Handwriting is still important, guys. While typing skills are being increasingly emphasized, I think we can all attest to the horror of trying to read someone’s handwriting and not being able to decipher it. Think about any handwritten corrections you have gotten back on papers. Really think about it. It’s okay to shudder.
Let me just say it: I have boyish handwriting. It’s legible, but certainly not pretty. I don’t think aesthetics are necessarily the problem, though they are certainly valuable. The problem comes when we can no longer read the writing at all. For example, I had a friend I would copy notes from in high school when I missed class. While her handwriting was pretty, she would also not finish some of her letters, so “e” would look like “c” and “a” would look like “u”. Suddenly, copying history notes is like pulling teeth. Even worse, when doctors have sloppy handwriting (as they notoriously do), it is difficult for pharmacists to fill their handwritten prescriptions, making their job harder and occasionally resulting in a mistake in filling the prescription correctly. In this case, the handwriting is potentially dangerous: someone getting the wrong medicine could hurt or kill them.
