写？还是不写？

Reporter：We just heard a few arguments there in favor of cursive writing. Heres another one you may hear， that learning cursive helps young brains grow more than basic printing does. So we thought wed take a few minutes to look inside the brain.

（soundbite from an educational video）

Man A： It is the swift and easy movement of impulses throughout the cerebrum that enables us to think. But this must be established through learning and reinforced through practice.

Reporter： Thats an old filmstrip from the 1950s and that bit about learning and practice， well， motor neuroscientists say its true of cursive writing.

Amy Bastian： From my perspective， from a motor neuroscientists perspective.

Reporter： Professor Amy Bastian works at the Kennedy Krieger Institute on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Shes dedicated her career to studying how the brain talks to the body.

Amy： I feel like the more variety of things you do in the fine motor domain， the more variety of hand movements you make， will improve your dexterity. Reporter： Which sounded to me like the way a motor neuroscientist would say： Handwriting is awesome. But when I asked is cursive better for a childs development than printing…

Amy： Ill tell you honestly， I dont know.

Steve Graham： It really doesnt matter if its manuscript or cursive.

Reporter： Thats Steve Graham. Hes a professor of education at Arizona State University and he studies childrens writing.

Steve： It is kind of silly in a way that you have state legislatures getting all tied up in this.

Reporter： Other researchers agreed， that cursive is good but theres no hard evidence that its better than printing. As long as children are writing in school， it doesnt really matter if the letters curl and connect. So problem solved. Or is it？

（soundbite from a promotional video）

Man B： Imagine a world without handwriting. Its not as far-fetched as it sounds.

Reporter： This is a promo for a conference a few years back of researchers and educators， called “Handwriting in the 21st Century？” —theres a question mark there at the end.

（soundbite from a promotional video）

Man B： Handwriting instruction is in danger of becoming increasingly marginalized. What would be lost if handwriting was no longer taught at our schools？ Plenty.

Reporter： It turns out， the real fear among those who—like Steve Graham—study kids and handwriting is not that our schools will stop teaching cursive.

Steve： We dont see much writing going on at all across the school day.

Reporter： So what are kids doing if theyre not writing？

Steve： Filling in blanks on worksheets， one sentence responses to questions， maybe in a short response summarizing information.

Reporter： In other words， not enough essays and too much this， that or all of the above. Now， some of the people who are fighting to keep cursive in schools argue that computers are the enemy. Instead of writing， kids are typing on the keyboard. But there are two problems with that argument. One： the researchers I spoke with all said that learning to type is actually a good thing for kids. And problem two… Virginia Berninger： Schools are not teaching keyboarding.

Reporter： Virginia Berninger， a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington， is a big champion of handwriting and typing. And shes worried that both have been nudged to the side by crowded state standards. If new standards are going to change that， teachers have to be allowed to make time.

Scott Beers teaches education at Seattle Pacific University.

Scott Beers： If we expect kids to develop mastery in anything and develop fluency in anything， they have to be doing it on a regular basis.

Reporter： Experts say focus on handwriting early and often—print or cursive or both. And then， as kids brains develop， gently lay the groundwork for typing. Its not either/or. Its all of the above. The good kind.

記者：我们最近听到一些支持连字体的论调。你或许也听过以下这种说法：学习连字体会比一般的印刷体更利于青少年的大脑发育。让我们花一点时间来了解一下大脑内部。

（教学视频片段）

男人甲：正是神经脉冲在大脑中这种简单迅速的传递让我们有了思考能力。但这种传递性必须通过学习来掌握，还要不断练习才能强化。

记者：这是一段上世纪50年代的老幻灯片，而这里提到的“学习与练习”，运动神经学家们都认为这一点对连字体来说确实适用。

艾米·巴斯琴：在我看来，从一个运动神经学家的角度来说，是这样。

记者：艾米·巴斯琴教授任职于肯尼迪·克里格研究所，该研究所设在位于（美国）巴尔的摩市的约翰霍普金斯大学校内。她一直致力于研究大脑如何对身体发出指令。

艾米：我的看法是，你在精细动作方面的动作种类越繁复，你的手部动作就会越多样化，也就会提高你的灵活性。

记者：在我听来，这就像是运动神经学家想说“手写太棒了”时所说的话。不过，当我问到连字体是否比印刷体更利于儿童发育时……

艾米：老实告诉你吧，我也不知道。

史蒂夫·格雷厄姆：是手稿，还是用连字体写的，其实真的不重要。

记者：这位是史蒂夫·格雷厄姆。他是亚利桑那州立大学的教育学教授，以幼儿书写为研究方向。

史蒂夫：各州的立法机关都在这个问题上搅和折腾，在某种意义上，这实在有点傻。

记者：别的研究人员也同意这个说法——连字体确实不错，但并没有确切证据显示写连字体比写印刷体更有益处。只要孩子们在学校里经常写字，字体是哪种，笔画能不能连起来，其实没多大关系。问题解决了——但真的解决了吗？

（宣传片片段）

男人乙：想象，一个没有手写字的世界。听起来似乎遥远，其实不然。

记者：这是几年前一个研讨会的宣传片，众多研究人员和教育者出席了这个名为“21世纪还写字吗？”的大会——其名称以问号结尾。

（宣传片片段）

男人乙：书法教学正面临着日渐边缘化的危机。假若学校不再教写字，我们会有什么损失呢？我们会失去很多东西。

记者：事实上，像史蒂夫·格雷厄姆这样的儿童与书法研究者，他们真正担忧的并不是学校将不再教写连字体。

史蒂夫：我们发现孩子上一天学，根本就没写多少东西。

记者：如果不写东西，孩子们又在忙什么呢？

史蒂夫：他们会在答题纸上填空，用一个句子回答问题，又或是用几句话写个摘要。

记者：换句话说，文章写得不够多，太多的这种那种作业，又或者都是像上面那种选择、填空类的作业。有些力图让学校保留连字体的人士认为电脑是（学习的）敌人。现在的小孩不愿意写字，总是在键盘上敲敲打打。但这一论调有两个问题。首先，我所采访的研究者们都认为，对儿童来说，学习打字其实大有裨益。第二个问题是——弗吉尼亚·贝尔宁格：学校里并不教打字。

记者：弗吉尼亚·贝尔宁格是华盛顿大学的教育心理学教授，一直大力提倡手写与打字。她很担心这两者已经被满满当当的州立教学标准挤到了一边。如果新标准要改变这一现状，（学校）得让老师们能够腾出时间来。

斯科特·贝尔斯是西雅图太平洋大学的教育学老师。

斯科特·贝尔斯：假如我们希望孩子们逐渐掌握什么东西，能够流畅地完成什么事情，他们就得经常接触到这件事。

记者：专家们认为应该将手写作为早期（教育）的重心，要经常练习——印刷体也行，连字体也行，两者兼用也没问题。然后，随着儿童大脑逐步发育，再慢慢地为打字奠定基础。不是要么手写，要么打字，而是上述全部——以一种良性的方式。