Learning to write well by hand in the computer age – should one really insist on this? Is it not sufficient to obtain simple legible handwriting? Shouldn’t the children learn to type correctly and rapidly instead? As to spelling- can’t the spelling correction programs on computers replace the necessity to learn to spell? Well we are persuaded that most children find a lot of satisfaction in writing by hand. They like to write lines of letters and make them rounder, finer, and closer to perfect; without such practice, a child will hardly learn to write with confidence. It is for the same reason that we teach them to draw, so that they can rely on this ability later on.

Furthermore, the most common spelling rules, those which are hardest to learn, are best memorized if the pupils write a lot. Thus the children acquire a visual and gestual memory of the spelling and grammar rules: this is how we acquire this sixth orthographic sense that warns us that “this word isn’t right”. Finally, what is written by hand is much better committed to memory, and this is why we insist that all important rules be written down by hand. It’s for the same reason that we usually banish fill-in-the-blank worksheets; they might seem more satisfying because they look nice and simple, but the truth is that the pupil has lost the control of his own learning, because he does not write down the full sentences himself.

Learning to type will always follow learning to write by hand; but the aim is that all pupils should type as correctly as possible at the end of primary school. Orthographic correctness is the main aim, speed is nowadays much less important. In fact, a first-class command of spelling and grammar is even more important now than it was in the old days: the mistakes a spell-check program cannot correct are mainly grammatical and a bad speller reveals his lack of formal education. Furthermore, on the Internet, information can only be found if the spelling is entirely correct.