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 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY FRANK N. FREEMAN 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 U . S . A 
 
 y 
 
 JAN -2 i9i5 
 
 ^"^^20-$ 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Editor's Introduction . , vii 
 
 I. The Nature of the Problem . . . . i 
 II. The Constitution and Development of the 
 
 Writing Process 8 
 
 III. The Physiology and Hygiene of Writing . 32 
 
 IV. The Teaching of Handwriting ... 56 
 V. Aims and Standards for Handwriting . 118 
 
 Outline 153 
 
 Appendix . . 157 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Tine Library of Congress 
 
 Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/teacliingofliandwr01free 
 
FIGURES 
 
 1. Judd's Hand Tracer lo 
 
 2. Tracer-Records of Coordination . .11 
 
 3. Diagram of the Relation of the Body 
 
 AND Arms to the Desk and the Paper g8 
 
 4. Specimens of Vertical Writing showing 
 
 Assimilation of the Upward to the 
 Downward Stroke in Direction . . 99 
 
 5. Illustrations of Formal Drills . . loi 
 
 6. Illustrations of the Lateral Movement 
 
 Drills as used in the Bennett System 102 
 
 7. Illustrations of Exercises with later- 
 
 ally Spaced Letters 104 
 
 8. Classification and Order of "Develop- 
 
 ment OF Letters in the Economy Sys- 
 tem 107 
 
 9. Types of Illegible Forms of Letters 
 
 which are to be counted as Errors 135 
 
 10. Specimen of Handwriting for Grading . 141 
 V 
 
FIGURES 
 
 11. Diagram showing the Results or Meas- 
 
 urement OF Speed and Quality of 
 Writing in one School System and 
 Tentative Standards for Speed and 
 Quality i4S 
 
 12. Standard Scale for Quality and Speed 150 
 
 13. For use in Grading Uniformity of Slant 
 
 and Alinement 151 
 
 CHARTS 
 
 (IN APPENDIX) 
 
 I. Showing Different Degrees of Uniformity 
 OF Slant. 
 
 II. Showing Different Degrees of Uniformity 
 OF Alinement. 
 
 III. Showing Different Degrees of Quality of 
 
 Line. 
 
 IV. Showing Different Degrees of Excellence 
 
 IN Letter Formation. 
 
 V. Showing Different Degrees of Excellence 
 in Spacing. 
 
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 Tradition has dominated the teaching of hand- 
 writing as it has no other school study. It has 
 been the last of the so-called formal subjects to 
 be influenced by the newer educational thought. 
 Aside from the notable but temporary contro- 
 versy as to vertical or slant writing, the ped- 
 agogy of penmanship has scarcely been an im- 
 portant concern in educational discussion. Not 
 until quite recently have we really had any im- 
 portant professional publications upon the sub- 
 ject. The result has been a tardy development 
 of economical and efficient methods of teaching 
 children to write. 
 
 It would be a mistake to imply that teachers 
 have not been conscious of the problems involved 
 in the teaching of handwriting. They have. 
 Every teacher is aware of the controversies as 
 to slant, size, position, movement, speed, accu- 
 racy, etc. They are part of the craft troubles of 
 every pedagogue, inherited along with traditions 
 of technique and subject-matter. But it must be 
 frankly admitted that teachers as a class have 
 vii 
 
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 been complacent about these matters. At least 
 they have given far less energy to the solution of 
 these disputes than they have to similar ones in 
 reading, spelling, and arithmetic. This attitude 
 is a little difficult to explain, particularly when 
 it is understood that bad penmanship, like poor 
 spelling, constitutes one of the readiest means 
 of attacking the efficiency of teachers. It is prob- 
 able that the ordinary experiences of teachers 
 were incapable of rendering the necessary deci- 
 sions. A more expert psychological analysis and 
 a more careful pedagogical experimentation than 
 ordinary teachers were able to conduct were 
 needed to illumine the situation. This seems to 
 be borne out by the fact that interest in the ped- 
 agogy of writing began to stir the moment an 
 educational psychology and an experimental 
 pedagogy began to be developed. 
 
 Until very recently such innovations as ap- 
 peared in the teaching of penmanship were in- 
 troduced by those whose prime interest in the 
 matter was commercial rather than professional. 
 A new system of penmanship had to have some 
 new idea to commend it above its predecessors. 
 In consequence penmanship has been overrun 
 with plans of instruction dominated by a single 
 device, arrangement, or method. This exploita- 
 viii 
 
EDITORS' INTRODUCTION 
 
 lion of some one phase of teaching technique, to 
 the consequent neglect of others that should 
 have been combined with it, accounts for the 
 more or less faddistic tone which has accompanied 
 programs for reform in the teaching of hand- 
 writing. A new writing system has usually meant 
 an attempt to find a new specific for all the ills of 
 illegible and ungraceful penmanship, rather than 
 a wide survey and appraisal of all the means at 
 command. In such circumstances, it was natural 
 that the rank and file of teachers should feel a 
 wholesome suspicion of the constant attempts at 
 radical change. They became conservative, and 
 have remained more conservative in this subject 
 than in any other. Accruing systems of instruc- 
 tion have not interested teachers as much as they 
 should, considering that, however extreme and 
 one-sided these plans may be, they usually repre- 
 sent successful experience in a particular direc- 
 tion. Out of this lethargy the mass of teachers 
 must be roused. 
 
 It will not be difficult to interest classroom 
 teachers in the improvement of their methods of 
 teaching pupils to write, provided they be offered 
 a program of constructive suggestions which is 
 known to rest on accurate, scientific investiga- 
 tion. The fact that teachers are conservative in 
 ix 
 
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 their attitude toward change in the teaching of 
 penmanship does not imply that they are satis- 
 fied with their own accomplishments. Penman- 
 ship offers one of the most tangible checks upon 
 the efficiency of teaching, and teachers are not 
 blind to the desirability of a good output. They 
 will manifest a renewed interest in the problem 
 the moment they feel that the discussion is sound. 
 It is with unusual confidence that this volume 
 on the psychology, physiology, hygiene, and ped- 
 agogy of handwriting is offered to the teaching 
 profession. It will interest every person who is 
 in any way concerned with the teaching of the 
 subject, because it presents a far-reaching and 
 thorough analysis of the problem and its various 
 elements. Moreover, it will aid thousands of 
 groping [teachers in diagnosing the defects of 
 their children's achievements, in suggesting the 
 appropriate methods for inducing improvement, 
 and in giving some accurate objective standards 
 for the measurement of individual and class 
 progress. It represents just what the profession 
 has long required, — a treatment so scientific 
 that it commands respect, and so simply stated 
 that it can be readily used. 
 
THE TEACHING OF HAND- 
 WRITING 
 
 THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 
 
 Handwriting a new form of expression 
 
 Learning to write consists primarily in the ac- 
 quirement of a new form of expression. Because 
 of the prominence of the technical problems 
 connected with the development of the writing 
 movement we must not lose sight of the fact that 
 the movement is not an end in itself, but is 
 merely a means of expression. The child may be 
 able to form the letters fluently and legibly and 
 yet the writing may be deficient because it has not 
 become subordinated to his thought processes. 
 Writing has not been thoroughly learned until 
 the child can give his attention chiefly to the 
 train of thought he is engaged in expressing 
 while the mechanics of the production of the 
 letters are relegated to the realm of habit. 
 I 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 The teaching problem centers in the writing 
 movement 
 
 While keeping the fact in mind that writing is 
 not merely a movement by which certain marks 
 are made on paper, it remains true that the prac- 
 tical problems of teaching center largely in the 
 development of such a movement. To be able 
 to guide the child in the most economical and 
 efficient development of the writing movement 
 demands an understanding of its nature and the 
 conditions of its growth. It is well to appreciate 
 clearly, in the first place, that writing is not an 
 instinctive form of expression. In this it differs 
 from speech. The child instinctively practices 
 and gains control over the syllables which will 
 later be combined to form the words of his na- 
 tive language.; Children in fact have been known 
 to develop a crude language of their own even 
 when there is a fully developed language at hand 
 to imitate. But no such instinctive tendency 
 underlies the writing habit, the instinctive activi- 
 ties which are most nearly related to it being 
 the grasping reflex and the indefiiiite tendency 
 to handle objects. On the contrary the various 
 simpler movements which are combined to form 
 the complex writing movement are wrought into 
 
THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 
 
 a harmonious coordination only after a large 
 amount of intelligently directed drill. The per- 
 fection of the speech activities requires practice 
 also, but the practice in this case merely serves 
 to render an instinctive adjustment more ac- 
 curate, while in the case of writing the adjust- 
 ment is not only perfected but is created through 
 practice. 
 
 An artificial product of training rather than an 
 instinctive activity 
 
 The importance of the teacher's part and the 
 character of the teacher's equipment for his task 
 are determined by this fact that writing is so 
 largely an artificial product of training rather 
 than an instinctive activity. The teacher should 
 know clearly not merely what kind of written 
 characters he wishes the child to produce, but 
 also the constitution of the movement by which 
 they are to be made. The correct movement will 
 not develop itself automatically in the effort to 
 make lines or letters of a certain sort. The same 
 line may be made by a movement which is easy 
 and fluent or by one that is difficult and slow. In 
 order that the teacher may choose intelligently 
 between the different possible ways of writing 
 he should not merely follow rules of thumb, but 
 3 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 should know something of the way in which the 
 various sensations, images, ideas and movements 
 are associated in writing. 
 
 It is particularly important to know, further- 
 more, not merely how these factors are associated 
 in adult writing, but also how they become as- 
 sociated in the development of the child. We 
 need to know the changes which take place from 
 one period of the child's life to another, and how 
 they may be affected by training. The mistake 
 is often made of merely determining upon the 
 best form of writing for adults, and of failing to 
 take account of the modifications which are nec- 
 essary to be made in adapting the aims and 
 methods of teaching to children of various ages. 
 The development of writing in the child is gov- 
 erned not only by the general laws of habit for- 
 mation as applied to this particular process, but 
 also by the laws of the development of motor 
 capacity in the child. 
 
 Psychology, physiology, and hygiene involved 
 
 The concern of the teacher is not confined to 
 the hand movements and the expression of mean- 
 ings by them. Writing also involves adjustments 
 of other parts of the body. The eyes are em- 
 ployed in following the stroke as it forms the 
 
 4 
 
THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 
 
 letters and words, in order that they may be com- 
 pared with a standard which is actually before 
 the writer or is held in the imagination. These 
 adjustments of the eyes, besides throwing light 
 upon the process of the recognition, which is a 
 necessary part of writing, raise problems in the 
 hygiene of the writing process. Indeed, the opin- 
 ion which was held regarding the effect of differ- 
 ent styles of writing on the eye movements and 
 adjustments, and the effect of these movements 
 and adjustments on the eye and its fimctions, 
 has led to radical modifications in the manner 
 of writing and the style of the letters which are 
 used. The same significance attaches to the pos- 
 ture which the child assumes in writing. Con- 
 siderations of hygiene also have bearing on the 
 character of the materials which the child uses, 
 and the amount of light which falls upon the 
 paper, together with the direction from which it 
 comes. 
 
 The grasp of the general principles of the 
 psychology, physiology, and hygiene of writing, 
 which have been shown to be an important part 
 of the teacher's equipment, lays the foundation 
 for a detailed and more extensive consideration 
 of the practical problems of instruction. There 
 are certain issues about which controversies have 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 waged. In these controversies sometimes one 
 and sometimes the other party has prevailed. 
 But the issues have not been permanently set- 
 tled because the decisions have not been made 
 on the basis of a thoroughgoing understanding of 
 the fundamental principles which underlie the 
 solution. Furthermore, the experience gained in 
 the trial of alternative methods, by which the 
 answer to many questions of detail of method 
 must be reached, has not been made available 
 through a standardization of the conditions of 
 the trial and the keeping of an accurate record of 
 the results. At the present time much light can 
 be thrown on the ancient controversies by bring- 
 ing to bear upon them our knowledge of the fun- 
 damental make-up of the writing process, while 
 much remains to be done in the determination 
 of details of procedure through scientific tests. 
 
 In order to make the teaching of any subject 
 as efficient as possible, we must know not merely 
 the mental development which is involved in 
 learning the subject and the methods of teaching 
 which are the best, but we should also know def- 
 initely what results should be attained and how 
 these results may be measured. We may thus 
 set before ourselves and our pupils definite aims 
 and standards of attainment. Such aims and 
 6 
 
THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 
 
 standards not only furnish a criterion by which 
 we may decide whether progress is being made, 
 but they also serve as spurs or motives to prog- 
 ress. Accordingly the last chapter contains an 
 analysis of the qualities according to which writ- 
 ing may be judged to be good or bad and a stand- 
 ard of attainment which is proposed for the 
 pupils of the various grades of the elementary 
 school. 
 
 The aim of the following pages is to treat the 
 problems which have been outlined in such a 
 way as to be of service to the teacher who is con- 
 fronted with the practical situation in the school- 
 room. 
 
II 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
 THE WRITING PROCESS 
 
 The writing act is complex 
 
 When an educated adult writes a letter the proc- 
 ess appears to be a perfectly easy and natural 
 one. The connection between the words which ex- 
 press the ideas in his mind and the hand move- 
 ments by which the words are written seems to 
 be a direct and matter-of-course connection. In 
 the same way all actions in which we have at- 
 tained proficiency appear simple. But this sim- 
 plicity is something which has been achieved 
 through a long course of practice. The outward 
 act remains as complex as ever, but the actor has 
 ceased to pay attention to all of its details, as we 
 shall see more particularly. 
 
 In order to convince ourselves of the fact that 
 the complexity of the writing movement is re- 
 flected much more completely in the mind of the 
 child than in our own, we have only to regard our 
 experience in an activity in which we are rela- 
 tively imskilled. We can reproduce in a measure 
 8 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 in our own experience the condition under which 
 the child writes by endeavoring to trace an out- 
 line which is seen in a mirror. Under these con- 
 ditions the pencil goes off in all sorts of unex- 
 pected directions, and the attention is drawn to 
 each separate adjustment which it is necessary to 
 make in order to bring the pencil back from its 
 erratic course, and to the movements of the hand 
 and fingers by which these adjustments are made. 
 A still closer analogy exists between the child's 
 writing and the attempts of an adult to write 
 with the toes. This is not at all a fantastic il- 
 lustration. Anybody can learn to write with the 
 toes who will expend the same amount of time and 
 effort which the child expends in learning to write 
 with his fingers. A little experimentation with 
 some such unusual kind of writing will be more 
 efficacious than a large amount of mere discussion 
 in making one realize that the writing habit is not 
 instinctive, that it must be developed gradually 
 and by much practice, and that it is very complex. 
 
 The movement is composed of a variety of 
 elementary movements 
 
 If we consider merely the muscles and joints 
 which are involved in the writing movement we 
 gain some notion of its complexity. Professor 
 
 9 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 Judd ^ has furnished us with a method of dis- 
 tinguishing some of the elementary movements 
 
 in writing by the 
 use of his "hand 
 tracer," shown in 
 Fig. I. This instru- 
 ment is fastened by 
 a spring about the 
 hand at the base of 
 the little finger, and 
 records the move- 
 ments of the hand 
 and arm. In some 
 experiments which 
 
 Figure i 
 
 Reproduced from Genetic Psychol- 
 ogy for Teachers, by Charles Hubbard 
 Judd. Copyright, 1903, by D. Apple- 
 ton and Company. 
 
 were made with this instrument it was foimd 
 that in the writing of most individuals both the 
 arm and fingers play an essential part in the writ- 
 ing movement. This is made evident by Fig. 2, 
 which is copied from Professor Judd's report. 
 Whether or not it is best to move the fingers as 
 well as the arm in writing is a question to be 
 discussed more fully in the chapter on pedagogy, 
 but the fact that most persons write in this way 
 is significant. Some persons write with more and 
 some with less finger movement, but only a very 
 few, who have had special training beyond that 
 1 C. H. Judd, Genetic Psychology for Teachers, chap. vi. 
 10 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 which is given in the ordinary school course, are 
 able to exclude finger movements entirely. 
 In the case of the majority of persons, then, 
 
 ?; 
 
 1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 J 
 
 \\\ \ I //// 
 
 lo 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 '2 
 
 6W 
 
 IU4?^^><^ ^^UjoUj^JU^ 
 
 Figure 2 
 
 Reproduced from ' Genetic Psychology for Teachers, by Charles ' 
 Hubbard Judd. Copyright, 1903, by D. Appleton and Company. 
 
 there is division of labor between the arm and 
 the fingers. One function of the arm is clearly to 
 carry the hand along the line from the left to the 
 right side of the paper. This may be done either 
 by swinging the forearm about on a pivot formed 
 II 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 by the elbow or by the muscle pad just below the 
 elbow, or by lifting the forearm and shifting it 
 along. When the desk is low, these sideward move- 
 ments are made chiefly at the shoulder joint, and 
 therefore by muscles at the shoulder. When the 
 desk is high so that the elbow is held some distance 
 from the body, they are due in considerable meas- 
 ure to rotation at the elbow. It is evident that as 
 compared with shifting the position of the elbow 
 the rotation of the forearm about a pivot is the 
 more economical, since in this latter movement 
 time is not taken to interrupt the movement by 
 lifting the arm. If this is true it has a bearing on 
 the relation between the position of the paper and 
 that of the arm. The best relation is one in which 
 the forearm is at right angles to the line of writing. 
 If we assume that the arm carries the hand 
 along the Kne while the fingers form the letters, 
 the finger and arm movements may still work to- 
 gether in one of two ways. Either the one may 
 alternate with the other or the two may go on 
 simultaneously. The alternating relation is one 
 frequently seen in the writing of young children, 
 but it is by no means confined to them. One 
 frequently sees children and older people write 
 with the hand in a given position until the fingers 
 become so cramped that they can progress no 
 
 12 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 further, when the arm is lifted and the hand is 
 carried to a new position. According to the other 
 method the hand and arm progress along the 
 line during the formation of the letters, and it 
 is not necessary to readjust the relation between 
 them at frequent intervals. 
 
 In the writing movement of some persons 
 another movement cooperates to carry the hand 
 along the line. This is a side-to-side movement 
 about the wrist joint. Such a movement is in- 
 dicated in the tracer record when the line of the 
 record slants downward sharply while the word or 
 group of letters is being written, and then takes a 
 backward and upward course in the readjustment 
 preparatory to writing the next word. The down- 
 ward slant is produced by the rotation of the wrist 
 to right and the upward slant by its return to the 
 original position at the beginning of the word. 
 
 The arm not only carries the hand along the 
 line, but also, in the arm-movement writing, has 
 a share in the formation of the letters. The move- 
 ment of the arm in this case is made chiefly by a 
 rotation in the ball and socket joint at the shoul- 
 der, and is produced by the shoulder muscles. The 
 terms which are sometimes used to describe this 
 type of movement convey a false impression. 
 Both the terms "forearm movement" and ''mus- 
 
 n 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 cular movement" make it appear that the move- 
 ment is produced by muscles in the forearm, but 
 a little examination will show that, in the arm 
 movement, these muscles merely serve as a pas- 
 sive rest for the arm, and that thsy are active only 
 in producing movements of the wrist and fingers. 
 It is clear, if we examine the work of the fingers, 
 that there is division of labor among them also. 
 The pen is not grasped by all the fingers, but by 
 the first two fingers and the thumb. This is not 
 the way the child naturally grasps it. The earliest 
 /and most fundamental method of grasping such 
 /an object is to fold the fingers about it without us- 
 ing the thumb. The infant and the monkey grasp 
 in this way. The next most natural method is to 
 bring the tips of all the fingers together in opposi- 
 tion to the thtmib. Monkeys and young infants 
 never handle things in this way. To bring two of 
 the fingers in opposition to the thumb and to use 
 the others to support the hand is a still more diffi- 
 cult and complex thing to do. It has been foimd 
 by experiment that young children do not readily 
 move one finger in isolation from the others, as, 
 tor example, in striking successively the notes of a 
 piano. They tend rather to tap with all at once. 
 The use of a pen or pencil in the ordinary way 
 is difficult, then, because it involves separating 
 14 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 the action of some of the fingers from that of 
 the others and because it involves the united 
 action of these fingers and the thumb. This con- 
 clusion is supported also by the anatomy of the 
 muscle and nerve groups which govern the 
 movements of the fingers and thumb. The chief 
 muscles which move the fingers and thumb are 
 located in the forearm — not in the fingers as 
 is often assumed. The nerve cells which control 
 the fingers form a group which are naturally as- 
 sociated in their action, and the nerve cells which 
 control the thumb form another group. This 
 fact explains why the coordination between fin- 
 gers and thumb is so difficult. 
 
 Whether or not the letters are formed by the 
 movements of the fingers, then, they have a dis- 
 tinct function to perform since two of them have 
 the office of supporting the hand while the other 
 two, with the thumb, grasp the pen. When these 
 latter also contribute a large share toward the 
 formation of the letters, the adjustment of 
 the movements to one another becomes delicate 
 and complicated. The matter has been studied 
 by an Italian investigator, Obici,^ who invented 
 
 1 G. Obici, Ricerche sulla Fisiolgia della Scrittura. Rivista 
 sperimentale di frenitica e medicina legale della alienazioni 
 mentale. 1897, 23, 623 and 870. 
 
 15 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 an instmment which he calls a ^'graphograph." 
 The de\dce consists in a pen to which are at- 
 tached three levers against which the thumb and 
 first two fingers press. The pressure which they 
 exert is transmitted pneumatically to delicately 
 adjusted pointers. By means of this instrument 
 we can measure exactly the actions of the fingers 
 which are presented to ordinary observ^ation less 
 precisely. 
 
 A succession of strokes of various kinds — up- 
 ward and downward, oblique and upright, curved 
 to the right or left or straight — presents the 
 different combinations of movements in continu- 
 ally changing order. Each component movement 
 must be made at the proper time and with the 
 proper amount of force or the stroke will be dis- 
 torted. For example, a downward stroke is made 
 mainly by the pressure of the first finger against 
 the pen, while the thumb and second finger 
 guide. If additional pressure is exerted by the 
 second finger the line will deviate to the left. To 
 produce a cur\'e such as that of the downward 
 stroke of the c there must be an excess pressure 
 exerted first by the second finger and then by 
 the thumb. \Mien the stroke reaches the bottom 
 the first finger must relinquish the chief role, 
 which then passes to the thumb. If the next up- 
 i6 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ward stroke forms the first stroke of an e, for 
 example, the middle finger first gives way and 
 then presses against the thumb to form the loop 
 at the top. On the other hand, if the next letter 
 is the m, the second finger exerts a somewhat 
 stronger pressure during the upward stroke and 
 then releases it at the top. Such is the ever- 
 shifting balance of forces by which the appar- 
 ently simple writing movement proceeds. It is 
 not to be wondered at that the child's pen runs 
 off the track, and the precision of the adult writer 
 is only to be ascribed to the wonderful efficiency 
 of an act which has become a habit through long 
 practice. 
 
 This analysis of the manner in which the com- 
 ponent finger movements are coordinated in pro- 
 ducing the letters furnishes the explanation 
 of the fact that arm-movement writing always 
 tends toward an angular style. The upward and 
 downward movements can very well be made by 
 the oscillation of the arm, but the complex 
 curves which compose the letter forms are more 
 easily produced by the fingers. 
 
 The movements which have been described 
 are sufficient to produce a succession of letters 
 and words. An additional movement is often em- 
 ployed, however, as a corrective. As the hand 
 17 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 moves across the page with the elbow as center 
 of rotation, the direction in which the fingers 
 point is constantly changing. At the right end 
 of the line they point much more toward the 
 right than at the left end. The effect of this 
 is to make the letters slant more toward the 
 right as the hand progresses along the line. 
 This error may be compensated for in more than 
 one way, but, as Professor Judd has pointed out, 
 some writers make the correction by means of an 
 additional movement. It may be easily deter- 
 mined by the reader for himself that if a series 
 of strokes are made with the hand turned over 
 toward the right side and then another series 
 are made with the hand turned with the palm 
 down, the second series is more nearly vertical 
 then the first. This turning of the hand toward 
 the left so that the palm faces downward is called 
 pronation, and it will be readily seen that it is 
 suited to correct the overslant of the letters at 
 the right at the end of the line. 
 
 We have completed the list of the movements 
 which combine directly to form the writing co- 
 ordination, but it is evident, on a moment's con- 
 sideration, that we have not exhausted the list 
 of bodily adjustments which are necessary to 
 the activity. The body is held erect to furnish 
 i8 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 support to the arm. The left hand holds the 
 paper and moves it from time to time and the 
 left arm steadies and supports the body. Finally, 
 the eyes and head are adjusted to the perception 
 of the characters which are being formed. We 
 shall see that many important practical ques- 
 tions are concerned with the maintenance of a 
 healthful posture and the avoidance of eye- 
 strain. 
 
 The fact that the eyes are adjusted to the per- 
 ception of what is being written calls attention to 
 the fact that there are other elements in writ- 
 ing beside the mere muscular movements. These 
 are the sensations and perceptions which serve as 
 a guide and standard for the movement. 
 
 Writing also involves control sensations and 
 language ideas 
 
 The guidance or control of the writing move- 
 ment by vision is particularly prominent in the 
 early stages of learning. The adult can write 
 blindfolded nearly as well as with his eyes open. 
 The only features of the writing which suffer 
 noticeably are the size, spacing, and alinement. 
 The child, however, is largely dependent upon 
 his sense of sight for the correct formation of the 
 letters as well as for the control of the writing in 
 19 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 regard to these more general aspects. In the adult 
 the immediate control of the details of the ac- 
 tivity has been largely assumed by the sen- 
 sations of movement and the pressure sensations. 
 The importance of these latter may be very well 
 demonstrated by writing with a pen which is so 
 constructed that the pressure of the pen against 
 the paper is not perceptible. Under such condi- 
 tions the writing suffers not only in alinement 
 and spacing, but also in the formation of the 
 letters. This is particularly true when the eyes 
 are closed. When the eyes are open the adult 
 writer can in a measure compensate for the loss 
 of the sensations of pressure by making a closer 
 inspection than usual of the movement of the 
 pen. 
 
 We may conceive of the pressure and movement 
 sensations in writing as being not yet organized 
 in the experience of the young child. That is, he 
 does not yet know with any assurance how it 
 feels to write a certain letter or word, but must 
 rely upon his eye to inform him whether or not he 
 is doing as he intends. As he writes more, these 
 sensations become organized. Certain of them, 
 following each other in certain order, come to re- 
 present particular letters or words. This seems 
 always to occur when writing becomes fluent 
 
 20 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 and easy. The practical application of this fact 
 is that the child must write a great deal and at 
 a sufficient speed for the successive sensations 
 of movement and pressure to become associated 
 with one another, and with the visual forms 
 which they represent. 
 
 But writing is not merely the production on 
 paper of certain forms. These forms have a mean- 
 ing, and writing is for the purpose of expressing 
 this meaning. In writing, as in reading, one says 
 over more or less completely to himself the words 
 which are being written, and the word images 
 are the symbols of ideas. The writer starts out 
 with an idea which he wishes to express. This 
 idea is represented by groups of words imaged 
 more or less clearly as heard or spoken, or both. 
 These word images then call into being the ap- 
 propriate writing movements. 
 
 Eow the mental process becomes simplified through 
 practice 
 In the manner of the connection between the 
 idea and the movements of writing, there are im- 
 portant changes in the course of development. 
 As^ has been said, to the practiced writer the 
 writing movement seems to follow perfectly 
 naturally upon the idea to be expressed, but in 
 
 21 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 the experience of the child there is a chain of in- 
 termediate processes. One may get some idea of 
 the process through which the child must go by 
 examining his own experience in using a type- 
 writer. Even if one is proficient in the use of 
 this machine, the learning process is recent 
 enough so that it can probably be recalled. Start- 
 ing with the idea, one in the early stages of prac- 
 tice has to form definitely in his mind the words 
 which express the idea. The phraseology is 
 thought out more clearly in advance than in the 
 more familiar processes of speaking or writing. 
 The case is like that of a person who learns a 
 foreign language as an adult, but who, instead of 
 putting his thought directly into the foreign 
 words, thinks them in his own tongue and then 
 translates. 
 
 The next step after clearly formulating our 
 ideas in words is to spell the words out. One does 
 not realize how automatic the process of spelling 
 becomes in ordinary handwriting until he tries 
 to write by the less familiar process. He has to 
 think out the sequence of the letters as seen on 
 the printed page, or as pronounced orally, and 
 then follow this sequence in the letters on the 
 keyboard. Then each movement which must be 
 made in order to write the successive letters must 
 
 22 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 be thought and made separately. Finally, after 
 the movement is made, it is given a parting 
 thought to make sure it was the one which was 
 intended. 
 
 It is not surprising that by the time these pro- 
 cesses have been gone through, the thought con- 
 nection has been lost. So it must be with the 
 child who is in the early stages of learning to 
 write. He must go through the same stages of 
 anticipating the words he is to write, the spelling 
 of these words, and something of the details of 
 the form of the letters and of the position of the 
 hand, the movements, etc., by which the letters 
 are produced. Hence the well-known fact that 
 young children cannot express their thoughts 
 fluently by writing. The mechanics of the writing 
 process stand in the forefront of the attention and 
 interrupt the flow of thought. As practice pro- 
 ceeds, these steps follow one another more rap- 
 idly and more closely so that they interrupt the 
 thought process less. The writing process be- 
 comes more nearly automatic — that is, it be- 
 comes capable of being carried on without the 
 direction of attention. The attention can then 
 be occupied more fully with the meaning which 
 is to be expressed. 
 
 There is a certain time when the child must be 
 23 
 
THE TEACHING OF Hx\NDWRITING 
 
 thinking chiefly of the formation of the letters 
 
 and the mechanics of the process, but this stage in 
 learning may be prolonged beyond the time when 
 it is necessary or desirable. A person may have 
 J the mechanics of writing highly developed, but 
 "^ not be able to use it efficiently in the expression 
 of his thought. It sometimes occurs that a per- 
 son can write very excellently when it is purely 
 a formal matter, but uses an inferior "hand" 
 when he is writing a letter. On the other hand, 
 it sometimes happens that a person with a halt- 
 ing, uncertain movement develops fluency and 
 case when he grows accustomed to the use of 
 writing to express his thoughts. 
 
 The opposite danger of releasing attention too 
 early from the mechanics of writing or the de- 
 tails of form is also present. Generally speaking, 
 improvements in the character of the movement 
 or the form of the letters cease when one no 
 longer exercises a critical super^'ision over the 
 process. Mere practice does not bring improve- 
 ment. The pupil should early begin to use writ- 
 ing as a means of expression of meaning, but 
 there should also be practice periods when the 
 attention is directed to the improvement of the 
 habit until the habit has reached the degree of 
 perfection which is thought desirable. 
 24 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The movement becomes organized with practice 
 
 From the point of view of the thought or mean- 
 ing side of writing then, we have fomid that writ- 
 ing becomes increasiagly automatic with prac- 
 tice. The attention is freed from the details of 
 the movement. From the point of view of the 
 movement, this process consists in a more 
 thorough organization of the elements of the co- 
 ordination. In the first place, excess movements 
 become eliminated. When the child begins to 
 write, the nervous energy is diffused throughout 
 a large part of the body. The face is contorted, 
 the feet are twisted about, the left hand is tightly 
 clasped, and the body is bent. The same phe- 
 nomenon may be observed in the learning of the 
 adult, as, for example, when in learning to ride a 
 bicycle he grips the handlebar with unnecessary 
 force. Out of the excess supply of movements, 
 the child must learn to use only such as produce 
 the desired movements of the pen. 
 
 The elimination of useless movements, or the 
 selection of appropriate ones, is one of the funda- 
 mental processes in motor learning. A practical 
 question which may be raised concerning it is 
 whether the result can best be reached by empha- 
 sizing the movements which are to be selected or 
 25 
 
THE TEACHING OF H.\XDWRITING 
 
 those which are to be eliminated. In general, it 
 is much better to fix attention on the movements 
 which are to be made, and allow the superfluous 
 movements to drop out of themselves. It is a 
 familiar fact that the bicycle rider avoids the 
 ditch best by keeping his attention on the path. 
 The nen'ous energ}' is automatically withdrawn 
 from the channels leading to the muscles not con- 
 cerned when the nen'ous channels to the appro- 
 priate muscles become more open. Directions 
 should be positive, then, rather than negative. 
 The pupil should be shown what to do rather 
 than what not to do. The only exception to this 
 rule appears when the pupil ha^ fallen into bad 
 habits which need to be broken up. Then it may 
 be necessar}* to call attention to the thing to be 
 avoided. 
 
 The appropriate movements become selected 
 from among the great number of superfluous 
 movements as they become organized into modes 
 of action which produce the desired result. The 
 ners'ous energ}* is at first widely diflused because 
 the ner\-e cells which control the groups of mus- 
 cles which are associated successively and simul- 
 taneously in the writing movement have not be- 
 come so connected that the ners'ous energy- finds 
 free outlet through them. The organization of 
 
 20 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 these nerve centers can proceed only through 
 practice — that is, through trying to make the 
 movement which will produce the forms set be- 
 fore the child as a model. There is no royal road 
 to this end. The child must learn by the slow 
 method of trial and success. He knows roughly 
 what form he desires to make, but does not know 
 how to go about it to make it, except in a general 
 way. He has no recourse but to make the attempt. 
 He succeeds partly because he has learned to 
 make movements somewhat similar in the past, 
 but his success is not complete. He now tries to 
 improve on his first attempt. If he fails, he tries 
 again. If he succeeds, he may be able to repeat 
 his performance. But he is not able to anticipate 
 the method by which success is reached. He can 
 only retain the measure of success he has attained 
 by blind trial until further trials bring him nearer 
 his goal. Practice or drill, therefore, is the only 
 means of learning to write. The essentials of 
 good drill will be discussed in the chapter on 
 pedagogy. 
 
 As the movement becomes organized the attention 
 
 comes to comprehend larger units 
 
 When the child first essays to write the letters 
 
 which are before him (and which compose the 
 
 27 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 words which he uses in his spoken language), his 
 attention is absorbed, as we have seen, in repro- 
 ducing the forms. In striving to copy the forms 
 of the letters, he keeps their appearance in 
 mind as well as he can and watches the letter 
 which he is making in order to see when it devi- 
 ates from the model and to bring back the stroke 
 when it goes astray. He follows the stroke bit by 
 bit with the eye, and it is his eye which seems 
 mainly to "control" the stroke. After he has 
 made the various letters over and over he gradu- 
 ally learns how it feels to make them, as has 
 already been said, and he finds it no longer 
 necessary to follow the stroke minutely. 
 
 Now is the time when the child can hold in 
 mind several strokes or letters at a time. He can 
 safely assume that the motor habit under the 
 control of the sensations of movement and pres- 
 siure will execute the details of the letters. As 
 the child thus holds in mind several letters or a 
 word at a time, it comes about that the individual 
 strokes are subordinated to the more general 
 features of the writing. Thus he can pay more 
 attention to the uniformity in size, slant, etc., of 
 the letters. It may be seen, by comparing the 
 writing of children with that of adults, that chil- 
 dren commonly form the letters more carefully, 
 28 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 but that the writing as a whole is more uneven 
 or ragged. 
 
 Another result of this broadening of the scope 
 of the attention concerns the movement. The 
 movement becomes more uniform, or, in other 
 words, it acquires greater rhythm. The succes- 
 sive strokes tend to be made at equal intervals of 
 time as though to music. This undoubtedly ex- 
 plains much of the deviation from correct form 
 in the writing of adults. Parts of letters which 
 would take more time if made correctly are 
 hurried over to avoid breaking the regular beat 
 of the strokes. At the same time, rhythmic move- 
 ment has a great advantage on the score of ease 
 and rapidity. We shall consider its practical im- 
 portance again in the chapter on pedagogy. 
 
 Learning to write is conditioned partly by the 
 stages of development at diferent ages 
 
 We have been considering those features of the 
 formation of the writing habit which are inherent 
 in the learning process itself and which are the 
 same whatever the age or the degree of maturity 
 of the learner. Certain questions regarding the 
 time and manner of teaching writing, however, 
 require for their solution a knowledge of the ca- 
 pacity of the child at different ages for complex 
 29 
 
THE TEACHING OF H.\NDWRITING 
 
 and delicately adjusted movement. Systems of 
 teaching which are found to be suitable to youths 
 or adults in business colleges are often applied 
 without sufficient modihcation to children in the 
 primary grades. Such procedure results in a 
 waste of energ}- and effort. 
 
 The child's ability to make precise, complex, 
 and rapid movements increases continuously 
 from the first year at least to youth. For practi- 
 cal purposes, however, certain di%ision points 
 may be designated which mark changes in the 
 child's attitude toward his movements and an 
 increase in capacity more rapid than at other 
 times. One such point is of particular significance 
 for the teaching of writing because it falls witlnn 
 the period of the grades. 
 
 ~ Students of the child from difierent points of 
 \-iew have iudependently fixed on the age of nine 
 or thereabouts as a time when the child becomes 
 willing and able to apply to his movements some 
 outward 5:-r,i.::d. In his play, for example, the 
 child now sets an aim to his movements. Before 
 this, they were free, and enjoyed merely for them- 
 selves: or they were dramatic or sjinbolic in 
 character. Xow. the child not only runs because 
 he enjoys the experience or pretends that he is an 
 Indian or what not, but he runs to excel some- 
 30. 
 
CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
 body else or even to make a record. So also in 
 drawing he ceases to make merely rough sketches 
 which represent but do not resemble objects, and 
 makes an effort to portray more accurately their 
 form and spatial relations. A brief study made 
 by the author indicates also that the faciHty of 
 movement in making simple upward and down- 
 ward strokes with a pencil increases more rapidly 
 at this time than during the rest of the child's 
 school life. 
 
 The methods and aims of training should take 
 account of these facts and require more of the 
 child in the intermediate than in the primary 
 grades. A system which sets the same standard 
 of speed or accuracy before children in the dif- 
 ferent stages is fundamentally wrong. The appli- 
 cation of this principle, and of the others which 
 have been set forth in this chapter, is a mat- 
 ter to be discussed more particularly in the 
 following pages. . 
 
Ill 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF WRITING 
 
 In the preceding chapter we saw that one does 
 not write with the arm alone. The body fur- 
 nishes a base or support for the arm, the left hand 
 is often engaged in holding the paper, the eyes 
 rotate and the lenses of the eyes are focused upon 
 the page. These facts are of particular signifi- 
 cance because, first, the position of the body may 
 be such as to distort the skeleton, particularly 
 the spine, causing a permanent deviation from 
 the normal adjustment; and, second, the way in 
 which the eyes have to be adjusted in certain 
 positions of the paper or kinds of writing is re- 
 garded by many as injurious to the sight. We 
 shall at once consider the requirements of pos- 
 ture and then the requirements of the hygiene of 
 vision. 
 
 The requirements of good posture and their 
 consequences for writing 
 
 The requirements of good posture can be put 
 in a few words. The deviations from good pos- 
 32 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 ture and the causes of these deviations are some- 
 what more complex. We shall take up the im- 
 portant features of good posture, discussing first 
 the positive requirements, then the kinds of de- 
 viation which appear when the child writes, and 
 finally the conditions of writing — the position 
 of paper, slant of writing, etc. —which affect 
 posture favorably or unfavorably. 
 
 Before entering upon this discussion, a word 
 should be said to prevent a too rigid application 
 of the principles of posture. Perhaps the danger 
 is rather in the opposite direction, but it is well 
 to know that when we allow what seems to be oc- 
 casional lapses from what is ideally best, we are 
 not compromising with our principles, but are 
 applying another equally valid principle. This 
 principle is that it is not ideal for the child to 
 maintain any position whatever, except one of 
 relaxation, for a considerable length of time. We 
 must allow and encourage frequent changes of 
 position, and the younger the child the more fre- 
 quent the changes must be. 
 
 The danger to avoid is that the child shall 
 deviate habitually in one particular direction. 
 This causes maladjustment of the bones, or com- 
 pression of some of the organs, or both. But it is 
 perfectly natural for the child at one moment to 
 33 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 take a position which deviates in one direction 
 from what may be considered abstractly the 
 normal or ideal, and at the next moment the 
 position which deviates in the other direction. 
 We may define and use the ideal or normal, 
 then, as the posture about which the child may 
 deviate in several directions, but from which 
 he should^ not deviate permanently in any 
 direction. 
 
 The first requirement of good posture is that 
 the body and head be held erect. This rule has 
 reference to the forward and backward bending 
 of head or body. With reference to the body, it 
 means first that the back shall not be rounded 
 out, thus compressing the lungs, stomach, etc., 
 and causing the protrusion of the abdominal 
 wall. The result of this position is restriction of 
 the depth of breathing, interference with the 
 process of digestion, congestion of blood in the 
 abdomen, and a lowering of the tone of the mus- 
 cles of the abdominal wall. 
 
 A second defect consists in leaning either for- 
 ward or backward — usually forward — so that 
 the center of gravity of the body lies outside the 
 base formed by the pelvis. In such a posture 
 the position of the body must be maintained by 
 continual and unnecessary muscular tension — 
 
 34 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 a waste of nervous energy. These two defects 
 may exist in combination. 
 
 These defects of posture may be avoided in 
 large measure by requiring the child to sit well 
 back in the chair, by seeing that the feet rest flat 
 on the floor, by having the seat at such a height 
 that the feet rest on the floor and the thighs are 
 level, and by having the seat project about three 
 inches under the desk. These requirements are 
 generally recognized. Another requirement is 
 equally important, which is that the desk top 
 should slant toward the writer. This require- 
 ment affects the position of the head as well as 
 that of the body. When the paper on which one 
 is writing lies horizontally, there is a very strong 
 impulse to bend the head and body forward in 
 order to prevent the unpleasant strain resulting 
 from turning the eyes down in their sockets 
 through a considerable angle. It may also be 
 that the impulse is due to the unrecognized mo- 
 tive of seeking to look at the paper perpendicu- 
 larly rather than at an angle. That the impulse 
 to bend forward is present is indisputable, and 
 that it is lessened by tilting the desk forward 
 fifteen degrees or more is a fact of observation. 
 
 The fault of bending the head forward and 
 the remedy have been mentioned. Some forward 
 
 35 
 
THF TFACHINC OF HANDWRITING 
 
 can K^ laid d. > ved 
 
 . - .^y that the 
 
 v;..-.^.. ... .> ::.;..:.. -. .;ai .... .^cad \> ^v-r 
 
 thivniir^. . ' c . .' -Ttv-m-v degrees f:. ; 
 
 V. /. , -c ." : :"■: ■■- -'^ re- 
 
 ^. ..^ . . . ...-.^.'^ :■■..:-.;- of 
 
 The ; ^ -tiirte consbt in 
 
 V ' u Side or the 
 
 , : ^ .\iv in ^ther 
 
 direction. 
 
 bv 
 
 th' 
 
 >i>ts in 
 
 . . "C::r is, o£ 
 
 ^ : wiU re- 
 
 iri any 
 
 <of 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 the effect of the position of the paper and the 
 slant of the writing upon the head position. 
 
 On the bearing of the position of the paper and 
 (^f the slant of the writing on the position of the 
 head, there has been a great deal of controversy. 
 It has been held on the one hand, that any posi- 
 tion of the paper except one in which the line of 
 writing is parallel to the edge of the desk, and any 
 deviation of the letters from the vertical, cause 
 bending and twisting of the head and even of the 
 body. Those who uphold this view believe that 
 there is a strong tendency to bring the head into 
 such a position that the line connecting the two 
 eyes is parallel to the line of writing, so that as 
 one looks along the line the eyes move merely 
 in a horizontal and not in an oblique direction. 
 This assumption is based on the so-called Wundt- 
 Lamansky law that the eyes move most freely in 
 a horizontal or vertical direction and less readily 
 in an oblique direction. 
 
 Measurements made by other investigators, 
 however, indicate that when the line of writing 
 is tilted, the eyes are not as a matter of fact 
 brought into such a position that the line joining 
 them is parallel to the line of writing, but that 
 this line tends to be perpendicular to the main 
 downward strokes of the letters. This is ex- 
 
 37 
 
THE TEACHING OF H.\NDWRITING 
 
 plained as due to a tendency to sight along the 
 main strokes of the letters. The movement of 
 
 the hand along the Hne in writing and the conse- 
 quent horizontal movement of the eyes are so 
 slow that it is a question whether the Wundt- 
 Lamansky law appHes in this case. Whether it 
 is due to the tendency to sight along the main 
 strokes of the letters or not. it is a fact noted by 
 a number of investigators that the maia strokes 
 of the letters take a direction which is approxi- 
 mately perpendicular to the edge of the desk 
 when the writer faces it directly. This fact will be 
 referred to in the discussion of slant, 
 p While the theoretical discussions of the mat- 
 ter, then, are not entirely conclusive, it is clear 
 that the e^'idence is as much against as for the 
 argument for a straight front position of the 
 paper and vertical writing when that argument 
 implies that any other position or kind of writing 
 necessarily causes an unhygienic posture. The 
 measurement of the degree of de\'iation from 
 good posture among children who write vertically 
 and those who write with a slant presents, if 
 we accept the figures at their face value, rather 
 stronger e\-idence in favor of vertical writing and 
 the position of the paper in which the lower edge 
 is parallel to the edge of the desk. One investiga- 
 38 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 tor, ^ for example, found spinal curvature among 
 2.1 per cent of 1630 vertical writers and 3.1 per 
 cent of 1436 who wrote with a slant. 
 
 A number of considerations are to be kept in 
 mind interpreting these figures. In the first place 
 the teachers of vertical writing undoubtedly 
 paid more attention to the posture of their pupils 
 than did the others, since vertical writing was 
 introduced with the purpose of improving posture 
 clearly in mind. In spite of this fact, two inves- 
 tigators reported finding classes of vertical writ- 
 ers whose posture was very poor, and classes of 
 slant writers with entirely correct posture. Fur- 
 thermore the slant which was used by these 
 pupils was presumably that used commonly 
 at that time and place — about 1890 in Ger- 
 many. In the figures given by one investigator, 
 the average angle of the writing in two classes 
 was forty-three and fifty-seven degrees respec- 
 tively, while the average for a third class was be- 
 tween these two. Such a degree of slant would 
 now be considered excessive, at least in Ameri- 
 can schools, and would rarely be found. 
 
 If we allow for the difference in the attention 
 paid to posture of the pupils, then, and for the dif- 
 
 1 Cited in L. Burgerstein and A. Netolitzky, Eandhuch 
 der Schulhygiene, Jena, 1895, G. Fischer, p. 273. 
 
 39 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 ference in the amount of slant of the writing, the 
 significance in these figures becomes small. Fur- 
 thermore, when the measurements for the differ- 
 ent school grades are taken separately, it appears 
 that the greatest difference in posture between 
 those who write vertically and those who write 
 with a slant existed in the first and second grades. 
 It is precisely in these grades that the advantage 
 of a slant is least. In the first two or three grades, 
 then, considerations of posture have some bear- 
 ing upon the kind of writing to be taught, but in 
 the other grades it is of very slight importance. 
 A slight degree of slant does not have sufficient 
 influence upon position to counterbalance other 
 reasons for a slant. What these reasons are we 
 shall see in the next chapter. 
 
 We have been considering posture from the 
 standpoint of hygiene. It may not be out of 
 place to remark here that good posture is of im- 
 portance also for its influence on the writing. 
 When the body is held erect, it forms a firm sup- 
 port for the arm and at the same time allows the 
 arm greater freedom of movement than when 
 the body slouches. This is sufficiently evident. 
 
 Good posture is a habit and one which needs to 
 be built up by constant drill. All the evidence 
 points to the fact that, while the proper arrange- 
 40 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING I 
 
 merit of the seat and desk, and the position of 
 the paper on the desk make a good posture easier, 
 they do not, of themselves, insure it. If bad 
 habits are once formed in this respect, it is diffi- 
 cult to break them, but a little attention to the 
 matter in the earlier grades will suffice to form 
 right habits. A necessary precaution is to avoid 
 undue fatigue or restlessness by not requiring the 
 young child to hold the same posture too long. 
 For details regarding seats and desks, the reader 
 is referred to any good book on school hygiene. ^ 
 
 Requirements of hygiene of the eyes 
 
 Besides posture, the teacher of writing is con- 
 cerned with the eyes and their hygiene. It has 
 been asserted that improper conditions of writ- 
 ing cause eye troubles, particularly myopia or 
 short-sightedness . 
 
 Several requirements for the avoidance of in- 
 jury to the eyes by writing may be made. In the 
 first place, the two eyes should be at the same 
 distance from the point to which they are di- 
 rected. This is sometimes not the case when the 
 paper is placed to one side. For example, if the 
 paper is on the right of a middle line and the head 
 faces directly forward, the writing is nearer to the 
 right eye than to the left. This condition is often 
 41 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 avoided unconsciously by the writer by turning 
 and bending the head to the right. This, of 
 course, introduces another faulty condition. The 
 remedy is to place the paper approximately in 
 front of the writer. The left end of the Hne may 
 then be a little to the left of the middle and the 
 right end to the right. In this case the head may 
 turn a Uttle to the left at the beginning of the 
 line and to the right side toward the end. It is 
 only when the position taken is preponderantly 
 on one side or the other of the straight position 
 that there is danger. 
 
 The reason that harm results from the unequal 
 distance of the writing from the two eyes is that 
 it causes nervous strain. The nerve centers which 
 control the adjustment of the two eyes are so 
 intimately connected that the eyes instinctively 
 converge and focus upon the same point. If an 
 object which is close at hand is nearer to one eye 
 than to the other, that eye must have a shorter 
 focus. For distant vision this difference is so 
 slight as to be negligible, but for reading or writ- 
 ing it is important. Considerable strain is put 
 upon the eyes in any case to keep them focused 
 upon objects within eighteen inches, and when 
 conditions require that the eyes be focused upon 
 points imequally distant, the strain is increased. 
 42 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 The second requirement is that the strain inci- 
 dent to constant near vision be minimized by not 
 allowing the eyes to be held too near the paper. 
 The distance will be limited, of course, by the 
 size of the child, the height of the desk, etc. If 
 the child is sitting erect, if the desk is at such a 
 height that the elbow is about three inches from 
 the body, and if the right forearm rests with most 
 of its length upon the desk at an angle of about 
 sixty degrees with the edge, the eyes will be as far 
 from the writing as good writing conditions per- 
 mit. In the adult the distance under these con- 
 ditions is about sixteen to twenty inches. For 
 the child the following distances may be taken 
 as a minimum for the grades designated: primary, 
 ten inches; intermediate, twelve inches; gram- 
 mar, fourteen inches. Of course it would be 
 desirable to keep the writing at still greater dis- 
 tance from the eyes, but the size of the child 
 places limits upon the distances which are prac- 
 ticable. Those which are given as standards im- 
 ply that the child sits erect. 
 
 Certain conditions produce a tendency for the 
 child not to sit erect, but to lean forward and to 
 bring the eyes closer to the paper. One of these 
 conditions, which has already been referred to in 
 discussing posture, is the slope of the desk. A desk 
 
 43 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 top which is tilted through an angle of at least 
 fifteen degrees is an important aid to the main- 
 tenance of good posture, at least in the primary 
 grades. It is important also that the writing be 
 large enough for the child to see easily at the re- 
 quired distance. A safe rule is to require that the 
 one-space letters be an eighth of an inch in height. 
 For the primary grades, the requirements of the 
 movements make necessary larger letters. We 
 are here considering only the requirements of 
 vision. 
 
 Some investigators have found that 2.1 per 
 cent more of those who write with a slant are 
 short-sighted than of those who write vertically 
 and that the former hold the eyes from one to 
 two inches closer to the paper than do the latter. 
 The remarks which were made on similar results 
 in discussing posture apply here also. We do not 
 know what the other conditions of the writing 
 were. Presumably the teachers of vertical writ- 
 ing exercised more care about posture than did 
 the others. We do know that the slant was ex- 
 cessive, and that in many cases, at least, the 
 paper was placed considerably to the right of the 
 middle position. Good hygienic conditions for the 
 eye can be secured without resorting to vertical 
 writing. 
 
 44' 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 The character of the surface of the paper, the 
 sort of mark which is made by the pen or pencil, 
 and the arrangement of the lighting also affect 
 the amount of eye-strain incident to writing. 
 The paper should not have a glazed surface — 
 that is, should not reflect enough light to present 
 a shiny appearance. If a pencil is used, the paper 
 should be rough enough to take a good mark. 
 The pen or pencil mark should offer sufficient 
 contrast to the paper to be easily seen. The light 
 should come from above or from the left and 
 should be diffused daylight. 
 
 The hygiene of movement 
 
 Besides maintaining correct posture and avoid- 
 ing conditions which produce eye-strain, the 
 teacher of handwriting must consider the possi- 
 bility of a nervous strain resulting from the hand 
 movement and its conditions. A movement 
 which is not suited to the child may cause an un- 
 due expenditure of nervous energy in the same 
 way as improper conditions may cause eye- 
 strain and consequently undue expenditure of 
 nervous energy. 
 
 We may begin with the general question: 
 What sort of movement is suited to the young 
 child, or what changes in the type of movement 
 
 45 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 take place with the growth and development of 
 the child? An answer to these questions which 
 
 has been widely accepted, and which has had a 
 distinct efiect upon practice, is expressed in the 
 doctrine of fundamental and accessor move- 
 ments. This doctrine has been invoked as an 
 argument against certain of the kindergarten oc- 
 cupations, such as threading beads and sewing or 
 any use of the hands in fine work. The child 
 should, it is urged, use the large free movements 
 and the muscles of the trunk and defer the finer 
 hand movements until some time after he enters 
 school. Ob^'iously this doctrine has a bearing on 
 writing and must be examined more closely. 
 
 If we seek to determine by a study of the writ- 
 ings on the subject just what is the distinction 
 between fundamental and accessory movements, 
 we meet with a diversity of interpretations. One 
 common assumption seems to be, however, that 
 fundamental movements are those which are old 
 in the histor\- of the race — such, for example/ 
 as walking; while accessor^' movements are those 
 which have been acquired in more recent stages 
 of evolution. We may assume that the older 
 movements are, to some extent at least, instinc- 
 tive, while the adjustments more recently ac- 
 quired have not an instinctive character, but 
 46 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 must be learned by each individual. If this is 
 the interpretation to be made, it is obvious that 
 fundamental (instinctive) movements are easier 
 for the child to make. But this does not solve the 
 problem, for it is obvious that our task is not 
 merely to allow instinctive movements to de- 
 velop, but to teach the child movements which 
 are not instinctive; for example, handwriting. 
 What we wish to, know, then, is whether there is 
 any principle which governs the order in which 
 new combinations of movements may be taught 
 the child. 
 
 Our doctrine meets this problem by the further 
 assumptions, first, that fundamental movements 
 are movements of large muscles, or large move- 
 ments, while accessory movements are move- 
 ments of small muscles, or small movements; 
 and second, that fundamental movements are 
 central, that is, of the trunk or toward the trunk, 
 while accessory movements are peripheral, that 
 is, toward the extremities. The conclusion from 
 these assumptions would be that the child should 
 make only or mainly movements of the large 
 muscles (or larger movements) and central move- 
 ments. 
 
 Interpreting "fundamental" in these senses 
 we may examine the vaHdity of the theory by 
 47 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 inquiring whether the child's instinctive move- 
 ments are wholly or chiefly fimdamental, or 
 whether his spontaneous movements are at first 
 fundamental and become only gradually acces- 
 sory with his increasing age. 
 
 A study of the matter will serve to show that 
 many of the child's early instinctive movements 
 employ neither the large nor the central muscles. 
 The earliest clearly instinctive movement is 
 sucking, which involves both small and periph- 
 eral muscles. Another early reflex is the clasp- 
 ing of the hand about an object touching the 
 palm. This also involves peripheral and relatively 
 small muscles. Soon there appear instinctive 
 movements of facial expression and the adjust- 
 ment of the eyes, as in following a moving object. 
 The movements of the trunk in sitting, standing, 
 and walking appear later than all of these. 
 
 The same is true of the child's spontaneous 
 movements, which are of special significance in 
 this connection because they are the material 
 out of which the new coordinations are formed. 
 The child certainly makes spontaneous move- 
 ments of the arms and legs and vocal cords as 
 early as those of the trunk. And in the arms and 
 legs themselves movements of the extremities — 
 the fingers and toes and the wrists and ankles — 
 48 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 are as prominent as the larger movements of the 
 limbs. The movements are not, to be sure, co- 
 ordinated; but we are not speaking of coordinated 
 movements, for the movements of the limbs as 
 a whole are not coordinated either. When the 
 child begins to handle objects the very term we 
 use to describe the act indicates the employment 
 of the hand. If the rattle is waved to and fro by 
 the arm, it is also grasped by the hand. When 
 the child is excited, or is expressing an emotion 
 for which he has no coordinated form of response, 
 he may wave arms and legs aimlessly, but much 
 of his time is spent in examining objects and hand- 
 ling them, and in this he uses the peripheral 
 and smaller muscles. There is, then, no warrant 
 from the child's natural development in contend- 
 ing that we must confine his activities to those 
 which employ central or large muscles.^ 
 
 Certain kinds of movements do, however, im- 
 doubtedly cause nervous strain and fatigue for 
 the child, and care should be exercised that his 
 
 1 The fact that there is somewhat more improvement in 
 rapidity of movement and in steadiness, which was deter- 
 mined by the studies of Bryan (Amer. Jour, of Psychol, vol. 
 V, p. 123) and Hancock (Ped. Sem. vol. ni, p. 9) is not con- 
 clusive evidence of the earher maturing of the central muscles 
 and nerve centers. The small amount of difference may very 
 well be accounted for by the greater practice in the peripheral 
 adjustments. 
 
 49 
 
THE TEL\CHL\G OF H.\ND\YRITLNG 
 
 movements he suited to his age and capacity. The 
 development of the child's capacity for move- 
 ment is not essentially difierent from that of the 
 adult except that in the case of the child there is 
 development of general oipacity as well as de- 
 velopment of abUity in special forms of acti^'ity. 
 
 Since the development of the child's general 
 capacity in movement cannot be adequately 
 described in terms of the fundamental-accessor}' 
 movement theory, we must seek to deline it in 
 other terms. Experimental e^•idence has clearly 
 demonstrated that theie is marked development 
 in movement in a number of respects. The stead- 
 iness with which a child of six years can maintain 
 any position is increased fourfold by the time he 
 reaches the period of youth. Precision of move- 
 ment is relatively dencient in the young child. 
 In speed of movement there is an increase which 
 is represented in tapping with the fingers by more 
 than two a second. The ability to make a complex 
 movement, such as tx^ing a knot, is noticeably de- 
 ficient in the young child. The redeeming feature 
 is that the child's ners'ous system is ver}' plastic 
 so that he is capable of readily learning new forms 
 of acti\-ity. 
 
 The precaution which is necessar}' to obsers'e 
 is that the child below the age of nine or ten be 
 
 50 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 not required to make movements which are very 
 precise, rapid, or complex, or which require great 
 steadiness of adjustment. The reason that periph- 
 eral movements are often injurious is not that 
 they are peripheral, else we should have to pre- 
 vent the child's using his hand, and thus gain- 
 ing valuable training. The reason is rather that 
 peripheral movements are commonly more pre- 
 cise than are central movements. 
 
 The reason that it is necessary to take pre- 
 cautions in this matter is that the adult often 
 does not realize that a movement which for him 
 is rough and careless is for the child precise and 
 careful. It is easy for the adult to realize the 
 strain of attention and fatigue due to making ad- 
 justments which are to him very precise, such as 
 would be involved in making a fine mechanical 
 drawing, adjusting the parts of a watch, or doing 
 intricate embroidery. Yet the expert in these 
 fields can work all day without undue fatigue. 
 The feat of ordinary writing which an adult can 
 carry on for hours is to the young child a task 
 fatiguing both because of its newness, and be- 
 cause the degree of precision which is required is 
 high in relation to his ability. 
 
 Every possible means should therefore be 
 taken to minimize for the child the nervous 
 51 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 strain of writing. In the lower grades, the writing 
 period should come at a time when the child is 
 not already fatigued. Too great precision should 
 not be demanded. The writing materials should 
 be such as to lighten the task and not increase 
 its difficulty. A pen should not be used at 
 all to begin with. The first pen used should be 
 coarse. The penholder should be of some ma- 
 terial which can be easily held in position, such 
 as cork or soft rubber, and should be of medium 
 size. The penholder which is used by the child in 
 the primary grades should be smaller that that 
 used by older children. The general rule is that 
 the holder should not be so small that it cannot 
 easily be kept from turning in the fingers, nor so 
 large that the fingers cannot easily be bent in a 
 natural manner. The surface of the paper should 
 be hard enough so that the pen does not easily 
 stick into it. 
 
 Writer^ s cramp 
 
 The writing habit should be so developed not 
 only as to meet present demands, but also, if 
 possible, as to avoid future trouble. The same 
 provisions are necessar}^ to meet both require- 
 ments, but the total effects of faulty methods are 
 not always apparent for several years. The ex- 
 52 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 treme condition resulting from much writing un- 
 der bad conditions is writer's cramp. Bad condi- 
 tions do not necessarily lead to this extreme, but 
 the measures which have been found efficacious 
 to prevent or care this disease will also prove 
 serviceable in rendering writing easier and more 
 efficient. 
 
 Writer's cramp is a disease of the nervous sys- 
 tem which affects writing by producing either 
 the abnormal contraction or the paralysis of some 
 of the muscles used in writing. In the most fre- 
 quent case the muscles which flex the fingers be- 
 come cramped when the individual who is suffer- 
 ing from the malady tries to write. The spasm not 
 only interferes with writing, but is very painful. 
 Advanced cases of the disease are rarely cured. 
 A significant fact is that the malady is most 
 frequently found among professional penmen or 
 calligraphers. The reason seems to be that these 
 writers make exceedingly precise and delicate 
 strokes. Very rapid writing long continued also 
 brings on writer's cramp. 
 
 While writer's cramp is an adult malady, it 
 must be attacked not through curative but 
 through preventive measures — that is, by train- 
 ing the child in correct habits of writing. The cen- 
 tral point of the whole matter is that the condi- 
 
 53 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 tion which causes the trouble, and which is to be 
 avoided, is too violent contraction of the muscles 
 by which the pen is grasped, and by which 
 the finger movements are made — provided the 
 movements are made with the fingers. It is 
 obvious to an observer of young children when 
 they are writing that, contrary to the theory 
 of fundamental and accessory movements, they 
 contract too strongly the smaller muscles which 
 control the fingers. The diffusion which appears 
 as the child tries to make a complex and imaccus- 
 tomed movement affects the lighter, more easily 
 contracted muscles first. It becomes necessary, 
 then, to counteract this tendency to over-use by 
 laying emphasis upon the use of the movements 
 of the arm. This measure of prevention and cor- 
 rection was recommended by European physi- 
 cians when no practical form of arm movement 
 such as is now widely practiced in American 
 schools was known to them. 
 
 We have already seen that a rhythmical writ- 
 ing movement is a characteristic of mature writ- 
 ing, and has a beneficial effect upon the writing 
 of children. A rhythmical, steady movement has 
 also the advantage of being much less liable to 
 cause cramping thanahasty, irregular one. Rhyth- 
 mical movements are known to produce much 
 54 
 
PHYSIOLOGY OF WRITING 
 
 less fatigue than movements which are irregular. 
 The various muscles operate together in a har- 
 monious way, instead of one pulling against the 
 other, and each one gets into the way of exerting 
 just the required amount of force and no more. 
 Other means of avoiding undue cramping of 
 the fingers have already been referred to. They 
 concern the materials which are used in writing, 
 the pen, penholder, and paper. It is not necessary 
 further to dwell upon them here. All these 
 measures have the advantage not only of pre- 
 venting a remote and not very probable malady, 
 but they also affect very beneficially the child's 
 present writing habit. 
 
IV 
 
 * THE TEACHING OF H.\NDWRITING 
 
 It has already been pointed out that writing is a 
 habit mvolving manual skill. This habit must be 
 developed in the same manner as any other such 
 habit through the application of the prmciples 
 of efficient learning. The learning of any such 
 habit is dependent upon two phases of procedure. 
 The jirst of tliese is the adoption of correct form, 
 and the second the acquirement of the ability to 
 execute the movement efficiently. 
 
 Correct far ?}t in the urlilng movement ^ 
 The adoption of correct form in the movement 
 must not be confused with the production of good 
 form in the letters. Correct form in movement 
 refers to the more e\'ident outstanding features 
 of the movement which may readily be observed 
 and copied. It may refer to the positions which 
 are held before the movement starts or after it is 
 finished. It includes those adjustments which the 
 learner may be shown or told how to make by 
 virtue of the fact that he already possesses a cer- 
 ^6 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 tain amount of general control over his hands and 
 body. In writing, form refers to such matters as 
 penholding and the position of the hand, arm, 
 and body. 
 
 Good form is esteemed not only because it 
 presents a better appearance than bad form, but 
 also because it makes possible more efficient 
 action. It represents the part of the activity in 
 which the learner may profit by the experience of 
 those who have learned before him. Much would 
 be learned by each one for himself, but a good 
 deal of any activity may be taught and not left 
 to the learner to discover by chance. Any game 
 of skill will furnish illustrations of this point. 
 For example, in making a stroke in golf it is nec- 
 essary, in order to insure accuracy of stroke, that 
 the head and body be neither raised nor allowed 
 to sway to the side. This principle may be easily 
 grasped, and, by giving some attention to the 
 matter, may be successfully applied. 
 
 Penholding 
 
 So in the case of writing, certain principles may 
 be laid down governing form. First, in regard 
 to the manner of holding the pen. Teachers of 
 writing in the United States are coming to fairly 
 close agreement as to what constitutes good form 
 57 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 in penholding. The prescriptions which follow 
 have been reached in a purely empirical way, 
 without the use of scientific experimentation, but 
 in the absence of such investigation we must rely 
 upon experience and observation to guide our 
 practice on such points of method as these. The 
 orthodox method of holding the pen is to grasp 
 the holder between the thumb and the first two 
 fingers about an inch to an inch and a half from 
 the pen point. The pen is held mainly between 
 the thumb and the second finger, against which it 
 rests opposite the first joint. The first finger rests 
 upon the top of the pen and keeps it in place, par- 
 ticularly in the downward movements. The holder 
 also comes in contact with the hand at the base 
 of the index finger. All the fingers are bent easily, 
 each one from the middle to the little finger 
 being bent slightly more than the one before it. 
 The hand rests upon the two outside fingers. 
 
 The mistakes which it is most important to 
 avoid are holding the fingers too straight so that 
 they are inflexible or bending them too much and 
 grasping the pen too tightly. The thumb and the 
 index finger particularly are apt to be bent so 
 that the middle joints form a sharp angle. This, 
 besides leading to cramping and fatigue, prevents 
 flexibility. 
 
 58 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 It is not asserted that this is the only manner 
 of penholding by which legible and rapid writing 
 can be produced. Many hold the pen between 
 the first and second fingers, and this position has 
 the advantage that the pen is held in place with- 
 out any expenditure of effort or voluntary mus- 
 cular contraction. Writers sometimes assume this 
 position as a rehef from the fatigue caused by con- 
 tinually making a movement in the same manner. 
 The adoption of an alternative position as a means 
 of relief by one in whom the writing habit is 
 mature does not, however, justify the same pro- 
 cedure on the part of the child in whom the habit 
 is in the process of formation. It is first necessary 
 that the habit of v/riting in one particular man- 
 ner be well formed in order that the action may 
 become easy and mechanical. The only modifi- 
 cations which should be made are in the direction 
 of adapting the standard form of movement to 
 the individual peculiarities of the child. Radical 
 changes made during the formative stages, un- 
 less they are imperatively demanded by the fail- 
 ure of the present method, only disorganize the 
 movement and keep it in consciousness when it 
 should be becoming automatic. Continual exper- 
 imentation with the method of performing an act, 
 except in the sense of gradual improvement in 
 59 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 the details, has the same efifect upon progress as 
 pulling up a plant by the roots has upon its 
 growth. 
 
 Experimentation is, of course, necessary to 
 determine finally what the best form is, but it 
 must be made with due deliberation, by the 
 teacher or person in authority, and in such man- 
 ner as not to disturb the children's half-formed 
 habits. An experiment should take a child from 
 the beginning and carry him through a consistent 
 plan of training, and not, as has so often been the 
 case, attempt a radical reorganization of his man- 
 ner of writing three or four times in the course of 
 his education, and leave him with no well-organ- 
 ized habit at all. 
 
 Related to the manner of holding the pen is the 
 position of the hand. In fact, all the elements of 
 position, ''movement, and posture are related to 
 one another, and this must be kept in mind in 
 order to appreciate some of the rules which are 
 laid down. The chief question regarding the 
 position of the hand as a whole is whether it 
 should be allowed to turn over so that it rests 
 upon the side, or whether it should be held in 
 such a position that the wrist is level, or nearly 
 level. The orthodox rule of writing teachers used 
 to be: keep the wrist level; and the pupil was 
 60 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 often required to keep a coin upon the wrist to 
 insure that it did not turn over. This, in its 
 extreme, is now pretty generally recognized to 
 be an artificial requirement, and is considerably 
 relaxed. 
 
 The requirement of a level wrist is made in 
 order to place the hand in such a position that it 
 can easily slide upon the supporting fingers. This 
 possibility of easy movement is necessary whether 
 the extreme arm movement is used or not. If the 
 hand rests over on the side, there is great danger 
 that it shall remain stationar}^, while the fingers 
 not only form the letters, but also produce the 
 forward movement. In this case the hand be- 
 comes cramped and the finger and arm move- 
 ments alternate instead of working together 
 simultaneously. Of course, in order that the arm 
 movement ma}^ be used to form the letters, it is 
 essential that the hand rest upon a base which 
 permits it to sHde easily over the paper. If this 
 general requirement is met, some latitude ma}- be 
 allowed in the precise degree of inclination of the 
 hand. To hold the hand so that the wrist is level 
 requires a good deal of muscular effort due to the 
 fact that in this position the two bones of the 
 forearm, the radius and the ulna, are crossed. 
 Furthermore, some variation in the degree of 
 6i 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 inclination of the hand is desirable in order to 
 make possible the movement of pronation which, 
 as has already been pointed out, is useful in main- 
 taining uniformity of slant throughout the line. 
 If this movement is used, the hand is inclined 
 to the right more at tlie beginning than at the 
 end of the line. There therefore cannot be any 
 one fixed degree of inclination which should 
 be maintained. 
 
 Position of the arm 
 
 The position of the arm is closely related, in 
 some of its aspects, to the slant of the writing and 
 to the position of the paper. The part of the dis- 
 cussion which deals with these aspects will there- 
 fore be deferred and treated in connection with 
 the discussion of slant. Other aspects of arm 
 position may be treated here. 
 
 In the first place, the arm should rest with 
 nearly the full length of the forearm upon the 
 desk, with a possible exception to be noted pres- 
 ently. This gives the arm firm support upon the 
 muscle pad on the lower side of the forearm, and 
 it is upon this muscle pad as a sort of rolling base 
 that much of the movement of the arm is exe- 
 cuted. If the forearm projects more than three or 
 four inches over the edge of the desk, the weight 
 62 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 of the arm is divided between the hand and the 
 shoulder, and the arm, in executing the arm move- 
 ments, must swing from the shoulder. 
 
 This movement in which the arm swings from 
 the shoulder has sometimes been used and taught. 
 For a flat-top desk which is most frequently used, 
 it necessitates either having the desk very low, so 
 that the forearm does not rest upon the desk 
 when the arm hangs from the shoulder ; or holding 
 the arm with the elbow suspended at some dis- 
 tance from the body. This position is obviously 
 fatiguing, and if the desk top were low enough so 
 that the arm would hang suspended above it, it 
 would lead to the writer's bending low over his 
 work, besides being much too low for reading and 
 other sorts of work. If a slanting desk is used, the 
 conditions are different. The lower edge of the 
 desk may be low enough to allow the arm to hang 
 from the shoulder and yet the writing itself be in 
 such a position as to be easily seen without bend- 
 ing over. That such an arrangement is advanta- 
 geous for children in the primary grades will be 
 argued in another place. 
 
 The position of the left hand and arm is also a 
 
 matter of importance. In general terms the left 
 
 hand and arm should be symmetrically situated 
 
 to the right. If the right forearm rests upon the 
 
 63 
 
THE TEACHING OF H.\NDWRITING 
 
 desk, so should the left ami. If the right arm 
 hangs from the shoulder, the left ami should 
 also. The purpose of this mle is the prevention 
 ef an unequal elevation of the shoulders with 
 consequent cun-ature of the spiae. 
 
 The position of the body has been described in 
 sufficient detail in the chapter on hygiene. 
 
 We have considered the adjustments which it 
 is possible to conceive and make through beiag 
 told and sho"^Ti how. Some practice is, of course, 
 necessary to perfect the adjustments, but shcuh 
 ifig how is of relatively more miportance and 
 learning how of relatively less importance than 
 is the case with other aspects of the writing 
 coordination. The above described adjustments, 
 we have classed as form. We tum now to the 
 other aspect in which learning how is the pre- 
 dominant means of improvement. 
 
 Learning to ex^uie the movement: the trial and 
 success method 
 
 Certain positions which do not involve com- 
 plex adjustment or which are not particularly 
 novel can be assumed through imitation, but 
 a complex movement each person must largely 
 learn for himself. The method by which one 
 learns to make complex motor adjustments has 
 64 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 been aptly called the trial and success (or trial 
 and error) method. This method may be used in 
 other sorts of learning, but it is in the develop- 
 ment of motor skill that it is paramount. No 
 extended description is necessary to describe it. 
 The name is sufficiently descriptive. A clear no- 
 tion of its significance may be gained by reverting 
 to Chapter ii. We there saw that the process 
 consists in the gradual elimination of useless 
 movements and the organization of the move- 
 ments which are concerned in the act into a har- 
 moniously working group. On the physiological 
 side this process is due to the establishment of 
 connections between the higher centers of the 
 brain (those which represent the meaning, the ap- 
 pearance, and the sound of words, etc.) and the 
 centers for the muscles used in writing, together 
 with connections between the centers controlling 
 the various muscles themselves. The formation of 
 these connections consists in the establishment of 
 paths of low resistance to the passage of the nerv- 
 ous current. This leads to the withdrawal of 
 excess energy from other channels and hence to 
 the elimination of other movements than the ones 
 desired. 
 
 Though the child has to learn to make the 
 writing movements through his own efforts, and 
 65 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 through them alone, there are certain conditions 
 which are under the control of the teacher, and 
 certain points toward which the teacher may 
 direct the attention of the child, which make 
 progress more rapid. To these we shall now turn. 
 
 Tlte need of many repetitions 
 
 It is characteristic of all acts which are learned 
 by the trial and success method that they cannot 
 be perfected at a stroke. There is no royal road 
 to their acquisition, but they must be learned 
 through a great number of trials or repetitions. 
 It is not a question of knowing how to perform 
 the movement, but rather of gaining the requi- 
 site control over the muscles by which it is made 
 so that when we think of the movement or of its 
 results the appropriate muscles will contract each 
 in its proper time and with the proper force. 
 Since we have no means of knowing how to make 
 a new movement except as it resembles move- 
 ments we have learned before, or involves very 
 simple combinations of movements over which 
 we already have control, our only means of learn- 
 ing is to try, and when the trial movement suc- 
 ceeds, repeat it in the same way. 
 
 The difficulty which attaches to the perform- 
 ance of the desired movement and to the repe- 
 66 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 tition of the correct performance is due to the 
 great variety of the elementary movements which 
 compose the complex system. Even after the 
 constituent movements have been made together 
 once, it is difficult to repeat the performance. 
 The new centers have to become so accustomed 
 to working together that they do so smoothly, 
 and that excess energy does not overflow into 
 other channels. 
 
 The multiplication of repetitions of a move- 
 ment is sufficient to make it easier, but in order 
 that it shall increase in accuracy as quickly as 
 possible, certain other conditions are essential. 
 Mere repetition may not produce improvement 
 but may rather serve to fix bad habits. In order 
 that the repetitions may be of value for improve- 
 ment, it is necessary that the pupil give full atten- 
 tion to some phase of the writing and strive to 
 bring it up to some definite standard. 
 
 The necessity of attention 
 This principle that repetition must be accom- 
 panied by improvement if it is to be of much 
 value has several practical applications. The first 
 is that the pupil must give a high degree of at- 
 tention to his work. 
 As a general rule, attention is necessary in 
 67 
 
THE TEACHING OF H.\ND\YRITING 
 
 order that improvement may take place. When 
 the acti\'ity becomies automatic, that is, when it 
 is made without attention to the process, the 
 mode of action becomes £xed. Consciousness is 
 concerned with new adjustments and is necessan^ 
 in order that new adjustments may be made. 
 Whenever practice is for the purpose of causing 
 improvement, then, it must be carried on while the 
 pupil is giving full attention to what he is doing. 
 Some writers on learning have held that there 
 must be periods during which there is no improve- 
 ment. These periods are called plateaus, since 
 during such periods the learning curs'e for a time 
 remains level. There is e\'idence in support of the 
 belief that, contrary- to prevailing opinion, pla- 
 teaus are not essential, but are due merely to the 
 fact that the learner has at a certain point failed 
 to keep his attention properly directed. Certain 
 mental or physical conditions may make it very 
 difficult to keep attention constant, but the period 
 of marking time which ensues is not to be regarded 
 as one which is necessary* in order that further 
 adjustments may be made; but is, at the best, a 
 period in which adjustments pre\'iously made are 
 becoming automatic. The new \'iew, in contrast 
 to the older one, is that the older adjustments 
 may be made automatic at the same time that 
 68 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 new ones are being formed, so that no break in 
 progress is necessary. 
 
 Incentives to attention should he chiefly intrinsic 
 
 For consistent progress, then, repetitions must 
 be attentive. The attention of the child to his 
 writing may be gained through motives which 
 are extrinsic or intrinsic to the problem before 
 him, which is the efficient production of written 
 forms. Extrinsic motives are, for example, rivalry, 
 the approval of the teacher or parent, or punish- 
 ments and rewards. Intrinsic motives are the 
 pleasure in rhythmic movement, the pleasure in 
 making pleasing forms — a form of the construc- 
 tive instinct — and the pleasure in overcoming 
 difficulties and in raising one's past record. 
 
 It is probable that we do not sufficiently rely 
 on the intrinsic motives. When the repetition 
 becomes mechanical and meaningless, it is natu- 
 ral that the child should lose interest and that 
 we should appeal to outside motives. But if the 
 child be kept continually conscious of the prob- 
 lem before him and of the point at which improve- 
 ment should be made; if he compares his work 
 more with his own previous attainment than 
 with the work of the child who has more aptitude 
 than he, his incentive to effort will be stronger. 
 
 69 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 Extrinsic motives also have the disadvantage 
 that they are apt to lead to wrongly appHed 
 etiort. While it is, of course, evident that there 
 cannot be too much concentration of the atten- 
 tion, there may be too much effort at concentra- 
 tion. Likewise there may be too much effort 
 directed toward speed or form. Too great effort 
 is apt to overreach itself, to disorganize the move- 
 ment, and to cause a lapse in progress. This 
 seldom occurs when the learner is absorbed in the 
 process of learning, but it often happens when he 
 is conscious of losing interest and tries to spur 
 himself on by external considerations. 
 
 We have found that in order that tliere may be 
 much improvement through practice the child's 
 attention must be upon what he is doing, and 
 he should be thinking chiefly of the forms 
 which he is producing, and of the improvement 
 of the forms or of the movement by which they 
 are produced, rather than of some outside fact or 
 condition which acts as an extrinsic motive. In 
 order that his attention may thus be on his writ- 
 ing it is necessary that the child have some spe- 
 cific difficulty in mind which he is striving to 
 overcome. 
 
 This means something more than that he is 
 trying to follow a copy. The child can readily 
 70 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 see that his writing departs widely from the copy; 
 but his difficulty is to see just in what particular 
 ways it differs, and what he must do to make that 
 difference less. To this end he must know how to 
 analyze the faults of his own writing, and must 
 have some notion how to overcome them. He can 
 then have some definite point toward which to 
 direct his attention and in reference to which he 
 can note his improvement. 
 
 It is one of the chief purposes of the scale 
 which is described in the last chapter to enable 
 the teacher to make an analysis of the pupiFs 
 writing and to help him to make it for himself. 
 For example, a very common fault of writing and 
 one which at the same time has a great deal to 
 do with its legibility and is one of the most easily 
 remedied, is bad spacing. Good spacing may be 
 attained by having a good standard in mind and 
 giving some thought to its attainment. On the 
 other hand, such faults as irregularity of slant 
 or of alinement must be corrected primarily by 
 the attainment of regularity of movement. 
 
 A detailed analysis of the faults which appear 
 in the child's writing and of the adjustments 
 which are necessary to correct them has been 
 worked out by Mr. W. C. Reavis, Principal of 
 the Laclede School, St. Louis, Missouri, on the 
 
 71 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 basis of his experience in supervision, and is here 
 presented with his permission. 
 
 Analysis of defects in writing and their causes, in 
 use hy Principal Reavis 
 
 Defect Cause 
 
 'I. Writing arm too near body. 
 2. Thumb too stiff. 
 Too much -i 3. Point of nib too far from fingers, 
 slant 4. Paper in wrong position. 
 
 ,5. Stroke in wrong direction. 
 fi. Arm too far from body. 
 Writing too J 2. Fingers too near nib. 
 
 straight j 3. Index finger alone guiding pen. 
 L 4. Incorrect position of paper, 
 r I. Index finger pressing too heavily. 
 Writing too -I 2. Using wrong pen. 
 heavy 1 3. Penholder of too small diameter. 
 
 f I. Pen held too obliquely or too straight. 
 Writing too -l 2. Eyelet of pen turned to side, 
 light 1 3. Penholder of too large diameter. 
 
 fi. Thumb too stiff. 
 Writing too -j 2. Penholder too lightly held, 
 angular L 3. Movement too slow. 
 
 fi. Lack of freedom of movement. 
 Writing too J 2. Movements of hand too slow, 
 irregular | 3. Pen gripping. 
 
 1 4. Incorrect or uncomfortable position. 
 Spacing too f i. Pen progresses too fast to right, 
 wide I 2. Too much lateral movement. 
 
 In order to intensify the child's interest in his 
 progress in overcoming the dijSiculties of writing, 
 a definite record should be kept of his progress. 
 72 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 This may be done by giving grades based on a 
 writing scale supplemented by specimens of his 
 writing which are taken and preserved at regular 
 intervals. This is a much more stimulating and 
 encouraging record for those pupils at least who 
 have rather less than the average ability than is 
 the common method of comparing the various 
 members of the class with one another. This 
 procedure assumes that all pupils have equal 
 ability in the subject in question, and that their 
 standing depends upon their industry only — a 
 false and pernicious assumption. In such a sub- 
 ject as handwriting, in which a definite record of 
 attainment can be kept, the pupil's achievement 
 should chiefly be compared with his own past 
 achievement rather than with that of others. 
 
 Length and frequency of periods of practice 
 
 In order that the child's attention may be upon 
 his task it is not only necessary that he have the 
 right mental attitude toward his work and the 
 proper motives to pursue it. His physical condi- 
 tion has an important effect upon his atten- 
 tion and upon th^ speed with which he learns. 
 We are concerned here with his physical condi- 
 tion only so far as it is affected by the work itself. 
 When a person practices a new activity contin- 
 
 73 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 uously for a certain period of time the amount of 
 benefit he derives from the practice becomes less 
 after a certain length of time and finally disap- 
 pears altogether. This diminution in the rate of 
 improvement may be attributed to fatigue and 
 the consequent wandering of the attention. 
 
 Fatigue appears especially early when new ac- 
 tivities are being learned and varies also with the 
 age and individuality of the learner. A nmnber 
 of experiments have been performed to ascertain 
 the best length of period in different kinds of 
 learning. In general these experiments have 
 sho^vn that in learning of a mechanical sort the 
 same amount of time cut up into short periods 
 of practice produces more rapid progress than 
 when divided into longer periods. It may safely 
 be said that in the first five grades frequent pe- 
 riods of ten minutes each will give better results 
 than periods of greater length held less frequently. 
 It is probably never advantageous, at least in the 
 elementary school, to extend the practice period 
 beyond twenty minutes. 
 
 Imitation of a person writing better than imitation 
 of a copy merely 
 
 It has been said that the child should be stim- 
 ulated to improvement not merely by setting a 
 
 74 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 copy before him, but also by leading him to make 
 an analysis of his own writing. This raises the 
 whole question of the place of imitation in learn- 
 ing to write. Two kinds of imitation may be em- 
 ployed : the imitation of a finished product or speci- 
 men of writing, and the imitation of a person who 
 is going through the process of writing. The first 
 kind of imitation is employed when the copy-book 
 or copy slips are used. The writer has pointed 
 out in another place that the trend of modem 
 practice is decidedly away from a reliance upon 
 the copy-book as the chief means of teaching.^ 
 
 This trend in the teaching of penmanship is analo- 
 gous to the change which took place in the teaching 
 of drawing in the latter part of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, and the basis for the change is very much the 
 same in the one case as in the other. The arguments 
 for and against copy-books may briefly be stated. 
 The copy-book is regarded as of advantage in teach- 
 ing writing, first, because it presents to the child what 
 is regarded as a perfect model for him to imitate. 
 The belief is that the more perfect the model which 
 is set before the child the closer will be his approxima- 
 tion to it. 
 
 There are several fallacies, however, in this posi- 
 tion. In the first place, the engraved model is the 
 
 * " Current Methods of teaching Handwriting, " Elementary 
 School Teacher, 191 2, vol. xii, p. 429. 
 
 75 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 lifeless result of writing and not the process of writ- 
 ing itself. The child can very much better miitate 
 the process of performing an act than the result of 
 the act after it has been completed. Therefore, the 
 sight of a teacher writmg presents to the child in a 
 ver}' much clearer form the process of writing which 
 he has to develop. The whole emphasis of present- 
 day teachmg is upon the development of the move- 
 ment by which the child produces letters and not 
 upon the residt as divorced from the movement. 
 xA.gain, the copy which is presented in the copy-book 
 is not orduiarily a possible form of MVTiting. It is 
 not produced by writing in the ordinary way, and 
 it does not, therefore, suggest the kind of writing 
 which we wish to develop, but suggests rather the 
 slow drawing process by which it itself was actually 
 produced. An ideal which is impossible of attain- 
 ment by the method which is to be used is a false 
 ideal, and has no advantage above a more imper- 
 fect product which was produced by the ordinary 
 writing method. 
 
 It may be said in reply to this argument that the 
 teacher is ordinarily not capable of setting up a good 
 enough model for the child. If this is the case, how- 
 ever, the teacher is not fit to teach the child properly 
 even with the aid of a copy-book. In ever}" form of 
 teaching which involves skill or dexterity imitation 
 is one of the best means of training, and it is clearly 
 recognized that a person who can not perform the 
 act himself is not qualified to teach another to do it. 
 
 .76 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 To set up as a model the finished result is nowhere 
 else regarded as a satisfactory method of teaching the 
 process. It should no more be regarded as satisfactory 
 in the teaching of handwriting. The remedy for poor 
 writing on the part of the teacher then is not the sub- 
 stitution of the finished product in a copy-book, but 
 is rather an acquisition of skill on the part of the 
 teacher. This is no unreasonable demand of any per- 
 son who possesses the average degree of manual skill. 
 
 We must then give up the notion that writing 
 can be taught in a mechanical way merely by 
 setting before the child models for him to copy 
 and providing for him a space which he is to fill. 
 In the subject of writing, as in the other subjects 
 of the curriculum, we are coming to recognize that 
 the function of the teacher is to guide the learning 
 process of the pupil and not merely to set tasks 
 and hear lessons. Each child has his own prob- 
 lems which are more or less individual and these 
 require the guidance of a living intelligent teacher 
 rather than a mere lifeless model. 
 
 The special methods adapted to different grades ' 
 
 The adaptation of the character of the teach- 
 ing to the needs and ability of the pupil has an- 
 other aspect in the variations in method and 
 content which are necessary in order to make 
 
 77 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 th.^-' ' ■ ^ to iho children of ditTorcnt age?. 
 F.ii..::: . .' . ..;.xe :hi> .• .^.:pt.uion adoqiL^'v^K- "'^is 
 bee- e":.;:\:e:ev;<::e -e: ::vre]y of ee- /eek 
 sx'^tems, but also of methods whieh Liy stress 
 up>on move-'.e".: d.-'.lV A tor- 'orecressive systems 
 of botli kir....- ./ . .'.e .. V.e vv.\ , ■. . -uAing modifi- 
 cations of one sort or another to suit the different 
 grades. In the e.^se o^ :-:e ee;n■-^ook^ the main 
 changes whieh .::e i;\::e.i-.:.\\i .:ve :^\e u<e of large 
 coarse writing in the eopy for the lower grades 
 and the introo..:. '.'e:: of pictures and of text 
 which is interes:-/ c :e the child. The chief mod- 
 ification in /'e\\ •; t-drill methods is to defer 
 anything like e\..::.:g drill until the third or 
 fourth c- ^ 0^ ; S. -:;e o: the most widely use<.i sys- 
 tems. V .-...N e not yet made such obviously 
 rational conceptions to the demands of child 
 nature. Th; /..^—''.^ns which are necessar)' to 
 meet these .iv . - .ve may consider in further 
 detail. 
 
 Han(ki'riHng in thf primary grades 
 
 Se.ne writers 
 h;/ vuig ail writing until the 
 
 th:.,. :. .:„.... ^......s on the ground that the 
 
 writing activity is too exacting upon the nen-ous 
 
 SN-steni of the primary child because it requires 
 
 '7SJ 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 finely adjusted movements and general immo- 
 bility of body. On the other hand, the widely 
 exploited Montessori method has as one of its 
 most prominent features the instruction in writ- 
 ing of children of kindergarten age. 
 
 The views of those who would defer writing arc 
 not without reason, but the objections upon which 
 they arc founded can be met without such radical 
 changes as are demanded. The Montessori method 
 attempts to meet these objections by introducing 
 the child to writing by a series of steps which are 
 so well graded that he enters upon each succeeding 
 step without great difficulty or nervous exhaus- 
 tion. The chief distinctive feature of this method 
 is training in the perception of form by handling 
 objects of various geometrical form, by using the 
 pencil in filling in spaces, and by tracing with the 
 fingers letters cut out of sandpaper, before any 
 attempt is made to write. The child thus becomes 
 familiar with the general shape of the letters by 
 the direct processes of touch and movement be- 
 fore he undertakes the rather difficult specialized 
 activity of producing them with a pen or pencil. 
 
 Some such exercises preliminary to writing 
 itself are doubtless of value. When the child be- 
 gins writing proper, however, the problem is not 
 ended. At this point the Montessori method 
 
 79 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 leaves us. It is apparent from the appearance of 
 the children who learn by that method — accord- 
 ing to the writer's observation of photographs 
 taken in Rome — that the children often exhibit 
 a cramping of the hand from which those who are 
 taught by the best methods in the United States 
 are free. 
 
 His writing should he very large. The writing of 
 the beginner should have two characteristics. It 
 should be very large, and it should be done with 
 the arm as a whole rather than with the fingers. 
 These two prescriptions are related and their 
 reasons are fairly obvious. In the chapter on 
 "Physiology and Hygiene '' it was pointed out 
 that the child is capable of much less precise 
 movements than is the adult, and that there is 
 a steady progress in precision of movement with 
 age. Now it is clear that a large letter can be 
 made with much less precision than a small one 
 without producing any greater departure from 
 the true form of the letter. The same amount 
 of deviation forms a much smaller proportion 
 of the whole. This conclusion is confirmed by 
 the universal experience that it is easier to 
 write in good form on the blackboard than upon 
 paper. 
 
 He should write with the arm as a whole. The 
 80 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 second requirement follows from the first. If the 
 child writes with the fingers his writing is almost 
 sure to be comparatively small — in the natural 
 trend smaller than the adult's — because the range 
 of movement of his fingers is less. 
 
 The movement in which the arm as a whole is 
 most readily employed, as distinguished from the 
 fingers, is the so-called whole-arm movement 
 which is made without resting the forearm on the 
 desk. In order that this movement may be prop- 
 erly carried out the desk top should have a slant 
 of at least fifteen or twenty degrees, as has already 
 been said. Under these conditions the front edge 
 of the desk will be low enough so that the child's 
 elbow will clear it when the arm hangs from 
 the shoulder. The movement cannot be properly 
 made with a flat-top desk at such a height that 
 the elbow must be held up at a distance from the 
 body. This position is fatiguing and results in 
 the formation of a habit which is difficult to break 
 up in the higher grades. 
 
 When the conditions make it impossible for the 
 child to make the whole-arm movement properly, 
 the next best procedure is to use the arm move- 
 ment with rest and require the child to write as 
 large as his arm will permit. It will be possible 
 to obtain writing in which the one-space letters 
 8i 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 are nearly one-half inch in height if pains are 
 taken to develop flexibility of movement. 
 
 Besides being less precise this type of writing 
 has other advantages. When the child begins to 
 write, as was said in a previous chapter, there is a 
 good deal of diffusion of the nervous impulse. The 
 muscles of the fingers, being the more easily con- 
 tracted, are affected by this diffused impulse 
 more than are the larger muscles at the shoulder. 
 In fact the fingers become over-contracted, as 
 observation of children writing reveals. To avoid 
 this over-contraction it is necessary to encourage 
 the use of the arm as a whole. 
 
 Appropriate standards of size, speed, and accuracy. 
 These two requirements of size and arm move- 
 ment are met in highest degree by blackboard 
 writing, and accordingly this has been found to 
 be the best form with which to begin. When the 
 child begins to write on paper after several months 
 of blackboard writing, he should use rough-sur- 
 faced paper, large, smooth pencil or crayon, and 
 should continue to write large. For a time the 
 one-spaced letters may be one half inch high. 
 The height may be gradually reduced until in the 
 third grade the child is using letters about half as 
 high. If ruled paper is used, the fines should be an 
 inch and a half apart to start with, about an inch 
 82 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 apart in the low third grade, and so on. Not until 
 the upper grades at least should lines as close as 
 three eighths of an inch be used, if then. A very 
 common fault in writing, which reduces its legi- 
 bility greatly, is the crowding together of the 
 lines. Since school pupils commonly use ruled 
 paper this fault must be ascribed in the main to 
 the closeness of the ruling. The only considera- 
 tion favoring crowding the lines is economy in 
 paper, and this is not of sufficient importance to 
 outweigh the importance of legibility. 
 
 The requirement as to speed. As the require- 
 ments on the score of accuracy should be less 
 severe than those imposed upon the older pupil, 
 so also should he be required to write less rapidly. 
 Not only is he less capable of rapid movement in 
 general, as all experiments have shown, but he is 
 less adept in this particularly difficult and com- 
 plex movement. This is not always recognized. 
 The worst delinquents in this regard are some of 
 those who emphasize arm-movement drill. They 
 sometimes make no distinction at all between the 
 speed required of the different grades, and the 
 resulting scrawls cannot be justified on any score. 
 The child should write slowly enough to enable 
 him to make the letters with some semblance of 
 their true form and with some regularity. Certain 
 
 83 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 sorts of irregularity are natural in his condition 
 of undeveloped control, but they should not be 
 exaggerated by undue haste. 
 
 In a study of the rate of movement of children 
 in the grades it was found that children of differ- 
 ent ages differed widely in their ability to make 
 up and down strokes rapidly.^ The median 
 grammer-grade child made about twice as many 
 strokes per minute as the median first-grade child. 
 Not over one hundred double strokes can be ex- 
 pected of the first-grade child, while about two 
 hundred can be made by the upper-grade child. 
 The speed of writing letters does not increase as 
 rapidly as the speed of making simple strokes, 
 since the more rapid writer, as was shown in a 
 previous chapter, spends a larger proportion of 
 his time on the complex parts of the letters. The 
 difference is sufficiently great, however, to jus- 
 tify making much greater demands in the matter 
 of speed of the mature than of the immature 
 writer. 
 
 We should not, then, expect either a high de- 
 gree of accuracy or a high speed of the beginner. 
 On the other hand, the child should write with 
 sufficient fluency so that the successive stages of 
 
 1 "Current Methods of teaching Handwriting," Elementary 
 School Teacher, 191 2, vol. xiii, p. 32. 
 
 84 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 the movement are fused together into a whole 
 complex movement. If the movement is slowed 
 down beyond a certain point it ceases to be a 
 single movement and becomes a succession of 
 movements. In the earlier stages, to be sure, it 
 must be slow enough so that the eye may be used 
 to guide it and keep it from going too far astray, 
 for we have found that the child exercises greater 
 visual control than the skilled writer; but this 
 control should be used only to modify the direc- 
 tion of the movement in course, and, not to stop 
 it entirely and start it in a new direction. Only if 
 the movement is continuous can improvement be 
 made in the ability to produce fluently a form the 
 image of which is in the mind. The learner must 
 come to know what it feels like to make the move- 
 ment needed to produce the form, and this he 
 acquires only when the movement can be expe- 
 rienced as a whole. 
 
 The standards of speed and accuracy must ad- 
 vance together. On the side of form also a certain 
 minimum of excellence must be maintained in 
 order that practice may be of profit. The mere 
 making of movements which have the outward 
 semblance of writing is of little if any value. The 
 child is not by this process acquiring an image of 
 the form of the letter, for it must not be forgotten 
 
 85 
 
THE TEACHING OF Hx\NDWRITING 
 
 that the image is only perfected by the actual 
 carrying-out of the idea into action. The order 
 is not first a concept, then its reproduction; 
 but first a vague, very imperfect notion, which is 
 refined and perfected by the attempt to realize it 
 in action. The writing activity plays an important 
 part in the acquisition of the idea of the form 
 of the letters. The pupil by writing carelessty is 
 therefore only acquiring slovenly ideas which he 
 will later have to displace. In writing, then, as 
 in other forms of skill, the standard m speed and 
 accuracy must advance together. The demand 
 for either the speed or the accuracy of the expert 
 in the beginner is founded on wrong educational 
 principles. Whether the learner progresses with 
 equal rapidity in both forms of excellence in the 
 different stages of liis learning, or what the pre- 
 cise relation of the two should be, has not been 
 determined. 
 
 It is not the place here to give in detail a series 
 of exercises or lessons to be used in teaching 
 writing. Such plans may be foimd in the various 
 published manuals and exercise books. We may 
 merely lay down certain principles wliich should 
 underlie the detailed course of procedure, and 
 from these the individual teacher may work out 
 her ow^i course or may select in the light of these 
 86 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 principles details of procedure from the various 
 published courses or systems. 
 
 Writing should have meaning to the child from 
 the beginning. From the beginning writing should 
 have meaning to the child and should be con- 
 nected with his reading and other language activ- 
 ities. Not much detailed analysis of letter forms 
 should be made nor should perfection of form be 
 demanded. The old method of requiring the child 
 to make first the simple letter elements or ''prin- 
 ciples," and then leading him out of these to build 
 up letters and words, starts at the wrong end. A 
 few elementary movement drills, such as the 
 straight line and direct and reversed ovals, may 
 be practiced for the purpose of gaining control 
 and freedom of action; and the appropriate 
 letters may be made in connection with these 
 drills. But such drills should be incidental to 
 actual writing and not preliminary to it. The 
 order of procedure is to choose some simple word 
 which is already of significance to the child, write 
 it for him on the board, have him attempt to 
 copy the word through imitating the action, and 
 finally lead him to the criticism of his product 
 and to the practice which will produce improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The words and sentences should present progress- 
 87 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 ive difficulties. For a considerable time the writing 
 lesson is the only time when the child writes. Its 
 chief purpose is to give the teacher opportunity 
 to guide the child's early efforts to write. In order 
 to make the task progressive in difficulty words 
 may be chosen in such an order as to include first 
 easy letters and letter combinations and then 
 successively harder ones. For example the word 
 "see" is one which is likely to occur in the child's 
 reading and is well fitted because of its simplicity 
 as a beginning word. The one-spaced letters are 
 in general suited for the first work, followed by the 
 two- or more-spaced letters and the capitals. The 
 classification of the letters in Fig. 8, page 107, 
 may serve as a suggestion of the general order of 
 the letters, but no such classification can be 
 strictly followed, and the difficulty of the con- 
 nection between letters as well as of the letters 
 themselves must be studied. Furthermore the 
 simpler two- and three-spaced letters may be 
 used before all the one-spaced letters have been 
 written and the easier capitals before the harder 
 small letters. Following the principle that writ- 
 ing should have meaning, sentences must be used 
 early and this involves the use of capitals. 
 
 The value of formal drill. A word may be said 
 regarding the value of formal drill preliminary 
 88 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 to writing for the purpose of leading to some de- 
 gree of movement control and for developing gen- 
 eral acquaintance with the forms of the letters. 
 Such drills have been made familiar in the Mon- 
 tessori method. The chief value of such methods 
 is that they give the child the motor experience 
 which corresponds to letter forms. That is, in 
 such an act as tracing over the sandpaper letters 
 with his finger he finds out how it feels to make 
 the movement, and this feeling of the move- 
 ment gives him the cue which enables him to 
 make it again. The sandpaper merely acts as a 
 motive to move in the proper direction. It sup- 
 plements the sight motive by the touch motive. 
 The other preliminary exercises of the Montes- 
 sori system, as drawing and filling in outlines, 
 serve the purpose of giving the child practice in 
 handling the pencil. The aspect of the method by 
 which the child is enabled to write words spon- 
 taneously and to spell out new words is based 
 upon the phonetic drill which the child undergoes 
 in putting together cardboard letters and is made 
 possible in large measure by the phonetic charac- 
 ter of the Italian language. 
 
 Individuals vary in capacity and needs. In 
 teaching primary writing especially, attention to 
 the capacity and needs of the individual pupil is 
 89 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 necessary. Some pupils can write from the start 
 with Httle difficulty. Others need constant guid- 
 ance and help. 
 
 What may be required by the end of the third 
 year. By the end of the third grade the child should 
 have become somewhat accustomed to the use of 
 the pen; he should be able to write a large hand, 
 making well-formed letters with a fair degree of 
 fluency, say fifty letters a minute ; and should have 
 made a beginning in the use of writing as a means 
 of expression of his thought. He has had lessons 
 in writing, but they have been occupied mainly in 
 supervision of his general position and mode of 
 carrying on the movement, and in some analysis 
 of letter forms, and have included little formal 
 drill. During these first years, as indeed during 
 the whole of his school career, the character of 
 the writing in all the work in the school should be 
 carefully supervised. 
 
 Handwriting in the intermediate grades 
 
 When he passes to the fourth grade the child is 
 coming into possession of a considerably higher 
 degree of motor control. Moreover, he can be- 
 come interested in perfecting his control through 
 well-directed drill. This drill, as has been said, 
 must not be mechanical, but if the child can be 
 90 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 made to see his progress he will be interested. 
 The habit of movement which is to be the perma- 
 nent one should now be learned if it has not been 
 acquired previously. A judicious use of move- 
 ment exercises may now be made. To a consider- 
 ation of the best forms of movement and of move- 
 ment exercises we next turn. 
 
 The best type of movement. The various forms 
 of movement which are commonly used in writ- 
 ing may be best described by the terms "free- 
 arm movement," "arm movement with rest," 
 "finger movement," and "combined arm and fin- 
 ger movement." Some writers employ still an- 
 other movement — that of the wrist. This is made 
 by an alternate flexion and extension of the wrist 
 with the hand turned over on the outside, and is to 
 be distinguished from the side-to-side movement 
 which may be made to carry the hand along from 
 letter to letter. The wrist movement is rather 
 common among Europeans and serves to make 
 the writing freer than when an extreme form of 
 finger movement is used, but the necessity which 
 it entails of turning the hand over on the side 
 impairs the free progress of the hand along the 
 line. We may therefore dismiss it from our con- 
 sideration. 
 
 Of the four other forms of movement or of 
 91 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 movement combinations which are mentioned 
 above, the free arm movement has aheady been 
 advocated as suitable for the coarse, free writing 
 of the first three grades. Now, however, the 
 child's writing must become smaller and more 
 accurate. It is much easier to make an accurate 
 movement when the arm and hand are supported, 
 and as the child attains greater maturity and 
 motor control there is not so much danger that 
 the fingers will be excessively cramped through 
 diffusion of the nervous impulse. Hence some 
 form of movement with the arm resting on the 
 desk should now be adopted. 
 
 The practical issue is between the arm move- 
 ment with rest and the combined finger and arm 
 movement. The combined movement as distin- 
 guished from the extreme finger movement in- 
 cludes a free side-to-side movement of the hand 
 and arm along the line while the fingers form the 
 letters, and, it may be, in addition, a slight up- 
 ward and downward oscillation of the arm as the 
 letters are being formed. In the extreme forms 
 of the arm movement the arm does the whole 
 work, including the formation of the details of 
 the letters. 
 
 The difference here indicated between the arm 
 movement with rest and the combined movement 
 92 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 is not great or very important. If a strict adher- 
 ence to the demand for the entire exclusion of the 
 movements of the fingers is maintained, consid- 
 erable drill will be required beyond that amount 
 necessary to form the habit of a satisfactory com- 
 bined movement. As a matter of fact, the amount 
 of drill given in the elementary school does not 
 suffice to produce this result in the majority of 
 the children. 
 
 The arm movement with rest — the so-called 
 muscular movement — is an American discovery 
 and has been vigorously exploited in commercial 
 schools since the last quarter of the last century 
 and more recently in certain systems of teaching 
 in the public schools. It seems likely that within 
 twenty-five years this form of writing will be 
 practically universal in American schools. The 
 chief advantages of the movement are two. In 
 the first place, it is made with the fingers rela- 
 tively relaxed, thus avoiding cramping. In the 
 second place, the rolling movement of the arm 
 upon the muscle pad of the forearm produces a 
 firmness and evenness of line, and the fact that 
 the movement is produced from a center at a 
 considerable distance from the pen point results 
 in regularity of slant. 
 
 The survival of this type of movement may 
 92> 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 depend upon a discriminating view of its merits 
 and defects upon the part of its advocates. If it 
 is made to do more than its fair share of work or 
 if its merits are insisted on with too uncritical 
 enthusiasm, opportunity will be given those who 
 may find profit in picking flaws in it and in lead- 
 ing to a reaction to a different kind of movement. 
 The use of the movement by beginners, in the 
 writer's opinion, furnishes such ground of attack. 
 Another ground is the over-emphasis of move- 
 ment drill to the neglect of an analysis of the 
 form of the letters. Finally, the contention that 
 every detail of the letters shall be made by the 
 movement of the arm while the fingers remain 
 immobile is calculated to antagonize reasonable 
 critics. The oscillation of the arm may well form 
 the main basis for the upward and downward 
 strokes of the letters, but to require that every 
 loop and turn and joining be produced by the 
 movement of the arm as a whole, instead of the 
 much more flexible hand and fingers, is to set up 
 an artificial requirement and one which is not 
 made in regard to other types of skifled move- 
 ment. 
 
 The form of movement, then, which best meets 
 the requirements which may be laid down as the 
 result of experiment and of practical experience 
 94 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 is somewhat as follows: The hand and arm must 
 be so adjusted that the hand progresses freely 
 along the line during the formation of the letters 
 and in the spaces between words. The hand must 
 rest upon some freely sliding point or points of 
 contact such as the finger nails or the side of 
 the little finger. When, on the contrary, the pen 
 point is carried along from one letter to another 
 by means of adjustments of the parts of the 
 fingers and the hand, the hand continually gets 
 into a cramped position. 
 
 The movements of the arm and fingers should 
 form a smooth and easy coordination in which 
 there is a condition of flexibility in the whole 
 member. The rotation of the arm upon the muscle 
 pad of the forearm as a center carries the hand 
 along, the upward and downward oscillatory 
 movement forms the groundwork of the letter 
 formation, and slight adjustments of the fingers 
 complete the details of the letters. In addition to 
 these chief elements of the movement the wrist 
 may rotate to the side to supplement the sideward 
 movement of the arm, and the forearm may re- 
 volve upon its axis in the movement of pronation 
 as a corrective to the increase in slant at the end 
 of the line. There is no good reason for seeking to 
 eliminate any of these component movements. 
 
 95 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 Each has some part to play. Moreover, room 
 must be left for individual differences in their 
 relative prominence and manner of combina- 
 tion. 
 
 Position of the paper and of the arm, and slant. 
 In the early part of the chapter the question of 
 the position of the paper and of the arm in rela- 
 tion to it was deferred, since these matters related 
 to the type of movement which is used. Con- 
 nected with them also is the problem of slant, so 
 that all these questions should be considered 
 together. 
 
 In the chapter upon the "Physiology and 
 Hygiene of Writing," the bearing of the position 
 of the paper and of the slant of the writing upon 
 the health of the child was discussed. The situa- 
 tion in brief is this. In the last quarter of the 
 last century a number of physicians, particu- 
 larly in France and Germany, found that the 
 mode of writing then in vogue produced spinal 
 curvature and eye-strain. The position com- 
 monly assumed in writing was the side position 
 with the right arm on the desk and the left 
 arm off; and an extreme slant was commonly 
 used. In correcting posture it was beHeved that 
 the slant of writing must be done away with. 
 That this does not follow appears from the 
 96 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 considerations presented in the former chapter. 
 We may now consider what principles should 
 govern slant and the position of the arm and 
 paper. 
 
 The fundamental considerations which govern 
 the slant which should be adopted are those of 
 movement. There has been extensive contro- 
 versy over the question whether a straight front 
 position of the paper (resulting in vertical writ- 
 ing) or a tilted position conforms better to the 
 eye movements. The evidence for the tilted posi- 
 tion is as convincing as that for the straight posi- 
 tion, and the question must therefore be settled 
 on other grounds. 
 
 Two general features of the writing movement 
 determine the answer to the problem. In the 
 first place, the arm and the paper must be in such 
 relation that the rotation of the forearm about 
 the elbow as a center carries the hand along the 
 line of writing. This means that the paper must 
 be tilted to the left until the line of writing is 
 about at right angles to the forearm. The second 
 principle is that the most natural direction of the 
 upward and downward strokes of the writing is 
 toward the body — or about at right angles to 
 the edge of the desk. This makes the writing 
 deviate from the vertical by the same angle that 
 
 97 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 the paper is tilted. The relationships are illus- 
 trated in Fig. 3. 
 
 The other argument besides that based on hy- 
 giene is to the effect that vertical writing is more 
 legible than slanting writing. When the writing 
 
 conforms to the 
 standard form 
 this is true. But 
 the difference is 
 not great, even 
 if it does so con- 
 form, and when 
 it does not, as 
 is often the case, 
 vertical writing 
 may become as 
 illegible as slant- 
 ing writing. The 
 superior legibil- 
 ity of vertical 
 writing lies part- 
 ly at least in the 
 sharp contrast 
 between the direction of the vertical strokes and 
 the connecting strokes, which results in the sharp 
 marking-off of the letters from one another. In 
 rapid writing the various strokes tend to be 
 93 
 
 Figure 3 
 
 Diagram of the relation of the body and 
 
 arms to the desk and the paper. 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 made in the same direction, whether vertical or 
 slanting. When this happens vertical writing 
 may become very illegible, as may be observed in 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 This tendency for the succeeding strokes to 
 have the same direction constitutes another 
 reason why, from the point of view of movement, 
 
 Figure 4 
 
 Specimen of vertical writing showing assimilation of the upward to 
 the downward strokes in direction. 
 
 writing has usually had and should have a slant. 
 The connecting strokes having a slant, the other 
 up-and-down strokes are naturally influenced in 
 the same direction. 
 
 No fixed rule as to the degree of slant which is 
 best can be given. In general, extreme slant is 
 unnecessary to satisfy the requirements of move- 
 ment. A slant of not more than thirty degrees 
 from the vertical therefore is to be recommended. 
 
 Movement drill. The elaboration of the tech- 
 
 99 
 
THK TEACHING OF H.VNDWRITING 
 
 de^rre;^ . .,,.>.. ^ . > 
 
 q^iii^einv-: V. :: 
 
 tiiie act 115 it? V - ^. :.- . .^ . > 
 
 lM:g^d^ ^^?uk wmch he ^ to 
 
 at: <c^ > : c iiiisitKiaDit and ol 
 
 its : I: i> : tbedifld probft* 
 
 1^> ^ - .^ readily tliiatn 
 
 d.:> loMtate a 
 
 an: .; .\ ; . : ^. . ; .^ . ;; • , , ., ^, . ^rmal 
 
 have be^fsa dev^Sied. Ce: - . r ^^tn»' 
 
 11IUY^> . - . : . ^ - - ^ : ; :e 
 
 Cfc*:-^^ :;- ^ - . . ^: ^. - 
 
 ic ^ - : . ;;.■.>:.-■ . . . ^ , . - . ■ 
 
 
 tls^ere 
 
 > lioo ol the letTAoesi 
 
 ov«L S^u :y used ffws^ of 
 
 did! ate th. . _ ^e, m stoilse. ivrxi 
 
 I ^loke (s«e rig. i oit ^Kse diills 
 
 < 1 ^ 
 
 lsX> 
 
/ 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ":^"^^^-^ 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 ; ...J 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 ^=^ ,.-*=^^ -^-^; 
 
 ' ->..0 
 
 G 
 
 cj. This exercise 
 
 was done icith the ff / 
 Forearm Movement, ^n 7 
 Notice the smooth lines. 
 
 / / / /u 
 
 The right 
 circle (i?) trith{M J^ 
 the Forearm, Jlovement. +' 
 The "X" indicates the starting point. 
 
 Figure 5 
 
 lUustrations of formal driUs. From Bement^ Schvol Teo^cher 
 
 1912. vol. xm. page 2S. (Reproduced with the permission of the 
 rniversit3^ of Chicago Press.) 
 
THE TEACHING OF H.\NDWRITL\G 
 
 evidently to give the pupil practice in the use of 
 the arm movement in the production of the 
 letters. 
 
 Another t^-pe of drill is particularly directed 
 toward the development of the arm component 
 in carr}-ing the hand along the line while the 
 letters may be produced by the hnger and the 
 hand. This t>pe of drill has been particularly 
 developed in the Bennett method ^see Fig. 6). 
 
 FlGOlE 6 
 
 Illustrations of the lateral movemest drills as xised in the Bennett 
 s>-st«n. Reduced to one-half size. From ^'- ------. School Teacher, 
 
 1912. vol. xin. page 29 (.Heproduced v^-i: ;:raission of the 
 
 University of Chicago Press.) 
 
 This method, in fact, excludes entirely the oval 
 
 and up-and-down drills. The drills which are 
 
 102 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 included in this method are the back-and-forth 
 horizontal stroke, the so-called swinging and 
 rocking stroke, and the development of the i and 
 the n out of a combination of these strokes with 
 an intervening downward stroke. This forward- 
 and-backward movement is used even in the 
 development of the letters themselves, as well as 
 in the movement between the letters. Thus a is 
 produced by a combination of the rocking and 
 swinging movement with the downward move- 
 ment following. This same lateral movement is 
 emphasized in certain drills used by Houston, 
 Berry, and others (see Fig. 7). These drills con- 
 sist in a succession of letters which are connected 
 by strokes an inch or more long. In such a drill it 
 is necessary to combine smoothly the movement 
 which produces the letters and the movement 
 which carries the hand across the page. Since 
 this touches upon the essential problem in the 
 development of the writing coordination, the 
 writer believes that such drills are of the highest 
 importance. The oval and the straight up-and- 
 down stroke are useful to develop an easy, flowing 
 movement. 
 
 Only the commonly used formal drills have 
 been here referred to, since more labored forms 
 are a matter for individual choice. A great many 
 103 
 
THE TEACHING OE RlNDWRITEN'G 
 
 of the ::: :Hs, have Vfen :-e\-i>ed. These 
 
 may be ii>e;\:l iz c:~rfllizc .he rur^G to use a 
 
 rp3 SSps for Gcide IIL 
 
 : C4nm^:K§. A ve-- 
 IC4 
 
 e-:t 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 of the teaching of movement drills, and in fact of 
 the best form of movement in writing itself, is 
 rhythm. Experimental investigations have shown 
 that one of the main differences between the 
 writing of the child and of the adult is that the 
 latter is very much more characterized by rhythm 
 than the former. That is, the adult tends to 
 write in time as though to music. The successive 
 strokes, though very different in length, tend to 
 approximate each other in time. It has also been 
 shown that the use of an imposed rhythm, that is, 
 the requirement that the child write according to 
 a certain rhythm, tends to unify his writing and 
 render it more mature in character. 
 
 The count is usually made upon the down stroke 
 of the letter, though at least one method gives the 
 count on the sideward or connecting stroke. The 
 important thing is that regularity and continuity 
 be introduced into the movement. The time is 
 usually marked by counting, making a series of 
 raps with a ruler, handclaps, or metronome beats. 
 A still better method of indicating tempo, which 
 has long been used for marching, dancing, gy^m- 
 nastic exercises, etc., is music. This adds still 
 more to the pleasure of rhythmic movement. 
 
 The rate of count should be regulated accord- 
 ing to the age and degree of progress of the pupils. 
 105 
 
THE TEACHING OF H^WDWRITDsG 
 
 The rate of t^o hundred double strokes a min- 
 ute which is commonly used is too rapid for those 
 who are beginning movement drill, but may be 
 perhaps attained at the end of a year's practice. 
 
 Care should be taken to see that the pupils are 
 actually foUowing the rhythm. Some pupils have 
 little sense of rh}thm and a few may perhaps have 
 to be left to go their own pace. 
 
 Letter groups an the basis of movement. An 
 intermediate step between purely formal drill and 
 writing is drill in the writing of certain classes of 
 letters in connection with the formal drill with 
 which they are most closely related. Thus cer- 
 tain letters, as the capitals 0, C, A, G, D, and £, 
 are made by the direct oval movement with 
 slight variations. For the purpose of this drill on 
 letters they may with advantage be classined and 
 those which are made with similar movement 
 practiced in connection with the corresponding 
 formal movement drill. The accompan^iag fig- 
 ure illustrates the most complete classincation 
 made on this basis with which the writer is 
 familiar. 
 
 In this system the small letters are di^-ided into 
 
 six groups, as foUows ^^see Fig. S^ : first, /, ii, and 
 
 w, which are based upon the direct oval; second, 
 
 », w, r, and x, which are based upon the reverse 
 
 io6 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 oval; third, a, e, o, and c, which are also based 
 upon the direct oval, but are regarded as more 
 complex than the first group; fourth, r and 5, 
 
 3 fCL/ - ^y n- c^ 
 
 ^ ^^ ^^ , 
 
 A r£ ^ ^y^y ^. ^ ^^ ^i^" 
 
 Figure 8 
 
 Classification and order of development of letters in the Economy 
 System. From Elementary School Teacher, 1912, vol. xn, page 484. 
 (Reproduced with the permission of the University of Chicago Press.) 
 
 which are miscellaneous letters; fifth, t, d, p, and 
 5, which have in common the straight up-and- 
 down line; and sixth, l, b, h, k,j, g, y, z, and 
 / which have the upper or the lower loop in 
 107 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 common. The first and third groups might very 
 well be placed together, since they are based upon 
 the same t3^e of movement. This, of course, is not 
 the only possible classification. For example, a, 
 d, q, and g might be classed together on the basis 
 of the similar movement which is used in making 
 the parts which are common between these 
 letters. Similarly, n, m, p, and h might be grouped 
 together. The purpose of any such classification 
 is not to make the grouping rigid, but to classify 
 the letters for a particular purpose, that is, to 
 secure systematic and consecutive practice. In 
 the course of the development similarities which 
 are not represented in the main classification 
 may very well be brought out and made the sub- 
 ject of drill. Some such classification as is here 
 suggested is to be highly recommended for the 
 purpose of introducing system and consecutive- 
 ness to the drill. 
 
 The capital letters may also be grouped ac- 
 cording to the similarity of the movement by 
 which they are written. The classification will 
 depend to some extent upon the type of letters 
 which are chosen, but the broad lines of grouping 
 may be illustrated again from the Economy Sys- 
 tem. The first group, which is based upon the 
 direct oval, is composed of OjCj Aj G, D, and E, 
 io8 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 The second group, which is related to the reverse 
 oval, is composed of E, K, M, N, V, U, W, Q, X, 
 Y, Z, /, /, P, By and R. The third group is com- 
 posed of the complex letters T, F, S, and L. 
 
 Organization of exercises. This system of classifi- 
 cation suggests the order of exercises suited to 
 develop the letters in connection with their ap- 
 propriate movement drills. The objection to an 
 analytic type of procedure does not hold here as 
 in the case of the first grade. The fourth-grade 
 pupil knows how to write in order to express his 
 thoughts and now merely needs drill in technique 
 to develop the movement control which will en- 
 able him to write rapidly and accurately. We 
 may therefore begin with formal movement 
 drills — the repetition of the straight up-and- 
 down stroke or the direct oval, for example — 
 then develop the simple letters which are based 
 on these drills and their combinations into words, 
 and so on. 
 
 Practice on each of the several important types 
 of movement drill shown in Fig. 5, page loi, with 
 the appropriate small letters, may occupy several 
 exercises. After the various drills have been gone 
 through and reviewed they may form the intro- 
 duction to each succeeding lesson. The capital 
 letters may then be gone through in the same 
 109 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 way. Then practice may be given in forms of 
 drill which exercise the lateral movement of the 
 arm^ such as those illustrated from Bennett or 
 from Houston. While drill is being given upon 
 the various classes of small and capital letters, 
 various appropriate combinations of letters in 
 words may be practiced. When the alphabets 
 have been gone through once a greater propor- 
 tion of the drill may be upon words and sentences 
 so as to include a great variety of letter combi- 
 nations. It may be of value to give especial at- 
 tention to frequently occurring combinations, as 
 Hon and ing. The digits should also be prac- 
 ticed. 
 
 Another matter which should be given atten- 
 tion is the arrangement of the writing on the 
 page. Spacing between letters, words, and lines, 
 paragraphing, margins at the top, bottom, and 
 sides should all be discussed and illustrated. 
 
 During this progress through the various kinds 
 of movement drill some attention may be given 
 to the form of the letters, but this feature of writ- 
 ing is bound to suffer for a time while the new 
 type of adjustment is being learned. After the 
 course as outlined above has been gone through 
 the drill should be continued, giving more at- 
 tention to the detection and correction of errors, 
 no 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 The causes of the errors made by each i)upil 
 should J)e (h'scussed and removed, and a record 
 of progress in speed and in the various charac- 
 teristics represented in the writing chart to 
 be described in the last chapter, should be 
 kept. 
 
 The relation to be maintained between the 
 speed of writing and its legibility or excellence of 
 form may vary with the stage of advancement 
 of the puj)iL In practice it varies also between 
 l>upils in the same stage of advancement in differ- 
 ent schools or school systems.' Thus, for ex- 
 ample, in the fourth grade of one school the speed 
 was found to be 60 letters a minute and the legi- 
 bility (on the Ayers Scale) 50, while in the same 
 grade of another school the speed was S^ and the 
 legibility 42.5. 
 
 Style of alphabet. A relatively unimportant 
 matter, but one which sometimes arouses ques- 
 tion, is the style of alphabet which is to be used 
 as a model for imitation. A simi)le form of script 
 which is not extreme in any respect is the best. 
 The letters should not be ornamented with 
 flourishes or unduly simplified by leaving off 
 
 * Sec an arlicle by the author entitled "Some Practical 
 Studies of Handwriting," Elementary School Teacher, igi3, 
 vol. XIV, pp. 167-179. 
 
 Ill 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 connecting strokes. Flourishes require time with- 
 out increasing beauty and legibility. Elimination 
 of connecting strokes decreases fluency. Again, 
 too round a hand probably reduces speed, while 
 too angular a hand reduces legibility. To go 
 much further than this and prevent all individual 
 choice by prescribing the exact form of every 
 stroke is pedantry. The most important require- 
 ment of letters is that they be clearly distin- 
 guishable from each other. Deviations in the 
 form of a letter, then, which destroy its distinc- 
 tive form are to be discouraged. Others may be 
 permitted. 
 
 The characteristics of the specific writing in- 
 struction which marks the introduction of in- 
 tensive writing drill in the intermediate grades 
 have been discussed. The course outlined will 
 occupy perhaps a year. The succeeding year or 
 two should be occupied in the fixing of the habits 
 which have been built up by repetition with va- 
 riation to suit the needs of particular classes or 
 individuals. Three years of such drill should be 
 enough, in the judgment of the writer, to pro- 
 duce a well-developed habit, provided the work 
 has been consistent and has not been preceded 
 by the formation of cramped finger movement 
 writing in the early grades. 
 
 112 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 Handwriting in the grammar grades 
 
 The task in the grammar grades, then, is to pre- 
 vent the pupil from falHng into bad habits, grad- 
 ually to increase the efficiency of his habit, and 
 to complete the automatization of the habit. 
 
 Prevent the pupil from falling into bad habits. 
 Bad habits of various sorts may be fallen into, 
 and some attention is required to prevent their 
 formation. For example, habits of bad posture 
 may be contracted, due in many cases to writing 
 without sufficient room on the desk. Or writing 
 may become over-hasty. Or the proper relation 
 between the arm and the paper may not be kept. 
 Or excessive finger movement may be used. The 
 habit once being formed does not guarantee that 
 it may not be broken down, due to the stress of 
 unfavorable conditions. 
 
 Increase the efficiency of his habit. In the second 
 place, writing should be carried to a higher point 
 of efficiency than is usually attained in the fifth 
 or sixth grade, particularly in the matter of speed. 
 The pupils at least who go on into the high 
 school — and an increasing number are doing so 
 — should be able to write easily and legibly one 
 hundred letters a minute. Otherwise under the 
 stress of note taking, theme writing, and writing 
 
 113 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING ^ 
 
 in tests and examinations they either will be at a 
 serious disadvantage on account of their slo^\Ties3 
 or in their haste will disorganize tlieir writhig 
 habit. 
 
 Make it compJctdy automatic. In the third 
 place, the writing habit should in these grades 
 become as completely automatic as possible. 
 That is, the child's attention should not need to 
 be given to his writing movement or to tlie de- 
 tails of the letters except in so far as is necessary 
 to see that they do not deteriorate, but should be 
 free to be occupied with the thought which is be- 
 ing expressed. 
 
 Avtyid coutiniial experimenting with the style of 
 "icriting. A great obstacle to the automatization 
 of the writmg habit is the practice of continually 
 experimenting with it — not allowing it to settle 
 down to a fixed mode of action. This does not 
 mean that there should not be improvement, but 
 that there should not be a radical shifting of the 
 style of writing in any respect. Such shifting may 
 be brought about by imitatmg the style of a new 
 teacher, by a wave of fashion among the pupils 
 throughout a school, or by an administrative 
 change in method in a school system. As a mat- 
 ter of general prmciple such an administrative 
 change should never be made to apply to the 
 114 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 grades above the fifth and ordinarily not in the 
 fifth grade. 
 
 Use one style in both writing lesson and other 
 school work. Another obstacle to automatization 
 is the use of two or more styles of writing under 
 different conditions. The pupil often uses one 
 style for the writing lesson and another for the 
 rest of his school work. This is probably due in 
 large measure to the lack of responsibility of the 
 regular teacher for writing and to her lack of 
 competence to supervise it. This is a very un- 
 fortunate situation and it is a question whether 
 it does not counterbalance the advantage of hav- 
 ing skilled special writing teachers. Each pupil 
 should possess a style of writing which is neither 
 careless nor too precise, neither too fast nor too 
 slow, and which can be used without substantial 
 variation in all his work. 
 
 The method of meeting these demands. How 
 may these demands be met in the upper grades? 
 By occasional review drills and by holding the 
 pupils definitely up to a standard in all their 
 writing. Once a week is probably often enough 
 for the drills which, by the way, could very ad- 
 vantageously be continued in the high school. A 
 writing test could be given at the end of each 
 drill period upon which the pupil could be graded. 
 
THE TEACHING OF R^NDWRITDsG 
 
 Part of the penmanship grade, however, should 
 be based on the pupil's written work in other 
 subjects. Some exercise might be chosen each 
 week, at random and without the pupil's knowl- 
 edge which was to be selected, and the writing 
 gnided. This grade, of course, could be based 
 only on form or quality', while in the writing test 
 speed should also be taken into accoimt. In ad- 
 dition to these methods a ver>' good plan would 
 be to refuse to accept any written work in any 
 subject which failed to measure up to a certain 
 minimum requirement. Due allowance should be 
 made, of course, for iQdi\'idual denciency in ca- 
 pacity'. 
 
 In this chapter we have attempted to apply 
 the principles which govern the writiag act to the 
 problem of teaching. We considered, first, the 
 various matters connected with form m writing, 
 the position of the hand. arm. and body, pen- 
 holding, etc. Next were discussed the applica- 
 tion of the prin:"7.:f coveming the acquirement 
 of the abiMty prcperly to execute the movement. 
 FinalK-. the organization of the work ia the vari- 
 ous gr.^ :. : f v: : ; : : . r>- school and its adap- 
 tation to the SI age of progress of the pupils was 
 outlined. Details of method, including some ref- 
 : :: :: :.-::ent practice and to points of con- 
 ii6 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 trovcrsy, have been taken up where they seemed 
 to be most appropriate. This mode of treatment 
 was chosen rather than the separate considera- 
 tion of methods and of the organization of the 
 work for the different grades in order to avoid 
 unnecessary dupHcation. In this form we have 
 put into practical application the analysis of the 
 physiological and psychological principles which 
 occupied the earlier sections of the book. 
 
AIMS AND STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 The purpose of handwriting is to serve as a 
 means of the conamunication of thoughts to 
 other persons. It is therefore a tool in the ex- 
 pression of thought. The most immediate con- 
 cern of education with reference to handwriting 
 is that the pupils shall develop this tool to the 
 highest degree of efficiency which will justify the 
 time and energy expended and that this shall be 
 done in the most economical manner possible. 
 From the practical point of view then we need to 
 know what constitutes efficient writing and how 
 it can be recognized or measured. 
 
 The qualities of excellence in handwriting 
 
 The excellence of writing may be considered 
 from the standpoint of either the writer or the 
 reader. From the one point of view we consider 
 the economy of production and from the other, 
 economy in recognition. In the past it has been 
 the reader who has been chiefly considered. The 
 monks of the Middle Ages toiled long upon a 
 ii8 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 single letter and produced manuscripts of great 
 beauty and legibility. The modern school child 
 has sometimes been taught as though the same 
 ideal of achievement were suitable for him with- 
 out regard for the fact that the monk was pro- 
 ducing a permanent record which might be read 
 over and over again while the modem writer is 
 producing a temporary message which is likely 
 to be read only once. In this case the time and 
 energy of the writer are as much to be considered 
 as are the time and energy of the reader. 
 
 The first thing we must know, then, in order to 
 judge of the efficiency of writing, is the energy 
 which was required to produce it. Since we can- 
 not well measure the expenditure of energy di- 
 rectly, we have recourse to an indirect measure, 
 namely, the time which is required to produce 
 a given amount. Assuming that two persons put 
 forth the same amount of effort and one takes 
 twice as long to write one hundred words as the 
 other, the one who takes double the time has 
 expended double the energy. In so far as such 
 expenditure is unnecessary it is waste. 
 
 Speed and its measurement 
 
 The first measure of the efficiency of writing, 
 then, is speed. That this is not merely a theoreti- 
 119 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 cal consideration, but is of practical importance, 
 is shown by the great divergence in the speed 
 of writing among children of the same age in dif- 
 ferent classes or schools. Comparative measure- 
 ments have shown that in some schools or school 
 systems the speed is relatively above the quality 
 of the writing when a certain relation between 
 speed and quality is assumed as a standard. This 
 method of comparison is illustrated in Fig. ii, 
 page 145. In other cases the speed is below the 
 quality, and in still other cases the two run closely 
 together. The same divergences appear if we 
 compare different grades in the same school or 
 system. 
 
 It is apparent, then, that speed is sometimes 
 developed at the expense of quaHty, and vice versa. 
 But we cannot assume that low speed is always 
 accompanied by good quality or that high speed 
 always implies poor quality. There is no con- 
 stant relationship between the two characteris- 
 tics of writing. Sometimes, for example, there is 
 high excellence in both respects and sometimes 
 there is deficiency in both. 
 
 If we wish, then, to gain an accurate notion 
 
 of the efficiency of the writing of any child or 
 
 group of children, we must measure the speed 
 
 of their writing. This measurement is simple in 
 
 120 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 principle, but in order that it shall be reliable 
 certain precautions must be taken. 
 
 The following form of procedure is recommended. 
 First in regard to the matter which is to be written. 
 Since our aim is to measure merely the speed of writ- 
 ing and not the speed of the thought process, the 
 writing should not be interrupted by the necessity 
 for reflection. That is, the child should memorize 
 thoroughly what he is to write so that he may write 
 continuously. Again, when a test given at one time 
 is^;to be compared with a test given at another time, 
 the material should be as similar as possible in the 
 two tests, though not identical. For this purpose it 
 would be well to select a poem of uniform character 
 and require the child to memorize it at the beginning 
 of the experiment. One stanza should then be used 
 at the first test and the second stanza at the second 
 test, etc. If the child finishes the stanza within the 
 specified period he should begin it again and so con- 
 tinue until the end of the period. At the end of the 
 experiment it would be well to have the child write 
 all of the stanzas at one time in order to find out 
 whether they are of equal difficulty or not. 
 
 A three-minute period will be found of convenient 
 length for a test. The children should have their 
 paper and pens ready to write at the signal from the 
 teacher. They should then write continuously until 
 the signal to stop is given. Either after or before the 
 test each child should write his name, age and grade 
 upon the paper. 
 
 121 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 The manner of giving instruction for the test is 
 important. It has been found, for example, that the 
 result will vary greatly according as the child thinks 
 that the speed of his writing or the quahty is being 
 tested. If, now, we are endeavoring to secure his 
 ordinary writing we must be careful to avoid giving 
 the impression that we are testing particularly either 
 speed or form. For this purpose some such instruc- 
 tion as the following might be used. Without telling 
 the child at all that he is undergoing a test, one may 
 say: "Write the first stanza of the poem which you 
 have learned. Write it just as you would in a com- 
 position or an ordinary school exercise. If you finish 
 before the end of the time, begin and write it over 
 again. Begin to write when I say *Now' and stop 
 when I say ' Stop.' " It would be well to carry on a 
 preliminary experiment in order to be sure that the 
 children understand the instructions.^ 
 
 ( The quality of the written product 
 
 So much for the determination of efficiency 
 from the standpoint of the writer himself. The 
 reader must also be considered. So soon as we 
 get beyond the judgment of the ordinary ob- 
 server and attempt to determine differences in 
 excellence more precisely it becomes necessary 
 
 1 From an article by the author entitled "Problems and 
 Methods of Investigation in Handwriting," in The Journal of 
 Educational Psychology, 191 2, pp. 181-90. 
 
 122 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 to answer the question regarding the features of 
 writing which make it good or bad. The more 
 exactly we answer this question the more Hkely 
 we will be to agree with others or with ourselves 
 at different times as to how good a particular 
 specimen or set of specimens is. Another reason 
 why the settlement of this question is important 
 is that it will make it possible to set before the 
 pupil a definite goal of attainment. We can then 
 say to the pupil not only, "Your writing is poor. 
 Make it more like the copy/' but we can point 
 out to him just in what ways it is poor and needs 
 to be improved in order that it may resemble 
 good writing. 
 
 Uniformity 
 
 One of the characteristics which is most obvi- 
 ously related to excellence in writing is uniform- 
 ity. Lack of uniformity detracts from the good 
 appearance of writing and in some measure from 
 its legibihty. There are two aspects of writing 
 in which lack of uniformity may be readily de- 
 tected and measured. These are the slant and 
 ahnement of the letters. We may confine our 
 attention to the two or more space letters in 
 judging uniformity of slant and to the one-space 
 letters in judging uniformity of alinement.^ 
 123 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 The charts for grading uniformity and other 
 characteristics 
 
 In order to illustrate different degrees of ex- 
 cellence in these and in other characteristics 
 about to be mentioned, and to make it possible to 
 grade writing according to the degree to which it 
 possesses them, a series of charts has been con- 
 structed, which is reproduced in the Appendix 
 to this monograph. Each chart represents three 
 degrees of excellence, the lowest one being num- 
 bered I and the others 3 and 5 respectively. The 
 intermediate numbers 2 and 4 may be used when 
 the specimen to be judged seems to belong about 
 midway between the ranks above and below it. 
 
 The specimens for these charts have been se- 
 lected in the following manner : A large number 
 of specimens of the writing of children in grades 
 three to eight were examined and classified into 
 as many ranks as could be readily distinguished, 
 according to each of the characteristics or cate- 
 gories which are represented on the scale. In 
 some cases four ranks were distinguished and in 
 the others five. This, then, formed a tentative 
 scale. This tentative scale was then used as 
 a guide by twenty-three advanced students in 
 grading one hundred specimens into ten ranks 
 124 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 according to each category. The one hundred 
 specimens were selected from a large number of 
 specimens of writing of children of the same 
 grades as before so as to get so far as possible 
 representatives of the different t5^es of writing 
 and grades of excellence. It was then found pos- 
 sible to select specimens which should represent 
 ten approximately equal steps for each category 
 on the basis of the average judgments of all the 
 graders. 
 
 The scale which was thus based on the simple 
 judgment of a number of competent judges, even 
 when the judgments were simplified by tentative 
 scales to be used as models and by the concentra- 
 tion of attention on a single attribute at a time, 
 did not, however, produce entirely satisfactory 
 results. This appeared clearly in two cases in 
 which the judgments of the graders could be 
 checked up by objective measurement, namely, 
 in the imiformity of slant and of alinement. It 
 was only necessary to measure the average devia- 
 tion of a number of letters in each specimen to 
 determine that the order in which they were 
 placed by the rather consistent judgment of the 
 graders departed widely from the true order. 
 
 The scale was then remodeled by basing the 
 order of the specimens so far as possible on an 
 125. 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 objective measurement of the characteristic in 
 question or at least employing some means to ex- 
 aggerate the characteristic so as to make judg- 
 ment easier. How this was done in each case will 
 be described in connection with the discussion 
 of the different qualities which form the basis of 
 the scale. 
 
 If the unaided judgment of the grader was not 
 sufficient in the construction of the scale neither 
 can it be expected to be sufficient in using it. In the 
 case of each section of the scale then some device 
 is employed to emphasize or even exaggerate the 
 characteristic to which attention is to be given. 
 
 Furthermore it cannot be too strongly asserted 
 that the analysis of the excellencies or defects of 
 writing cannot be satisfactorily made except by 
 one who has had some practice in the matter and 
 who has made himself familiar with the charac- 
 teristic differences which are to be found. The 
 unpracticed observer in this as in other fields 
 simply does not see the differences which must 
 be taken into account. The purpose of the scale 
 which is here represented is to serve as a guide to 
 the teacher or other observer in learning to de- 
 tect differences in the elementary characteris- 
 tics of writing and to furnish him with a series of 
 numerical designations by which he may express 
 126 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 his judgments. By this means a permanent 
 record may be made of the judgments which 
 are passed, and they may be compared with 
 judgments passed upon other specimens. 
 
 Uniformity of slant 
 
 To return to the category uniformity of slant. 
 By reference to Chart i in the Appendix it will be 
 seen that three degrees of uniformity are repre- 
 sented. In order to make prominent the feature 
 which is to be estimated lines are drawn parallel 
 to the down strokes of the two or more space let- 
 ters, which may be used as the basis for the judg- 
 ment. The amount in degrees of the deviation 
 from uniformity as expressed by the average 
 deviation is given in the column to the left of 
 each specimen under the caption M. V. The 
 judgment upon a specimen should be recorded 
 in terms of the rank which seems most closely to 
 correspond to it in the scale. It will be noticed 
 that the amount of difference between ranks i 
 and 3 is greater than that between ranks 3 and 
 5. The reason for this difference is that it is pre- 
 sumably easier to distinguish differences in vari- 
 ability when the uniformity is high than when 
 it is low. The same assumption is made in the 
 case of uniformity of alinement. 
 127 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 In order to render the judgment of the uni- 
 formity of slant in the specimen to be graded 
 easier, in somewhat the fashion that comparison 
 of the specimens in the scale is facilitated, the lines 
 of Fig. 13, page 151, may be traced on a sheet 
 of transparent paper. If the series of parallel lines 
 which most nearly resemble the slant of the 
 writing to be judged is placed above the writing, 
 the degree of deviation can be estimated by com- 
 parison with the standard lines. 
 
 Uniformity of alinement 
 
 Uniformity of alinement is represented in Chart 
 II. Uniformity is measured with reference to the 
 tops and bottoms of the one-space letters. The 
 degree of deviation was calculated on the basis 
 of the average deviation in the distance of these 
 points from a straight base line. As in the case 
 of uniformity of slant, guide lines are drawn to 
 make it easier to detect the amount of deviation. 
 A guide line is also supplied in Fig. 13, which 
 when traced may be placed over the specimen to 
 be judged. As in the case of uniformity of slant 
 the judgment should be recorded in terms of the 
 rank of the corresponding specimen in the chart. 
 
 A difficulty arises in judging uniformity of aline- 
 ment due to the fact that deviations are more 
 128 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 striking when the letters are close together than 
 when they are spread farther apart. This may be 
 seen by comparing the specimens of rank 2, both 
 of which have the same average deviation. The 
 use of a guide line overcomes the dif&culty to 
 some extent, but not wholly. It must also be con- 
 sciously guarded against. 
 
 Quality of the line or stroke 
 
 A third important characteristic of writing is 
 the quality of the line or stroke by which the 
 letters are produced. The stroke may be smooth, 
 firm, and even; or it may be tremulous, weak, and 
 irregular. The one kind of stroke inevitably sug- 
 gests a smoothly flowing, free, and regular move- 
 ment, and the other an uneven, jerky, cramped 
 movement. The differences, however, are not 
 always easy to detect, and in order to make them 
 more evident portions of each specimen in the 
 chart (Chart iii) are enlarged. After the enlarged 
 records have been examined the irregularities 
 may be made out in the originals. If further as- 
 sistance in grading is desired the writing on the 
 specimens to be graded may be enlarged by 
 means of a reading glass. 
 
 The quality of the stroke is important not only 
 for what it indicates of the character of the move- 
 129 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 ment but also because it affects the beauty, and 
 to some degree the legibility, of the writing itself. 
 
 Excellence in the qualities of uniformity and 
 character of the line is based chiefly on the pos- 
 session of a well-coordinated writing movement, 
 and deficiencies in these regards are to be over- 
 come largely through the acquirement of an easy, 
 fluent, regular movement. That is, mistakes in 
 these matters are to be corrected more by atten- 
 tion to the movement than by fixing attention 
 directly on the writing itself. Irregularities in 
 slant, for example, are due to the fact that in 
 making succeeding strokes the hand or arm is not 
 in the same position. Sometimes the variations 
 in position and the accompanying shifts in slant 
 occur frequently and at irregular intervals; and 
 sometimes the slant is uniform for a number of 
 words, or even lines, and then there is a sudden 
 change. There is also one other type of change 
 in slant which is due, paradoxically, not to a 
 change in the manner of holding the hand or 
 arm, but to the maintenance of the same position. 
 This is the increased slant which occurs at the 
 end of the line. This type of variation was dis- 
 cussed in a former chapter. 
 
 We have next to consider two features of writ- 
 ing which are not so immediately related to the 
 130 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 character of the writing movement. That is, 
 their development is brought about not so much 
 by giving attention to the perfection of the move- 
 ment as by giving direct attention to the letters 
 and words which are produced by the movement. 
 The two features which come imder this head are 
 letter formation and spacing. 
 
 That there are these two classes of qualities in 
 writing, one of which is to be developed by giving 
 attention to the movement and the other by con- 
 sidering the character of the written product, is 
 not always recognized. Some would trust for the 
 amehoration of all writing evils to the develop- 
 ment of the right sort of movement, while others 
 would allow movement to develop in a hit or 
 miss manner in the process of trying to pro- 
 duce well-formed letters. The distinction here 
 drawn implies that neither of these methods by 
 itself is adequate. 
 
 Letter formation 
 Letter formation is the matter to which the 
 child's attention has been chiefly directed in the 
 traditional methods of teaching. It still is of 
 more importance than any other one feature, and 
 we shall express this superior importance by giv- 
 ing it double weight in the final score. Hence in 
 131 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 Chart IV the three ranks which are represented 
 are designated 2,6, and 10 instead of 1,3, and 5, 
 and the intermediate ranks should be numbered 
 4 and 8 instead of 2 and 4. This increased weight 
 given to letter formation is justified by the fact 
 that the form of the letters is the fundamental 
 basis of legibility. 
 
 The task of grading letter formation presents 
 peculiar difficulties which are due to the confu- 
 sion between fundamental and universal features 
 of the form of a letter and those features which 
 are peculiar to a particular style of alphabet. 
 Thus, for example, in some copies which are set 
 up as a standard the second up stroke of the m or 
 n leaves the preceding down stroke immediately, 
 while in other styles it follows the down stroke 
 for half or more of the way up. Now it seems 
 obvious that in any method which is to be used in 
 judging any style of writing, as is the case with 
 this method, only those characteristics of the let- 
 ters which are universal and essential must be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 One principle at least is clear as governing 
 letter formation. No letter should vary from its 
 conventional form in such a way that it is likely 
 to be confused with another letter or to lose its 
 characteristic form. It is not always easy to de- 
 132 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 termine whether a particular deviation from the 
 conventional form is detrimental to the ease 
 with which the writing can be read or not. In 
 general we may put the burden of proof on the 
 person who makes the deviation, and if there 
 is doubt incline to the view that the deviation 
 should be discouraged. There are many devia- 
 tions, however, which clearly do not render the 
 writing less legible and it is pedantry to seek to 
 prevent them. Every adult writer who uses his 
 pen much falls into ways of making the letters 
 which are more or less peculiar to himself, and 
 there is no reason why children should not be 
 allowed the same privilege provided they do not 
 shift too often from one style to another. 
 
 The figure on page 135 (Fig. 9) illustrates a 
 large number of typical errors arranged accord- 
 ing to the order of the letters in the alphabet. A 
 number of common principles may also be traced 
 among groups of letters. 
 
 A frequent fault which is common to a number 
 of letters consists in leaving a loop open which 
 should be closed or closing a loop which should 
 be open. This is illustrated in the specimens of 
 the letters a, dj, g, 0, q, s, and v. Sometimes the 
 legibility is seriously affected by the fact that the 
 stroke runs higher or lower than it should. This 
 ^33 
 
;THE TEACHING OF IL\XDWRITLNG 
 
 may affect only part of the letter or it may make 
 the whole letter too large or too small. Examples 
 appear in the second b, the second/, thej's, the 
 second k, the second /. the second ;:. the second Oy 
 the first g. the second y, and the :;. The confusion 
 due to size commonly occurs when the capitals 
 are made like the small letters, as in the case of 
 the .4, C, G, J/, T, 0, Q, 5. U, F, TT', X, Y, and 
 Z. (These are not shown in the figure.) Often an 
 important part of the letter is slurred over so as 
 to cause it to lose its characteristic form, as may 
 be seen in the figure in the case of letters b, h, c 
 (first specimen under /\ k. q, r. s, -li'. and y. The 
 substitution of angles for curv'es and T-ice Tcrsa is 
 illustrated in the m. the ;/. and the :/. The sub- 
 stitution of loops for return strokes along the 
 same line or the reverse is seen in the letters r, d, 
 e,J, i, and /. Sometimes a return stroke is sub- 
 stituted for an open cur\-e or an open ciir\-e for a 
 return stroke, as in the first r. and the first r. 
 Finally, a stroke may have faulty direction or be 
 misplaced, as in the second t, the first u, or the 
 .r's. or the spacing may be irregular, as between 
 the first c and the letter following it. 
 
 The chief consideration which is at the basis 
 of the foregoing analysis of errors in letter forma- 
 tion is legibiHty. The factor of beauty must also 
 
 134 
 
^^c<^-^ ^^-^/^-^ i^<^^^^ 
 
 /^ Ty^jes 0/ illegible forms of 
 
 ^ ^^^j^^LA^eyZyf^^ letters which are to be 
 
 counted as errors. 
 
 Figure g 
 
 Illustration of gross errors in letter formation. 
 
/ THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 be taken into account. From this point of view a 
 letter may be easily distinguishable, but may not 
 be pleasing because it does not conform to its 
 type. We should be getting on debatable ground 
 if we should attempt to choose between different 
 types of script, but it is clear that whatever t3^e 
 is used, the individual letters should conform to 
 it. In other words, the letter formation should 
 be consistent. Strokes of the same nature, for 
 example, should be made in the same way. Thus 
 the similar strokes of the /f, w, w, p; of the a, d, 
 gy and q; of the i, u, v, w, should be alike in fact 
 as well as in theory if the writing is to present 
 the most pleasing appearance. What degree of 
 excellence we should require of the average pupil 
 in the elementary school is a question to be deter- 
 mined, but it is certain that letter formation as 
 here defined is an element of writing excellence. 
 
 These two factors in letter formation taken 
 together, legibility and beauty, constitute the 
 basis of grading in this characteristic. In this, as 
 in the other characteristics, three grades of ex- 
 cellence are represented in Chart iv. The speci- 
 mens were graded independently by two methods, 
 and their final rank was determined by combin- 
 ing the results of the two methods. First, ten 
 specimens were chosen from the one hundred 
 136 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 which had been ranked by the twenty-three 
 judges so as to represent approximately equal 
 intervals. Then these ten specimens were ranked 
 by a method of detailed analysis of each letter 
 in which the faults of each stroke were counted.^ 
 These faults are indicated on the chart by small 
 arrowheads. The results of the two methods 
 were expressed in terms of percentage and aver- 
 aged. The average percentages, based on a range 
 of o to I GO, are given in the column at the left 
 of the specimens. It will be seen that the gross 
 errors illustrated in Fig. 9 are relatively infre- 
 quent in the specimens of the scale. They occur 
 only in the most careless writing, and in order to 
 distinguish any but the lowest degrees of excel- 
 lence we must employ the more minute analysis 
 such as is illustrated in the chart. 
 
 Spacing 
 
 There remains a fifth feature of writing which 
 has a very important bearing on its quality, 
 both from the point of view of legibility and of 
 beauty, and that is spacing. We may confine 
 
 1 This work was done by Mr. R. R. Simpkins, of the State 
 Normal School at Macomb, Illinois, whose service the writer 
 gratefully acknowledges. Mr. Simpkins used a system of mark- 
 ing devised by himself. 
 
THE TEACHING OE HANDWRITING 
 
 our attention to spacing between letters and be- 
 tween words, although the space between lines 
 is also of great importance. Line spacing, how- 
 ever, is usually determined for the child by the 
 fact that he writes on lined paper. Furthermore, 
 while crowding the lines together is a serious 
 fault, it is not difficult to correct. 
 
 The three faults in spacing between letters and 
 words which are of importance are first crowding 
 the letters, second, spreading them too far apart, 
 and third, crowding the words. The fourth possi- 
 bility, that of spreading the words too far apart, 
 is not so frequently found, nor does it seriously 
 detract from the quality of the writing. These 
 faults may exist alone or singly. To illustrate them 
 a scale, Chart v, has been artificially made by 
 constructing specimens in which the spacing is 
 correct, or in which faults of spacing exist singly 
 or in combination. Those specimens which have 
 one fault are placed in the middle rank and 
 those which have two are placed in the lowest 
 rank. 
 
 The correct spacing for three different styles of 
 writing was first found in the following manner. 
 Fifteen persons were asked to judge what spacing 
 between the letters and words in the specimens 
 was most pleasing. The spacing was varied by 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 a device which need not be described here. The 
 median of their judgments was then taken as 
 the most satisfactory spacing. Variations in the 
 spacing of these specimens were then artificially 
 produced by the use of tracing paper and in 
 this way the specimens of ranks 3 and i were 
 produced. The representation of these various 
 possible variations from the standard serves as 
 a guide in discovering the kinds and degrees or 
 variations in the samples to be judged and makes 
 it possible to give them an appropriate rank. 
 
 When a specimen has been given a rank in 
 each of the five characteristics a total grade may 
 be given it by adding the individual measures. 
 This gives equal weight to the different charac- 
 teristics except letter formation, and until we 
 have further evidence than is now at our com- 
 mand regarding their relative importance this is 
 the best we can do. 
 
 Grading a specimen for illustration 
 
 The procedure of grading a specimen of writing 
 by means of the scale may be made clear by 
 grading the sample specimen shown in Fig. 10. 
 The slant of this specimen is rather variable. It 
 grades not over 3. Uniformity of alinement is 
 also very low. See for example the variation in 
 139 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 the words sweet and land. The specimen deserves 
 but rank 2 in this characteristic. QuaHty of line 
 is equally poor and receives also rank 2. The 
 formation of the letters is better, though it is 
 affected by the irregularities which have been 
 already noted. We may grade letter formation 
 by the middle rank, 6. Spacing is the strongest 
 point of the specimen and deserves a rank of 4. 
 The rank of the paper then is: Uniformity of 
 slant, 3; uniformity of alinement, 2; quality of 
 line, 2; letter formation, 6; and spacing, 4; total, 
 17. It is clear from this analysis what the chief 
 trouble with this specimen is. It grades low in 
 those characteristics which depend primarily on 
 the character of the writing movement and 
 higher in those characteristics which depend 
 more on the recognition of the form of the written 
 words. What this pupil needs is the acquisition 
 of a smooth, well-coordinated movement. 
 J The fundamental aim of this scale is to assist 
 the teacher to pick out and to designate in nu- 
 merical terms the degrees of excellence of each 
 pupil's writing. It is primarily for the use of the 
 teacher. The teacher has to lead the pupil to a 
 correction of his faults, not merely to tell him 
 how bad his writing is. The teacher must there- 
 fore be able to discriminate one kind of fault 
 140 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 from another. She must also be able to keep a 
 record of the pupil's advancement, not merely in 
 a general way, but also in respect to the various 
 elements of his performance. The time is coming 
 when the pupil will have definite standards of 
 attainment set up before him and when his prog- 
 ress toward those standards will be carefully 
 recorded and revealed to him. Probably also 
 when the pupil has reached the standard of 
 attainment in a particular branch he will be 
 relieved of further work in that line, regardless of 
 the grade he may happen to be in. The necessary 
 preliminary to this condition is the possession of 
 means of definitely determining in a discriminat- 
 ing way what the pupiFs attainment is. To serve 
 such a purpose for writing is the aim of this scale. 
 
 Standards of attainment 
 
 The pupil's progress and his ultimate attain- 
 ment should be judged, then, not on the basis of 
 the comparison of his work with that of his class- 
 mates, but rather by a comparison of his work 
 with a standard of achievement. It therefore 
 becomes necessary to determine upon a standard 
 which can reasonably be required. If such a 
 standard is necessary for the rational grading and 
 promotion of the individual pupil, it is still more 
 142 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 obviously required for the purpose of judging the 
 efficiency of teachers or the value of particular 
 methods of teaching. 
 
 For the determination of a rational standard 
 of achievement in writing in the grades, several 
 inter-related factors must be taken into account. 
 In the first place, we must know what are the 
 limits of attainment of ordinary pupils of various 
 grades or ages under the best teaching to be 
 found. If we have reason to conclude that the 
 maximum of attainment possible is nowhere 
 reached, we may perhaps place the standard 
 above anything that is actually found. We are 
 never justified, however, in placing the standard 
 below what has been actually attained and has 
 therefore been proven to be possible of attain- 
 ment. The average of attainment in the public 
 schools in general cannot therefore be regarded 
 as a vaKd standard. 
 
 This principle of maximum attainment pos- 
 sible maybe applied to a comparison of lower and 
 higher grades as well as of different schools or 
 systems. In this connection, it may be stated 
 thus: the maximum attainment in any grade is 
 to be taken into account in judging the attain- 
 ment of the succeeding grades. In other words, 
 every grade may reasonably be expected to reach 
 
 143 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 a higher standard of attainment than the preced- 
 ing grade. 
 
 The second general principle which must be 
 taken into account in setting up standards is that 
 the value of any particular degree of attainment 
 must be judged in relation to the amount of teach- 
 ing and learning time which is required in order to 
 reach it. In this connection, we must consider par- 
 ticularly the law of diminishing returns in prac- 
 tice. After a certain amount of time has been 
 spent on practice, the expenditure of additional 
 time does not result in a proportionate gain in 
 efficiency. A slight superiority in attainment in 
 writing which is purchased by the expenditure 
 of a large amount of extra time is not profitable 
 unless such superiority is found to be essential. 
 
 This brings us to the third principle, which is 
 that the amount of time which it is worth while 
 to spend and the degree of efficiency which it is 
 worth while to attain is to be judged in view of 
 the social demand for this particular product of 
 education in comparison with the demand for 
 other products. This social demand must, of 
 course, be viewed in the broadest way and must 
 not be confined to the narrow industrial or com- 
 mercial demand. 
 
 We have not yet sufficient data for a complete 
 144 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 application of these principles to writing/ but 
 they may serve to guide us in setting up tentative 
 standards. The best results for our purpose 
 which have been published have been attained 
 
 ality 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5iuiiitj-— 
 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 School A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 bo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Speed- 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 / 
 
 i^ 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y1- 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ..-^ 
 
 -A 
 
 ..^^ 
 
 bb 
 
 
 
 r,w^ 
 
 n- 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 x^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 // 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 ..• 
 
 :>■ 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 '\ 
 
 ._- 
 
 
 
 '■" 
 
 --- 
 
 
 
 4S 
 
 
 
 
 
 y^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 c^/ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ao 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 '-- 
 
 ■'"' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sfjeed 
 100 
 
 Grade IB lA 2B 2A 3B «A 4B 4A 6B 5A 6B oA 7B 7A 8B 8A 
 
 Figure ii 
 
 by the schools in Connersville, Indiana, as re- 
 ported by Superintendent Wilson.^ The data are 
 presented graphically in the accompanying chart 
 (Fig. ii). 
 The two dotted lines marked quality and speed 
 
 1 The writer is now engaged in an investigation for the Com- 
 mittee on Economy of Time of the Department of Superin- 
 tendence which will give more detailed facts on which to base 
 conclusions. The results will be published in the 19 15 Year- 
 book of the National Society for the Study of Education. 
 
 2 G. M. Wilson, "The Handwriting of School Children," 
 Elementary School Teacher, 191 1, vol. xi, pp. 540-43- 
 
 145. 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 represent the attainment of the various grades in 
 the first test given. Quality, which has been put 
 in terms of the Ayers Scale/ is to be read by 
 reference to the figures on the left margin and 
 speed in terms of letters per minute by reference 
 to the figures at the right. After the test an effort 
 was made to improve the writing, particularly in 
 speed. The result of the effort is presented for 
 grade 6A, and is indicated on the chart by the 
 horizontal strokes on the column for grade 6A 
 marked "quality" and *' speed." The heavy 
 black line running diagonally across the chart 
 represents a proposed tentative standard and 
 may be discussed on the basis of the principles 
 and facts which have been presented. 
 
 With the data at hand we can apply most com- 
 pletely the first principle which is concerned with 
 the best attainment to be found. It will be seen 
 that the school system represented in the chart 
 comes up to the tentative standard as far as 
 grade 4A, if we strike an average between speed 
 and quality. The speed in the case is obviously 
 too slow and raising it would probably bring 
 down the quality in these lower grades. Above 
 grade 4A the actual performance in the first test 
 
 1 L. P. Ayers, A Scale for Measuring the Handwriting of 
 School Children. Russell Sage Foundation Publications no. 113. 
 
 146 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 is below the standard, but in grade 6B the stand- 
 ard is almost reached. Beyond this grade no 
 progress was made. That this condition, which 
 violates the general principle laid down above, is 
 unnecessary is shown by the great improvement 
 which was made after the test in both speed and 
 quaHty by grade 6A, which brought this grade 
 considerably above the standard. It is reason- 
 able to suppose that the other grades could do 
 proportionately as well. 
 
 The objection may be made that while the 
 standard laid down, which requires the ability 
 to write one hundred letters a minute with a 
 quality equivalent to grade 70 on the Ayers Scale 
 at the conclusion of the eighth grade, is possible 
 of attainment, such a degree of attainment is not 
 worth the effort necessary to reach it. We do not 
 know the time which was spent in teaching writ- 
 ing in the school system under consideration, 
 but there is no reason to think that it exceeded 
 the average, which is about fifteen minutes a day. 
 For many occupations certainly the standard is 
 not merely not high, but it is low. Thus for 
 the clerk, the bookkeeper, the agent or superin- 
 tendent who must make out reports, the small 
 business or professional man who writes his own 
 letters, the teacher, etc., a fluent and legible 
 147 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 style of writing is essential. What proportion of 
 eighth-grade graduates enter these occupations, 
 we do not know, but some estimate can be made 
 for the larger cities from a table compiled by 
 Ayers.^ He found that thirty-four per cent of 
 the fathers of elementary school children were 
 classed as clerks and salesmen, managers, super- 
 intendents and proprietors, and professional and 
 financial workers. In addition, forty per cent 
 were classed as artisans and industrial foremen, 
 and a large number of these should be able to 
 write well. Furthermore, the pupils who enter 
 high school, who form thirty-five per cent of the 
 school population according to Strayer's estimate 
 in the article on "Retardation and Elimination" 
 in the Cyclopedia of Education, have much use 
 for rapid and legible writing. 
 
 It should not be inferred from the preceding 
 discussion that the eighth-grade standard as set 
 forth above represents either very good or very 
 rapid writing. A glance at the specimens of 
 grade 70 on the Ayers Scale will convince the 
 reader that the form is not excessively good. 
 That the rate of 100 letters a minute is not exces- 
 sive for the eighth grade is shown by the fact 
 
 1 L. P. Ayers, "Factors affecting Industrial Education," 
 Elementary School Teacher j 1914, vol. xiv, pp. 313-18. 
 
 148 
 
STANDARDS FOR HANDWRITING 
 
 that the sixth grade of one school which the 
 writer investigated wrote at the average rate of 
 114 letters a minute without falling below the 
 average in quality. 
 
 The discussion of standards thus far has been 
 in terms of the Ayers Scale, since the measure- 
 ments have been made in terms of either this or 
 the Thorndike Scale. ^ For the convenience of 
 those who may use the scale described in this 
 book for teaching purposes, and who may wish to 
 use the results which are obtained with it to com- 
 pare their grade or school with the standard, a 
 second standard has been worked out in terms 
 of the analytical scale described in this chapter 
 which is approximately equivalent to the stand- 
 ard presented above. (See Fig. 12). The equiva- 
 lence of the two standards was worked out by 
 grading the same set of papers by the two scales. 
 
 The way in which an absolute standard of 
 attainment such as is here set forth may be used 
 in the grading and promotion of individual pupils 
 has already been incidentally suggested. Every 
 test of the ability of pupils in handwriting brings 
 out the fact of a large amount of overlapping of 
 the successive grades. Many children are supe- 
 
 1 E. L. Thorndike, "Handwriting," Teachers College Record^ 
 igio, vol. IX, no. 2. 
 
 149 
 
THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 rior in attainment to the average of attainment of 
 several grades above them. If the children were 
 given an additional incentive to improvement by 
 
 Liality 
 
 (analytical scale ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Speed 
 100 
 
 90 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 40 
 
 80 
 
 a3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y^ 
 
 y^ 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y^ 
 
 y^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 y^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grad 
 
 B IB lA 2B 2A SB 3A 4B 4A 5B 6A 6B 6A IB 7A SB 8A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fi 
 
 GIT 
 
 RE 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 being granted exemption from the writing lesson 
 or promotion to a higher grade in writing as soon 
 as they had attained the standard of the second 
 grade above them, many of them would soon, in 
 all probability, attain this degree of efficiency. 
 We can do no more here than suggest the possi- 
 bilities of this type of application of an educa- 
 tional standard in solving the problem of waste 
 in education. The suggested solution rests upon 
 the practice, first, of setting up definite standards 
 of attainment, and, second, of furnishing the pupil 
 adequate incentives to come up to the standards. 
 
 150 
 
I 
 
 1 
 
OUTLINE 
 
 I. THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 
 
 1. Handwriting a new form of expression ... i 
 
 2. The teaching problem centers in the writing 
 movement 2 
 
 3. An artificial product of training rather than an 
 instinctive activity 3 
 
 4. Psychology, physiology, and hygiene involved . 4 
 
 II. THE CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT 
 OF THE WRITING PROCESS 
 
 1. The writing act is complex 8 
 
 2. The movement is composed of a variety of ele- 
 mentary movements 9 
 
 3. Writing also involves control sensations and 
 language ideas 19 
 
 4. How the mental process becomes simplified 
 through practice 21 
 
 5. The movement becomes organized with practice 25 
 
 6. As the movement becomes organized the atten- 
 tion comes to comprehend larger units ... 27 
 
 7. Learning to write is conditioned partly by the 
 stages of development at different ages ... 29 
 
 153 
 
OUTLINE 
 
 III. THE PSYCHOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF 
 WRITING 
 
 1. The requirements of good posture and their con- 
 sequences for writing 32 
 
 2. Requirements of hygiene of the eyes . . . . 41 
 
 3. The hygiene of movement 45 
 
 4. Writer's cnamp 52 
 
 IV. THE TEACHING OF HANDWRITING 
 
 1. Correct form in the writing movement ... 56 
 
 2. Penholding 57 
 
 3. Position of the arm 62 
 
 4. Learning to execute the movement : the trial and 
 success method 64 
 
 5. The need of many repetitions 66 
 
 6. The necessity of attention 67 
 
 7. Incentives to attention should be chiefly intrinsic 69 
 
 8. Analysis of defects in WTiting and their causes, 
 
 in use by Principal Reavis 72 
 
 9. Length and frequency of periods of practice . 73 
 
 10. Imitation of a person writing better than imita- 
 tion of a copy merely 74 
 
 11. The special methods adapted to different grades 77 
 
 12. Handwriting in the primary grades .... 78 
 
 a. When the beginner may be taught .... 78 
 
 b. His writing should be very large .... 80 
 
 c. He should write with the arm as a whole . 80 
 
 d. Appropriate standards of size, speed, and ac- 
 curacy 82 
 
 154 
 
OUTLINE 
 
 e. The requirement as to speed 83 
 
 /. The standards of speed and accuracy must ad- 
 vance together 85 
 
 g. Writing should have meaning to the child 
 
 from the beginning 87 
 
 h. The words and sentences should present pro- 
 gressive difficulties 87 
 
 i. The value of formal drill 88 
 
 j. Individuals vary in capacity and needs . . 89 
 k. What may be required by the end of the third 
 
 year 90 
 
 13. Handwriting in the intermediate grades ... 90 
 
 a. The best type of movement 91 
 
 h. Position of the paper and of the arm, and 
 
 slant 96 
 
 c. Movement drill 99 
 
 d. Rhythm and counting 104 
 
 e. Letter groups on the basis of movement . . 106 
 
 /. Organization of exercises 109 
 
 g. Style of alphabet in 
 
 14. Handwriting in the grammar grades . . . .113 
 a. Prevent the pupil from falling into bad habits 113 
 h. Increase the efficiency of his habit . . . .113 
 
 c. Make it completely automatic 114 
 
 (i) Avoid continual experimenting with the 
 
 style of writing 114 
 
 (2) Use one style in both writing lessons and 
 
 other school work 115 
 
 d. The method of meeting these demands . .115 
 
 155 
 
OUTLINE 
 
 V. AIMS AND STANDARDS FOR 
 HANDWRITING 
 
 1. The qualities of excellence in handwriting . .118 
 
 2. Speed and its measurement 119 
 
 3. The quality of the written product . . . .122 
 
 4. Uniformity 123 
 
 5. The charts for grading uniformity and other 
 characteristics 124 
 
 6. Uniformity of slant 127 
 
 7. Uniformity of alinement 128 
 
 8. Quality of the line or stroke 129 
 
 9. Letter formation 131 
 
 10. Spacing 137 
 
 11. Grading a specimen for illustration 139 
 
 12. Standards of attainment 142 
 
APPENDIX 
 
^ 
 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
Chart I, 
 
 Uniformity of Slant 
 
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4 
 
 i^. 
 
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 r ^^ ^^h^ \y J^^ y^ ^[y/ f ^// 
 
 
Chart II. 
 
 Uniformity of Alinement 
 
 
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 ^ ^ 
 
 ./4rlW>u, ay 
 
 
 
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mod 
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Chart III. 
 
 Quality of Line 
 
 5< 
 
 r^~ 
 
 UJynjLAjL^ 
 
 
 3 \ 
 
 Cy(^ ^^?_.L-c^^^-t:^^ 
 
 
 
 G.^^JruiAm.^^-rnf^(^\^ CUj^lcAyA^ 
 
 in the reproduction of tliis chart the lines have become smoother. This luodittcation is particularly marked in the case of 
 Lie pooS specimens. In using- the chart, therefore, an allowance should he made tor this tact. 
 
Chart IV. 
 
 Letter Formation 
 
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 ^^ 
 
 
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Chart V. 
 
 Spacing 
 
 
 
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