The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-11-10
For the Bedford Gazette.
SCHOOL REFORM--NO.

BAD PENNANsHIP.-We are Il gen
Grafton of bad penmen. Formerly the
ability to write a beautiful hand was
earnestly striven for and highly priced:
now such an accomplishment is rarely
found. Lawyers, Doctors, Preachers
and Teachers write q hand that is re-
markable only for its irregularity and
ugliness, and think itquitegoOd enough.
Thedaysof beautiful penmanship seem
to have passed away. Such thing is
not expected now, and many even seem
to take pride in their wretched chirOg-
Taphy.
Very few pupils learn to write well
in the common schools. Hardly one
in twenty learns to write what may be
called a good hand. have not found
ten in the county who can write beau
dfM hand. This is deplOrable, but it is
the fact. The branch is generally neg
lected. instruction in it is generally
failure. The chief reasons for this
uhioftuhate condition of things are, in
my Judgment, the vhvv,,.1
/. The materials used by pupils are
of the most wretched kind. Pape z OF
the thinnest, roughest, and cheap vest
quality; pens of the cOmmonest nd
cheapest make; and ink that is not tit
/ to write with atall these are the m; T.
! terials with which boys and girls ar,
expected to write. The best penman
could hardly write a legibIe hand with
the same materials, and yet parents
wonder and grumble that their chill
dren do not write better.
,. The copies are nearly all written
by the teachers, and the teachers are
nearly all unable to write a copy that
T, is q model fit for a child to initiate.
Hence it follows that nearly all our pu-
pills are initiating models which, even
IF perfectly initiated, would only make
had penmen of them. We are aware
tttts many of our teachers Will think
these strong assertions; but we have
considered our words and mean what
we say. About thirty teachers in the
county are marked l., or within frac-
( ion OF /, in Penmanslvip, and these are
ull who, can write ii suitable model for
q pupil to initiate. The Others are he'll
ping to rear up a geners 'tion of indif-
ferent pc nmen; and they can do moth
ing else while they writ, > indifferent
copies for their pupils to in dtate.
3. The ) ame teacher seldt Nm teaches
a school two terms in Succe ssIon, nor
do any two teachers write alik, ?. Hence
the style Of writing formed by one
teacher, is broken up and al, tered by
the next. This goes on year aft, 9r year.
Pupils have 2 different model 10 imi-
tate every year, and, consequently new
er form any settled style of VIII ting,
nor learn to initiate any model well
1t follows, therefore, that even with
good materials and with teachers ali. a.
bic to write suitable models, we should
still fail to make good penmen. NO
one who tries new style of writing
every year, viii be likely to form afiX
ed and beautiful hand, however excel
lent in itself each of these styles may
be.
The remedy for all this is simple,
cheap and effectual. The idea that
teachers should write the copies has |
long ago been proved erroneous by the
most thorough tests that experience
can apply. They should not write the
copies. On the contrary, some system
OF penmanship should be adopted, and |
copy books with engraved copiesshould |
be used. The models in these are per-
feet, and they are carefully graded from
the simplest to the most difficult to suit |
all ages and grades of pupils. These
books are made of the best of paper, |
and we should thusgetrid of the wretch
ed flimsy stuff now used by a majority
of the pupils in the county. 1t is true
the books cost tritie more than poor
paper, but so little that few would
grudge il. In addition to this, let pa
rents see that their children have the
best pens and the best ink. This done,
its chief causes that have made us
generation of had penmen will have
been removed, hnda few years will i'm