Learning How To Write

From an early age, children are encouraged to write stories. The creative process amongst youngsters takes precedence over correct spelling and grammar. That will come later. Kids' minds can run free when they're learning how to write. They will be expected to exercise more discipline later on. Writing has to have rules, for the purposes of understanding but creativity must never be stifled.

The means of communication has evolved over the centuries, from writing in the sand with a stick to texting. The only thing that worries me is that constant texting will erode the language so much, that it will become unrecognizable. Words without vowels, abbreviations and symbols seem to be the norm. It carries thru to emails and soon will invade the correspondence letter, if there's anyone who still writes them now. When I was learning how to write at school, the rules were drilled into me. I don't mind the vocabulary changing and expanding, that keeps a language alive, but I don't want complete anarchy as far as spelling and grammar are concerned.

People complain that kids today don't know how to spell. All they have to do is put text thru the spell checker, so they maybe feel they don't need to know spelling anymore. That's like saying we don't need math because we have calculators. We still need a basic grounding of spelling, when we are learning how to write. The younger we are taught, the better we'll be. If you want to break the rules, you have to know what the rules are first.

Employers are complaining that there isn't a good standard of literacy and numeracy amongst school leavers. There must be enough attention paid to learning how to write. Good communication is the key. This is still the case in the computer age. Legible handwriting is also important. You won't always have access to a word processor in every situation. When I was at school, we had handwriting practice lessons and I'm glad we did. I never found that learning how to write properly and neatly affected my creativity. In fact, the rules free your mind in a way. Rules take care of how to write, allowing your mind the freedom to use the imagination.

I can't remember a time when I didn't want to write. I was writing stories in my spare time from being seven years old. It just felt like a natural thing to do. Learning how to write creatively takes time. You may be born with a certain amount of raw talent but you need life experience to make that talent blossom. It's not just what you say but what you don't say.