to stop teaching handwriting, and they are putting it back into the schools—but for you, that decision is a bit late, so we need to help you get back to speed.)

Why you should learn to write by hand

When you are sitting there, staring blankly at me while I am speaking, very little gets into your head. You showed up at college to learn something, but sitting there and staring means that less than 10% of the class content sticks. When you are writing notes (even if you do not review them later), a LOT more brain cells get into the action, and if you actually look at your notes later, even more learning takes place. Did you show up here to learn something or simply to put in time until your graduation date?

Our course will not have the sort of tests in which you must reproduce facts (“Name the bones of the hand.” “Discuss how tariffs contributed to the outbreak of the First World War.”), but you will run into those courses very soon. Some teacher will say something and expect you to know it at test time. Taking notes is essential.

When you get to English 102, a major part of the curriculum is a research paper. You will need to take notes from six or eight resources (some of them paper books from the library) and use that information to build your essay.

Handwritten notes—even if they are disorganized and untidy—are a very good way to get started on writing any essay or project. They do not have to be perfect or complete. They can be a mess. But if you have written SOMETHING down, you are on a roll.

Your next step: Go shopping

You will learn very soon that I am a great fan of fountain pens, but they are not available around here (I buy from a company in Virginia) and they tend to be expensive. Very humble beginnings are just fine.

Plain old pen or pencil. A couple of good yellow #2 pencils are a great start. (Do get some way to sharpen them.) If you go with pens, avoid the cheap, useless ones the bank gives out. The big box stores like Target or Walmart have Pilot Precise V5 Rollerball Pens in a pack of three for less than six bucks. I am sure there are other good choices out there, but this is one I have liked.

Spiral notebook. I said it before, that you want something cheap and informal, not expensive and elegant. Left-handers should get the kind with the spring at the top of the page. In her book, Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg suggests getting a notebook with something truly silly on the cover—cartoon characters or the like—just to send your brain the message that this is supposed to be light and fun.

After that

Writing is a physical skill, and you should not expect to be perfect the first time you try. When you are teaching a little kid baseball, they will hold the bat wrong, stand in the wrong place, and generally throw very awkwardly. But that is just the beginning. And it is unreasonable to expect the kid to be ready for Little League in a week or two. Give yourself the same slack when you are thinking about your handwriting. I am posting this at the beginning of summer to give you some relaxed time to practice the skill.

Here is a link to a good book on the basic skills: Better handwriting for adults. The book is from Ireland, so some of it might be a little different from what you expect, but I think it looks helpful.