Handwriting Practice: Many Children Hospitalized Due to Psychological Pressure

It is not known how effective handwriting practice is, but many children have had to be hospitalized due to being unable to withstand the psychological pressure.

Ms. Hoang Cam Anh (Quan Hoa ward, Cau Giay district) has a son who has just entered first grade. Although it is only his first year of school, her son has to practice writing a lot every day. He not only practices writing in class, but every night when he comes home, he also has to practice writing another page of his notebook. At first, when writing in pencil, every time he writes wrongly or writes badly, Ms. Cam Anh's son erases and rewrites, but now that he writes in ink, he is very scared when he makes a mistake and even tries to tear up his notebook many times: "Almost every night, I have to work hard writing until late at night, so I complain that my hands are tired and my neck hurts. I tell him that he doesn't need to write anymore, but he insists on writing everything because he is afraid of being punished by the teacher. He also wants to practice writing more because "all his classmates have gone to school, their handwriting is beautiful, so the teacher always praises him". "I will probably have to register my son to practice writing" - Ms. Cam Anh complained.

In a similar situation, three times a week, after picking up her child from school, Ms. Dao Thi Phuong in the new urban area of ​​Trung Hoa - Nhan Chinh, Thanh Xuan district, hurriedly took her daughter, who is in grade 2, to the calligraphy practice center. Ms. Phuong said that compared to her classmates, her daughter is only in the middle group. Although her handwriting is clear, it is not beautiful, so it affects the overall competition of the class. The teacher always complains about her. "I'm just afraid that if I don't practice calligraphy early, my child will write carelessly and ruin her handwriting, so I signed her up for more calligraphy practice at the center. She doesn't like it, but she doesn't dare to disobey her mother, so she reluctantly goes to school. Whatever she learns is good," Ms. Phuong worried.

In contrast to the above viewpoint, some parents believe that it is unnecessary to let their children practice beautiful handwriting. They assert that, for children, the most important thing is how to hold a pen and sit in the correct writing posture, while whether the handwriting is beautiful or ugly depends on each child's talent. "My husband and I only require our children to write clearly and cleanly, and no matter how beautiful the handwriting is, it is not good if it is written too slowly. In my opinion, the nature of beautiful handwriting competitions is good, but the problem lies in the fact that it shows the disease of chasing after achievements of some schools. The phenomenon of students tearing up their notebooks when they write wrongly or make mistakes is a consequence of that disease" - Mr. Le Trung Thang in Tho Quan ward, Dong Da district expressed his opinion.

Don't make children suffer.

Normally, at the end of the school year, the education departments will organize a competition for clean and beautiful notebooks at schools. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa - a retired primary school teacher in Ba Dinh district said that to find "fighting cocks", right from the beginning of the first grade, teachers choose about 3 or 4 students with beautiful handwriting to focus on training.

Because clean and beautiful notebooks are one of many criteria for evaluating and ranking the competition of teachers and schools, many teachers have to find every way to achieve it, making both teachers and students exhausted. To overcome this situation, each teacher needs to understand that the main goal of the Writing subject is to eliminate bad handwriting, not to require all students to write beautifully. Therefore, students only need to write correctly in spelling, semantics, with enough strokes and punctuation. Schools and parents should only consider beautiful handwriting as an extracurricular activity, encouraging learning for gifted students.

According to Ms. Hoa, no one has the right to force children to practice writing and teachers are not capable of doing that. The sad reality is that many parents do not fully understand this, so they try every way to force their children to practice writing beautifully. This becomes counterproductive because if pressured too much, children will have negative reactions and not want to go to school.

According to Dr. Nguyen Minh Hieu - E Hospital, having to practice writing regularly for a long time will overload children's eyes, affecting the development of vision, leading to myopia and astigmatism. In addition, if sitting in the wrong position, children will be at risk of muscle pain, negatively affecting bones, especially the spine. Therefore, for children who have not yet entered first grade, parents should let them learn while playing, recognizing letters and animals using animation tools.

Practicing writing for children must be based on each child's ability and should not be forced. Because for children under 6 years old, the musculoskeletal system in the hands is not fully developed, so practicing writing smoothly according to the squares is very difficult. As for children who have gone to school, having to practice writing outside of school hours will make them tired and afraid of going to school. When forced too much, children often show signs of stress, sweating, stomachaches and nightmares, which will have a negative impact on the nervous system in the long run.

Therefore, to avoid unfortunate consequences that affect children's physical and mental development, parents and schools should not force their children to learn calligraphy, lest "the benefits outweigh the harm".

According to An Ninh Thu Do - NT