> Handwriting is much more difficult and needs more practice.
Okay, I'll buy that. So, why are we teaching it? For whiteboard interviews?
I realize it will take some restructuring of society before handwriting is an obsolete skill, but gradually de-emphasizing it in school isn't a bad way to get there, over the course of a few generations. The time schools save can be used on any number of other skills.
2. Some people learn reading and writing better when writing by hand. Some people learn better in lectures when taking notes by hand.
3. Tech isn't always available. Sometimes pen/pencil and paper are all you have when you really need to write something.
4. Drawing, painting and other art require learning how to hold and use pencils, brushes, pens, and other tools in a fine, controlled manner. If people are going to learn to make art with manual instruments, they may as well learn to write at the same time.
5. Text input is genuinely more awkward on keyboards for many non-Latin languages, and is less emphasized in development of software products. That relegates those language learners to second-class status as they grapple with tools built for the Latin/Cyrillic world.
6. There's a ton of cultural significance to writing by hand: calligraphy, religious or legal rites.
I can probably come up with a dozen more but to get to your next point.
> And the time schools save can be used for any number of other things.
If you want to talk about outdated holdovers in children's education, summer vacation is the biggest one, dating from when kids were needed on farms to help bring in the harvest. Schools could simply eliminate summer vacations if they really wanted more time to educate. No more complaints about teachers only working 9 months/year, no more summer learning slump (or whatever it's called), no more paying for daycare or summer camp 3 months/year. A lack of time is not a real problem.
Okay, I'll buy that. So, why are we teaching it? For whiteboard interviews?
I realize it will take some restructuring of society before handwriting is an obsolete skill, but gradually de-emphasizing it in school isn't a bad way to get there, over the course of a few generations. The time schools save can be used on any number of other skills.