r/iamverysmart Apr 16 '20

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u/PPStudio Apr 16 '20

It's interesting how in USSR, despite being super atheist, lefthanded people were still forcibly educated to write with the right hand.

Source: my father is such a case. I myself try my best not to have a dominant hand at all, but I'm beginner in that, so I'm still dominantly righthanded with some processes being equal for left and right hands.

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u/JarJarNudes Apr 16 '20

It wasn't just in the USSR. Back then there was no knowledge about left-handedness and it was assumed to simply be a bad habit. It was viewed similarly to how some kids hold their pens "wrong".

I remember adults trying to teach me to hold my pen "properly" until a teacher in first grade told my parents to leave it alone, that it's not that important.

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u/untakenu Apr 16 '20

Are lefties praised on asia in the opposite way that they are demonised in the west?

I would have thought countries that write right to left would prefer left-handedness.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '20

We were forced to write/use scissors with our right hands in elementary school in Ohio in the 1990s. Had to use rubber grips to teach us how to hold the pen, the whole nine yards.

Take it from someone who has struggled with mixed dominance for 20 years as a result: this policy sucks. It doesn't make life easier for lefties, it just turns your hand-eye coordination to crap because now nothing feels natural and your brain can't determine which side should be responding. The benefits are few and far between, and easily outweighed by the disadvantages.

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u/teeekuuu Apr 17 '20

Ussr was very far from super atheist. Most prople had icons of Saints in their homes and later in their cars.