This Is Not A Happy Meal And It Ain't About Handwriting

No, this really isn't a Happy Meal but it is the work of happy fingers. It is the artistry of a gifted knitter, coordinating needles and yarn, using math infused patterns to create a yummy tableau.

Last week the NYT ran an article on fingers and brains. Immediately, bloggers began bemoaning the loss of cursive, Zaner-Bloser, Palmer ink pens, and kids who refuse to master manuscript because they prefer keyboarding.

None of the article was ONLY about handwriting. Why are we so quick to reduce important brain development insights into lowest common denominator crusades, sabotauging our kids in the process? Slow down and think. Try to remember what has gone missing because it is massive and should not be forgotten. Maybe we are trying to accept that too many of our children no longer paint, pound nails, measure cookie ingredients and shape them into tasty rounds and squares, thread a needle, build a simple circuit, weave potholders, needlepoint names and endearments onto Mother's Day hankies, roll clay coils into gorgeously crooked pots, plant tiny herbs in the schoolyard garden plot, and draw luscious nation maps onto chalkboards in vivid, mesmerizing colors. Maybe we are trying to turn away from what we have willingly surrendered just because it is easier just to give up. But let's not persist on this pathway any longer because it is a treacherous destination we are headed toward. We know the nueroscientists are trying to warn us off of our own social demise.

Beautiful handwork makes for beautiful brains. It is an old insight and a very honored tradition in all good schools for youth of every age. Waldorf and Montessori classrooms have kept the faith, as have good art, shop, craft and phys ed teachers. But it is not enough to leave it at that.

Step away from the profound alienation of mindless testing mandates that reduce human hopes and dreams into data points. No one engaging in such behavior is well-meaning. They are not reforming or transforming. They are not our friends or our future. Teachers around the globe are busy with Anti-Austerity Activism. It is a dis-ease that begins with the obliteration of all beautiful handwork which results in the obliteration of beautiful brains who then submit to King and Queen Midas as they scoop up all the gold coins for their own privatized fantasy land. Quit carping about handwriting and start tracking on The Big Picture.