USE OF BALLPOINT PENS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26887, 13 November 1952, Page 12

USE OF BALLPOINT PENS

UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS’

CRITICISM ‘The Press” Special Service AUCKLAND, November 11.

Ballpoint pens in the hands of bad writers are so much disliked by markers of examination papers in Auckland that advice to students against their use amounts almost to a ban. Examiners say a paper badly written with ballpoint makes marking almost impossible. “I think ballpoint pens have made writing a good deal worse than it would be otherwise,” said Professor H. R. Rodwell, associate Professor of Economics at Auckland University College. Students were warned that if their writing is illegible their papers could not be marked, said Professor Rodwell. Although a student would not be penalised unless writing was really illegible, badly written papers took much longer to mark and imposed a considerable strain on markers.

Referring to handwriting in general, Professor Rodwell said he thought it worse than, say, 20 years ago, but perhaps a little better than it was four or five years ago. Professor A. C. Keys, Professor of Modern Languages, said he too had warned students they were likely to lose marks if the work was too difficult to follow because of bad writing. He said if a student was naturally a bad writer, the use of a ballpoint pen made it immeasurably worse. He thought before long the university might make a definite ruling against the use of those pens.