WRITING NOT LOST ART

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1934, Page 13

WRITING NOT LOST ART

PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOLS.

AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION.

A few weeks ago a business man wrote to the Melbourne Herald criticising the handwriting of young people. He declared that they did not even know the correct way to hold the pen and that teachers and pupils had become apathetic towards this important subject. Many agreed with the writer, but others defended the pupils and teachers bystating that handwriting to-day was much faster and quite as legible as that of the copperplate days. The Director of Education (Mr.. J. Mcßae) said that fluency and legibility were the most important points. Years ago,” he added, “there were two kinds of writing in the schools. One was the painfully slow and very beautiful copperplate for special exercises. The other was the ordinary running hand used m composition, dictation and other work. Frequently this was of a low standard. To-day pupils are encouraged to develop a neat, legible hand, at a reasonably rapid rate, in all writing. The old artificial accuracy has been replaced by a standard with good results for all concerned.” ~ , The outcome of the controversy which was thus started was that the Herald inaugurated a handwriting competition which created a considerable interest. Over 50,000 entries were received, and when it came to making the awards it was found that the girls carried off many more prizes than the boys. The competition also showed that the handwriting in the schools to-day was just as good as, if not better than, the handwriting of the past. . In making their report, the judges said that they understood their duty to be to judge writing by neatness and fluency as well as the correctness of the formation of the letters and the balancing of the writing. , “We had a number of what appeared almost copperplate samples to decide upon, but it was quite obvious that, although the writing in these cases was very excellent, there was undoubted evidence of great care and time expended in producing the result., and that could not be considered a genuine test oi a writer’s ability in ordinary commercial life. “The numerous entries, commg as they did from different States, and from every type of State and private school, included samples of almost every system of writing taught during the past century and afforded a field for a most interesting comparison of the merits of these various systems. • “In attempting this comparison, one was very quickly impressed with two facts; one, that the character and individuality of the writer are of far more importance that the particular system adopted; the other, that the slavish following of some of the systems at present in use tends to create a monotonous sameness in writing—the work, although very carefully and accurately done, is colourless and lacks character and appeal. “Another conclusion arrived at—and one which is of paramount importance to boys and girls desirous, of entering commercial life-—is that handwriting which contains all the requisites for social purposes may possess little .value for commercial work.

“A comparison of the work done in the two different sections showed that, on the while, the work of the junior section was relatively, if not absolutely, the better, and the honours in this section fell to the pupils between nine and eleven years of age.”