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Sloppy Work

Does writing neatly really matter?

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Originally published in Today's Parent February 2011

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Your child’s report card says that if she took more care with her written homework, her marks would be better. Some kids are perfectionists and do lovely, neat work, while others hide what might be good content and right answers in a messy, slapdash presentation. Does neatness really matter?

It shouldn’t be the primary focus, says Vancouver educator and speaker Barry MacDonald. “Ideally, a student is graded on ideas rather than presentation.” In practice, however, that’s not always the case.

“If the work isn’t legible, kids may lose marks,” says Jenny Kermer, an occupational therapist with the Thames Valley Children’s Centre school health program in London, Ont.

In an average classroom, kids spend about 60 percent of their time working with a pen or pencil. As they enter the intermediate grades, written assignments become longer and more complex, so it’s important to find ways to help kids who find handwriting difficult or uncomfortable.

Besides, says MacDonald, writing legibly is a life skill. “There will be times that they will need to be able to write things down and maybe even share it with others.”

“Schools focus on the content of the written work, rather than the physical process of printing or writing,” says Kermer. Cursive writing is no longer part of the curriculum, and penmanship isn’t as widely taught as it once was, which means parents may have to take a more active role in encouraging this skill.

According to MacDonald, author of Boy Smarts: Mentoring Boys for Success at Schools, boys tend to struggle with handwriting more than girls because girls’ fine-motor skills develop earlier than boys’. This helps to explain why girls are more likely to find printing and writing easier and more enjoyable at an earlier age: It may take the boys a few years to catch up.

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