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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Forget cursive handwriting. Teach kids HTML.

Cursive vs. HTML

It's not like we still make kids learn how to write cuneiform. And the last time humans used hieroglyphics was 394 CE. So isn't it time to stop teaching kids cursive handwriting and start making HTML a mandatory language in grade school?

It doesn't have to be complicated programming, just start with some simple href's, div's and br's. By the time kids can write a paragraph they should be able to create a simple blog post sans WYSIWYG editor. Then offer optional, more-complicated courses in high school. After all, it's something they'll actually use when they grow up.

I can't even tell you the last time I hand-printed anything longer than a post-it note. Everything is digital today. Even newspapers, an ancient dying media, are printed with digital fonts. So what purpose do cursive handwriting lessons serve to better our youth? By the time this generation joins the workforce, there may not even be paper to write on (despite HP's best effort to prove its need).

Coding and programming -- especially HTML and HTML5 -- are the language of the future. So why not prepare our future for the digital tomorrow?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Digital fonts are created from typefaces that always start with pen and paper. HTML may/may not be necessary at an early level, but the two aren't mutually exclusive, and I'd hate to think that technology, driven by an artless posse, be responsible for pushing the idea that handmade letterforms are obsolete (or of any less worth artistically), because magazines and film photography isn't any closer to dying either.