Should a left handed child be "forced" to write with their right hand?

Question

My niece, who is in 2nd grade, is a left handed child. My sister was telling me the other day that her teacher is forcing her to use her right hand. If she catches her using her left hand, she takes the pencil, crayon, marker, or whatever she is using away from her & makes her use her other hand.
The Teacher has also sent notes home saying she will not be accepting anymore schoolwork from my niece if it is not done with the right hand.
My sister has gone to the proper school officials about this, but has been told that the Teacher is "old school" & they will talk to her. IF they did talk to her, it did no good.
She cant move her to another school or anything like that & they have told her they will not transfer to another class.

Is there anything else she can do?

I feel like this against my nieces rights to individuality.

Not a phony question.....

She is not the only left handed student in the school, but apperantly she is the only one in the class....as far as my sister knows anyway.

Answer 1

I believe it's time for a sisters heart to heart. Tell your sister that her daughter is too important to allow some single minded simpleton to change her wonderful out look on life! It is your responsibility and that of your sister to keep that child safe for as long as it takes. Get her out of that school or make it very clear to that teacher she is to keep her right handed views to herself. You and your sister need to file a formal complaint with the educational board in your state and make it very clear you are holding them directly responsible for any mental damage that may or may not occur in the child.It is the responsibility of the teacher to instill mind expanding growth not to re-learn a child's wonderful physical abilities. She may be old school and if that is the case she better find herself an 'Old School' because, right or left handed, she needs to keep herself in check or Mom and Auntie are going to show her a hand she won't soon forget!
Give that little girl a huge hug and tell her to continue using whatever hand suits her. I believe it's high time that families stepped in and took a great roll in the things our children are doing in school.
You go girl! And, your niece deserves nothing less from her Auntie and Mommy.

Answer 2

This is so weird, and it messes up their brains and stuff, their learning abilities, all that. It really does, if they're truly left handed but forced to write right handed.

I didn't know anyone still did that, unless the PARENT told the teacher when asked, "She's actually right handed." (My parents did this coz they didn't really know and I apparently went to school writing left handed when at home they kept trying to teach me the other way, no matter how I wrote.)

They don't do a test at school to prove the parents wrong. They teach a child according to how the parent says to them.

I don't know why, if the parent said she's left handed, the teacher is doing this, but go to the school board and get a new teacher. This one is screwing up your niece.

Like someone previous said, it is child abuse of a sort. I learned in sociology class a couple weeks ago that lefties think differently than right handed people. And what do you know? I have an unknown learning issue...and do all my upper math, get this, EXACTLY BACKWARDS about 50% of the time, in spite of otherwise being a great student most of the time. So. I'm sure you can find some other "conformed" people who do not have this type of problem, but you'll find more who are dyslexic or have similar issues now.

Answer 3

It is unfortunate that people feel being a left handed is not normal. Are we saying it a mistake made by God? My cousin forced the daughter who is a left handed person to write with the right hand just because she always write P as 9 or the other way round and that was always against her marks in class. She is now using the right hand. After all there are a lot of people who are writing with the left hand and I wish I can write with my left hand because I admire them so much. The teacher should be patient and she will grow and do everything and write 'readably' or legibly.

Answer 4

There is absolutely no need to make that poor child write with his right hand. It is not a sin as may old school people claim 4% of the world is left handed. As a matter of fact all great tennis stars were left handed.
Nowadays
the sensation refael nadal is right handed but plays left handed. Dont make the child feel bad about something that is natural. your sister should complain to the authorities about this teacher

Answer 5

No definetely not. I am left handed and have very poor marksman ship because teachers never could teach me correctly how to write. It is bad, but if I EVER write with my right hand it is even worse. It is a brain function that controls what hand you write with. People that are left handed are more likely to be artistic because they use more of the left side of the brain.

As far as the school goes I would take it up a notch and go complain directly to the school board. My mom is left handed and when she was in catholic school the nuns would use a ruler and smack her on her hands when she wrote with her left hand. You can see it did not work because she is still left handed.

Answer 6

Good God! This should be brought to the attention of school district officials! I say pull the kid out of there now! I also find it hard to believe there is only one left handed student, and that this hasn't already been a problem. Phony question or something missing

Answer 7

Views differ on whether a teachers forcing the child to use his right hand does cause psychological scars.

It is strongly advised to allow the child to use his / her own preferred hand.

I suggest submitting to the teacher the list of famous "left handers" (second source)

Answer 8

Absolutely not. Left handed people tend to be more artistic than right handed people. She will, later on, learn to use both hands in different ways.
I , for example, am left handed. I write with my left hand and do everything else with my right hand. Play baseball, play the guitar and paint in oils with my right hand. I have had one top 10 song and a writeup in Billboard Magazine and sang on the original Grand Old Opry.
So, let her be left handed.

Answer 9

Absolutely not. That teacher is in the stone ages. My mother used to get her hand hit with a ruler, cause she tried to write with her left hand. Those days are long gone.

Answer 10

I agree, this teacher is definitely in the Dark Ages if she thinks that it's "wrong" to be left-handed. This teacher should be back-handed.

Frankly, I'm a lefty, but I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. :-) On the other hand...