>>I have terrible handwriting but I was at school a few years before computers really made a hit in the UK's education system (I'm 31). I would often get marked down for poor handwriting and yet never quite understood why I wasn't allowed to bring in printed works.

>When my kids were in school, we had to fight with a few teachers about letting them submitted typed work. I was going to write that I think that's pretty much gone now, but seems to me one of my nieces or nephews just had the same fight.

Over the last few of years my partner has returned to both college and university to gain qualifications in both childcare and teaching. I was amazed when she told me that she could submit assignments that had been written by hand. When I was at University (1993) my assignments had to be typed or printed; luckily I was already proficient with the key office applications of that time.

My fellow students were not so lucky. They had gone through the same kind of schooling as I had. From writing all assignments by hand through high school and college, they were expected to leap to typing essays of several thousand word's length.

My partner tells me that the current system allows for assignments to be submitted in any format as long as they are neat, presentable and, most of all, legible.

I can only imagine how great school would be in this day and age. Students today have access to so many more resources than when I was there.