Handwriting's link to learning

This has nothing to do with my usual topics, it is just a long-standing concern of mine.  Machines cannot replace man and standard learning practices which have been increasingly viewed as anachronistic.  If penmanship comes back, there is hope for math without calculators and learning without computers in elementary school.

What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades

New York Times, JUNE 2, 2014   |    By MARIA KONNIKOVA

Children not only learn to read more quickly when they first learn to write by hand, but they also remain better able to generate ideas and retain information. In other words, it’s not just what we write that matters — but how.  

“When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated,” said Stanislas Dehaene, a psychologist at the Collège de France in Paris. “There is a core recognition of the gesture in the written word, a sort of recognition by mental simulation in your brain.  

“And it seems that this circuit is contributing in unique ways we didn’t realize,” he continued. “Learning is made easier.”
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                     Ball and stick - 1950s.                                                           NYT Op Ed by Inga Dubay and To learn more about italic and cursive writing,                      Barbara Getty (Portland):  Italicsvisit this website:http://www.handwritingsuccess.com