Staff photo by Dan Henry/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Karen Cooper, a paraprofessional at Rossville Elementary School, left, works with kindergarteners Cansas Shaver and Trinity Morlas, from left, on writing their names.Kindergartners were just learning to write their names in the simplest script at Rossville Elementary School, where the smell of paper and the scratching of pencils filled the air.
Right now, it’s considered one of the most important things they can learn and the whole period in teacher Audrey Buxmann’s class on Thursday was dedicated to the craft.
But as those children progress through school, they’ll see handwriting wax and wane in use and importance. Before middle school, they’ll be using buttons to communicate, tapping out their words on a keyboard.
And their handwriting, like that of countless others, will suffer.
“Penmanship is out the window, and technology has taken over,” said Wynona H. McGhee, a retired Chattanooga city schoolteacher who was teaching at Dalewood Junior High when she retired in 1984.