Kittens on the keys

SIR – With the imminent demise of handwriting skills (report, September 11), we would do well to consider creating better keyboards.

The traditional Qwerty keyboard layout was designed 150 years ago with the aim of preventing typewriters from jamming – not to make it easy for users to find the letters they needed.

Worse still, we do not teach children the touch-typing skills they require to type efficiently on even these unsatisfactory keyboards. Ian Statham

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

SIR – During my school days, and while I was a student nurse, we were warned that illegible and incorrectly spelt exam answers would get no marks.

The suggestion that students are now unable to write legibly, and should therefore be allowed to use computers, is nonsense. How long before the spellcheck facility is allowed, too?

When I was a lecturer in nursing, students asked me if music could be played during examinations, on the grounds that they couldn’t think when the exam room was too quiet.

Whatever would Matron have said?

Maureen Hamilton

Redcar, North Yorkshire

SIR – Teachers would usually despair at my attempts at handwriting – except one, whose advice was always to use a pen.

A proper nib is a joy to write with and gives so many choices of emphasis – unlike a ballpoint, which belts off in all directions and is generally slower. Tony Parrack

London SW20