A group of elementary school students poses for a group photo in front of a mural featuring the Korean alphabet, called “hangeul,” as they visit a children’s museum in Yongin near Seoul on Oct. 7, 2022, ahead of the 576th anniversary of the invention of hangeul. King Sejong invented hangeul in the 15th century during the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — As children have fewer opportunities to write manually, many of them are ending up with ‘ugly’ handwriting.
A 46-year-old elementary school teacher surnamed Jeong is shocked every time she grades the students’ homework because of bad handwriting, even for a 1st-grade elementary school student.
“It becomes a habit for a lot of them, and they end up writing badly even after they advance to a higher grade,” Jeong said.
Middle and high school students also face a similar situation.
Teachers point to smartphones as the cause of bad handwriting.
Students mostly use smartphones or tablet PCs to write, and the introduction of smart devices in schools has deprived them of the chance to write by hand even more.
“Students studied with smart devices during the pandemic era, and that trend continues to this day,” another teacher at a local elementary school said.
Experts say that good handwriting helps not only to write letters in ‘good shapes’ but also to develop brain and concentration skills, as well as physical health.
“Childhood is when we learn the basic habits of a lifetime, including handwriting,” said Kim Young-shim, a pedagogy professor at Korea Soongsil Cyber University.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
