Some people say that in our modern age, it is unnecessary to teach children about the skills of handwriting. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 

解析&审题

今天的考题应该让各位考生感到非常开心，因为这个题目应该是大家比较熟悉的话题。但是，老雅在这里还是想强调一下：虽然看似简单，但我们在写作中最好还是要体现出思维的层次和一定的批判性，尤其是对这类To what extent do you agree or disagree题型。

就本题而言，到底“书写”（handwriting）还需不需要教？我们的答案不外乎可以是以下三种：

1. 不需要（一边倒）：需要找2-3个原因

2. 需要（一边倒）：需要找2-3个原因

3. 在哪些情况下需要，哪些情况下不需要（分层次双边讨论）：可以讨论当今时代，书写在实际交流中已经不需要了，但书写对孩子的智力和认知能力培养其实还是很有必要的。

以下范文是从网上摘录的内容，是按照第三种思路写的，大家可以参考一下。

7分范文

Handwriting skills are on the decline（处于下降中）, particularly among young people and children. It is true that handwriting may not be as important as it was, but the skills of writing by hand are necessary even in this digital age.

Technology is to blame for（为......负责）the decline of handwriting. With laptops, cell-phones, and tablets being widely used at school and at home, educators have been focusing on teaching their students keyboarding skills, for students can finish almost all their assignments with clicks of keyboard. What they are supposed to do is type their answers into the computer and submit（提交）them online to the teacher. That is why many educators agree that today’s children no longer need to develop handwriting skills. Countries such as Finland have gone so far as to（甚至于做......）drop handwriting lessons altogether（完全，彻底） in schools in favor of typing courses.

Contrary to（与......相反的）the view that handwriting skills are unnecessary in this digital age, writing by hand is actually important to children’s learning and long-term academic success. Studies show that handwriting can improve memory, so students will retain（保留）learning better through writing by hand instead of typing on the keyboard. The earlier children master handwriting skills, the more successful they will be academically. As a cognitive benefit, moreover, handwriting has a greater impact on brain development, especially the areas of the brain related to literacy（读写能力）development. This suggests that handwriting might aid in enhancing reading and writing abilities in children. This is probably because the process of handwriting helps to create a mental picture while computer processing does not.

In conclusion, there should be a balance to strike between typewriting and handwriting. While handwriting has become less and less practically useful, it is still important for children’s long-term（长期的） cognitive development.（295 words)