HANDWRITING IN SCHOOLS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 28, 27 July 1911, Page 7

HANDWRITING IN SCHOOLS

i SOME CRITICISM BY BOARD MEMBERS. Ask the average business man about the handwriting of the average youth who joins his clerical staff, and ke'll tell you the boy can't wri,te worth a cent. He'll probably talk about the scrawling, sprawling nature of the lad's efforts in the first rudiments of a commercial training, and, unless he's a very even-tempered individual —meaning that he hasn't had so many raw office-boys in his employ after allj he'll go off into a series of expletives about the school methods of to-day and the instruction given in handwriting in particular. The subject is for ever cropping up at meetings of education boards, and it made its appearance at the Taranaki Board's meeting yesterday. As usual, it provoked some smart criticism of the writing in schools, and, as usual, there was an official defence of the work of the Taranaki boy and girl in this particular branch of our compulsory free secular education.' The matter was introduced by the Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute in a letter recommending the Board to favorably consider the adoption of MacDougall's new series of copy-books. It was urged that the style of writing was much better than that of the series at present in use in Taranaki. The Chief Inspector was asked what he thought about it, and he said that the principal reason for advocating a change was the difficulty of procuring supplies of Collins' Graphic cqpy-boobs, which were now in use in the Board's schools. But, apart altogether from this, the inspectors were of the opinion that the style in MaeDougall's books was an improvement on the Graphic, in that the writing was continuous, there were fuller instructions as to the joining of the letters, the capitals were better, and the figures wero a very great improvement.

Members compared books in the two styles, and all seemed to be of opinion that there was undue space between the letters, this applying to both systems. Tho discussion then proceeded, Mr. Kennedy saying that the new style was not continuous, it was not graceful, it conveyed a sort of hesitancy, and looked stiff.

The Chief Inspector defined "continuous" writing as being writing in which it was possible to complete the word without lifting the pen. Mr. Morton complained that by following either of the systems under notice the children were taught to "spread their letters out till the writing was absolutely hideous." This remark could be applied to several schools, but to none more than Fitzroy, whose exaggerated spacing never failed to draw comment whenever and wherever it was exhibited. This had been brought about by the system in use, and allowing such exaggerations of it to take place. The Collins' system was bad enough, but if they adopted the MacDougall book, and allowed that to bo exaggerated in the same proportion as the Collins' style, goodness knows where they would get to. Very soon there would be room for only one word of five letters in a line! He would sooner have the schools put up with the inconvenience caused by short supplies of the present books thaa adopt this new style, which in a few years would become a spider scrawl.

Mr. Cargill said tlie difficulty of obtaining supplies would possibly be got over by approaching Collins' Dominion agents. As to writing, he must confess first of all that he was an atrocious writer himself. ]!ut that was his misfortune, lie had had a number of boys in las employ at various times in recent years, and he had not found a decent writer in the lot. He had found that boys trained in this semi-vertical Graphic writing had had to discard that style when they entered commercial life, principally because a greater slope enabled them to write more rapidly, and because there was no room for this widely spaced writing when keeping books/ Mr. Ballantyne said he couldn't understand the, remarks concerning the excessive room occupied bv the handwriting taught, to-day, for the Vere Foster style, although more sloping, took up more room. The more vertical the writing the less space required. It was the Vere Foster system which had tended to scrawling. He contended that the writing in Taranaki had improved under the Oraphic system. Mr. Cargill: It must have been awful before!

Mr. Morton referred to the fact that prize-winning writing at recent shows, judged by their own inspectors, was a great modification "of the' copy-book style, the inspectors aiming at the more compact writing. The inspectors said the exaggerated writing complained of was due, not to the style in the book, but to the instructions issued to teachers by the previous inspector.

Mr. Trimble caused some laughter by drawing attention to some handwriting on one of the documents before the meeting, signed "W. A. Ballantvne." He considered this writing a disgrace, and the writer was probably on the Vcre Foster system, and the present system could hardly produce worse than that. It was decided to communicate with the chief agent in the Dominion for the Graphic books pointing out the difficulty of obtaining supplies.