With rapid advancements in technology, it is inevitable that everyday tasks will be forever changed.
Music gets downloaded, commercials get fast-forwarded and handwriting gets replaced with keystrokes stored in hard drives.
Gone are the days of pencil sharpening and dog-eaten homework.
Fading is the time of inkless pens and notebooks with bent spiral spines.
Laptops have replaced those spirals and the keyboard has replaced the pens.
As people make the gradual shift from cursive to cursor, there are some people trying to keep the art of handwriting alive.
An English professor at this college, Mary Anne Bernal, has been teaching for 27 years.
She is also a sponsor for this college's Teaching Academy Program Peers, or TAPP, program which provides support and information to all education majors.
She said she is surprised by how many people still turn in handwritten work.
"I'd say about half of my students will turn in handwritten rough drafts," Bernal said.
Bernal said older students returning to school find a heavy reliance on computers. "I think that is due in part to the fact that we have such a diverse age range here at SAC. There is definitely a shift for the older generation."
Bernal also said that she has noticed a change in her writing habits.
She said that she has slowly gone from always writing in long hand to solely composing on a computer because of the ease.
Teacher Frank Gutierrez says that with regard to teaching writing, nothing much had changed, until recently.
Gutierrez teaches at Kenedy Elementary School and has taught fourth grade for seven years.
He said that while handwriting is still part of the language arts curriculum, the way it is being taught is changing.
"Until recently, most schools still taught the classic Denelian style of writing. However, lately, I have been noticing several schools have been switching to a style called Handwriting Without Tears," he said.
Leticia Gutierrez, a specialist in school psychology for the Floresville Independent School District, said the Handwriting Without Tears method is easier for students to learn.
"The Handwriting Without Tears method teaches students to write letters cleaner and less frilly than the Denelian style, which most of us learned."
Leticia Gutierrez said that as computers in elementary classrooms become commonplace, it makes sense to adapt to keep handwriting a relevant form of communication.
"A lot of our curriculum requires computers, so the kids get used to them very quickly," Leticia Guittierrez said.
"Our way of counteracting that is to teach an easier way to learn handwriting. The school district's occupational therapist pushes it constantly because of its ease."
Handwriting Without Tears was developed by an occupational therapist as a response to the tears shed by her son while learning to write.
It is a program that teaches a developmentally appropriate, simplified lettering style.
"While I think it is inevitable that people will write less and less because of available technology, I cannot imagine that writing will become a thing of the past," Leticia Guitierrez said.
"It is easy and can be done anywhere, even if there is not a power outlet available."
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