Extinct handwriting

SIR – The suggested move to the use of computers in university examinations is long overdue (“Writing is on the wall for exams,” report, September 9).

It seems to have been prompted by tutors at Cambridge having difficulty in reading the handwriting of a few students. Of greater concern is that forbidding keyboards in examinations disadvantages the majority of undergraduates who have no experience of writing by hand for two or three hours.

In this digital age, when most business and personal correspondence is produced using only keyboard skills, it is unreasonable to expect students to present considered arguments and detailed answers to examinations while experiencing the discomfort and lack of coordination that results from severe writer’s cramp.

While I was invigilating recently, the struggle of the students left me feeling like Dolores Umbridge inflicting cruel torture on her scholars.

Surely we want all our students to achieve their best. That means providing the tools to facilitate this. Since most people under the age of 30 seem to be able to type far faster than they can write, it is time for further investment by universities in the provision of IT systems that can be “isolated” to permit their use under exam conditions. Martin Harrison

Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care, University of Essex Colchester, Essex

SIR – The legibility of handwriting has deteriorated but the answer is not to allow typewriters everywhere.

In an exam the solution is very straightforward – if an answer is illegible it gets no marks. John Newman

Hinckley. Leicesterhire