DEVELOPS CHARACTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 183, 4 August 1932, Page 20

DEVELOPS CHARACTER.

GOOD HAND-WRITING. OPINIONS OF HEADMASTERS. REPLIES TO CRITICISM. Criticism of a statement by a councillor at a meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council on Tuesday to the effect that, generally speaking, the handwriting of secondary school boys was very poor, and lacked character, and that the same attention was not beinjr paid to it as in the past, and, further, that boys suffered when applying for positions, was made by the headmasters of three leading ' Aucklaffd secondary schools to-day. Each headmaster attributed the fault in the first instance to the primary schools, where the hand of the school child was formed and practically moulded. ;

• In • making a statement to a'"Star" representative- this: morning, the Rev. Brother Benignus, director of the; Sacred Heart College, said: "I hot admit" that the low standard of writing seen in the many applications for positions to-day is .duetto lack of attention and teaching in the - secondary schools. J L am- convinced that rin the majority of. cases the fault lids" at the door of the primary schools. The boys' hands are practically formed by the time they reach the secondary schools, and it is the experience that it is difficult to change a boy's particular style once he commences secondary work. In the primary stages a boy is now expected to work at 10 or 12 subjects, all implying written work, which must be done in a given time. Then there are special speed tests. The net result is that the ordinary boy must necessarily develop a slovenly characterless hand if he wishes to make sure of his proficiency certificate." Fine, Flowing Hand. The Rev. Brother Benignus said that formal writing lessons were not given beyond the fourth standard, and the •copybook, which did much to maintain a legible, bold style of writing, had been largely discarded. He said he agreed that the standard of writing had gone back. Business men continually complained. But, on the other hand, stated Brother Benignus, he was not prepared to agree with the wholesale denunciation of secondary boys' writing, for, judging by the standard in his own school to-day, there was a goodly percentage of boys writing a fine flowing hand.

Mr. F. W. Gamble, headmaster of the Mount Albert Boys' Grammar School, said attention was being paid to the hand-writing of boys in his school, although it was not taken as a special subject. Boys were taught to be methodical and neat, which were always big factors in improving their hand-writing. Copybooks were used in the school, in those cases where a student's hand-writing was particularly bad.

Mr. Gamble said that the fault lay in the first place with the primary schools, which had, up to two years .ago, taught a form of script which had proved very damaging in the formation of tho children's hand-writing, but now that the script had been abolished an improvement was noticeable. Mr. Gamble also pointed out that the same attention could not be paid to handwriting in a secondary school, as a student was required to work much faster. If a child had formed -a poor hand when attending a primary school, it was very difficult to change it in a secondary school. The headmaster of -the Auckland Grammar School, Mr. H. J. D. Mahon, said .the teaching of hand-writing had never formed part of the school curriculum, but that neatness and method were insisted upon. He was of the opinion that a large number of students developed character in their handwriting. He thought that the quality of modern hand-writing by secondary school students had gone off slightly, which he attributed to: (1) The script that had recently been taught in the primary schools, and (2) the fact that it was not receiving so much attention owing to the prevalent use of the typewriter. It was regarded as a subject that should be taught only in the primary schools.