'Many children lose their childhood because they have to work hard to practice beautiful handwriting'

When her son was in third grade, Ms. Pham Thi Ly (35 years old, Nam Dinh ) continuously received requests from the class's parents' committee to let her son join a calligraphy class.

The source of the problem came from the homeroom teacher complaining that many students in the class had very bad handwriting. Therefore, the parents' committee planned to organize a handwriting class, and families who were interested could register their children to attend 2-3 sessions/week, each session costing 300,000 VND.

“ It is said to be voluntary, but I see the parents' committee members using convincing arguments such as: practicing beautiful handwriting to train patience and carefulness, so that the children have the opportunity to compete in clean and beautiful handwriting competitions, to avoid affecting the overall competition of the class…” , Ms. Ly said.

Many parents oppose letting their children practice beautiful handwriting. (Illustration photo)

The female parent admitted that her son’s handwriting was not beautiful, even ugly. However, for the past 2 years, he has been studying well, keeping up with his peers, not to mention his ability to learn foreign languages ​​is quite good. Therefore, she absolutely did not let her son practice beautiful handwriting.

According to Ms. Ly, there is no shortage of skill subjects that can help children practice perseverance and create interest. Learning to play an instrument and drawing are examples. In these two subjects, children must be very focused and creative to play a piece of music without mistakes and draw a beautiful picture.

This female parent also believes that letting children practice handwriting to participate in handwriting competitions is demonstrating a very outdatededucational philosophy.

“Our generation decades ago, the curriculum was light, with plenty of time to practice their favorite subjects. Nowadays, with a huge amount of knowledge, children have to study day and night. Yet there are still parents who try to spend time with their children to practice calligraphy, then participate in a contest just to compare who writes better, it is hard to understand,” Ms. Ly expressed.

The female parent believes that people need to be more realistic because we are living in the age of technology, mainly working on computers. Practicing calligraphy is a waste of children's childhood and parents' money, but it does not bring any results other than the reputation of having beautiful handwriting. Not to mention that when practicing calligraphy, children often put their faces close to their notebooks, which over time will become a habit, easily leading to scoliosis and myopia, "it will be too late to regret it".

Agreeing with Ms. Ly, Ms. Bui An Ngoc (29 years old, Long Bien, Hanoi ) said that children's childhood spent taking extra cultural classes is more than enough. Now they have to practice calligraphy, where do children get time to rest and play?

Having witnessed a colleague teaching her child to write beautifully, Ms. Ngoc said she felt more stressed and pressured than a child holding a pen, because in order to write a capital letter, the child must open his eyes wide, look carefully at where the dot starts, where it curves to, how high or low, and how it curves.

“How many teachers today can write as well as primary school students? Why do they force students to practice each stroke, only to have their strokes broken by the time they reach secondary school because they have to write at high speed?”, Ms. Ngoc asked.

According to the female parent, she does not see any benefit in practicing beautiful handwriting, nor does she see any connection between good students and success and beautiful handwriting.

Having two sons in primary school, Ms. Ngoc has never thought of letting them pursue what she considers “useless” things. Although their writing is bad, to be objective about their personalities, she finds them to be very obedient and well-behaved, not at all careless, and often help their mother with housework.

“If parents hope their child will become a calligrapher and make a living from writing, then let them practice calligraphy. Otherwise, don’t waste time and money, making them lose interest in other subjects,” said the female parent.

Many people have expressed that practicing beautiful handwriting is outdated and a waste of children's childhood and parents' money. (Illustration photo)

According to Ms. Trinh Thi Ha, a secondary school teacher in Hanoi, there is an old saying that "handwriting reflects character" and therefore parents rush to send their children to learn beautiful handwriting. However, there are still many parents who are not interested, or even indifferent, to this issue.

“Not allowing children to practice beautiful handwriting does not mean letting them write badly or whatever they want. This shows irresponsibility in educating children. Modern handwriting must be neat, clean, and easy to read,” Ms. Ha emphasized.

The female teacher believes that no subject or skill is useless, it is just that parents have not yet seen all the benefits it brings. With artistic things like calligraphy, we should not force it but turn it into an elective subject. Students who are interested will choose it.

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Bui Thi Nhon, a teacher at Tan Thanh A Primary School (Binh Phuoc) said that writing beautifully is an art subject, and art always requires talent. If children can write large, clear, and with enough strokes, parents should not waste time on teaching their children to write if they do not want to.

"It is undeniable that practicing beautiful handwriting will bring students good qualities such as carefulness, meticulousness, neatness... However, children should be taught to write clearly, instead of forcing them to practice beautiful handwriting. Don't force your child to have both good writing and good handwriting because children are not superheroes," said Ms. Nhon.

Kim Nhung

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/nhieu-tre-danh-mat-tuoi-tho-vi-phai-cong-lung-luyen-chu-dep-ar913411.html