The Oskaloosa herald., 1910-04-28


written work. Grade u on class
work in writing lesson and " on
!, written work or other subjects.
Pupils should apply the knowledge
and skill acquired during penmanship
lessons in all written work. Teach.
ers should aim to make their own let.
ter forms conform to the script in the
penmanship manual as an aid to the
pupil.
Penmanship skill is not easily &C.
quired, by the average individual; in
fact there is serious thought on the
part of the school people toward elm.
mating longhand entirely and teach
ing instead some stand shorthand sys-
tenn. The argument for this in the
main is, that longhand is laborious
and takes a great deal of time, where.
as shorthand is direct and simple as
well.
And what is more nerve-racking
than this whirling pen-point through
miles and miles of wearisome space.
making, as in that word making"
/ twenty-five strokes, when shorthand
would write it far more legibly and
Enthusiastically in three? From writer's
cramp to nervous prostration, a long
series of distressing maladies is at
trbutable to this deCrepit heirloom
from primitive ages that we set up
and worship in our school rooms
this system of writing so tedious that
it drags the pen a ten-mile circuit to
reach result one mile away; so in
accurate that in rapid writing it is
quite impossible to decipher half the
letters save by the context; and so
unscientific that letters pronounced
| in similar fashion are written quite
differently, while letters of the great
est diverslty-like and r, C and e, n
and u--are written in almost the same
way.
There will come time-may be In
my day-when shorthand will be
taught in all schools, and become the
universal medium for correspondence,
and, for aught l know, for printing.
It's advantages are so many and man.
ifest that long ago our Yankee nation
would have adopted it were it not for
an inconsistent veneration for what
has no other recommendation than it's
antiquity, and an ill-founded but al.
most universal impression of the diff
fculty of learning shorthand"
What is Movement in Writing?
Writing, which is essentially co.
ordinated movement, has to be devel.
oped through trial after trial. with
consciousness directed, not upon the
movement itself, but on the visual i'm.
ages which appear as results of the
movement. What one is training is
the movement: what one is thinking
OF is not movement at all, but visual
images When the movement be.
comes well enough trained so that one
need not have any anxiety about its
operating well, then attention is with.
| drawn in great measure from even the
visual forms. "--Genetic Phycology for
I Teachers Chapter vi, The Teachers
J, Writing Habit, Charles Hubbard Judd.
- - -
ollCS lilS OpClllhS vi iCi III
Miss Drinkle's children at Webster
school have resumed their sessions in
: the upper hall of the west wing. 1t
was found necessary during the cold
. weather to abandon this hall on &C.
,, count of the low temperature and di.
vide the day with Miss Cowan's first
. grade children. The more moderate
weather permits return to the form,
er plan. thus enabling Miss Cowan to
! have two daily sessions.
- - -
: Notes from the Ottumwa meeting:
Train children alike by treating
them differently Supt Alley
|. of Indiana. ...
r 1T ought not be necessary for, the
g teacher to watch the outside wheel
the rim of knowledge" 40 !
h I'VE spend too much time on non
i. essentials.--Supt. Heeter. st. Paul. .
Lower grades should inculcate spec
Y ific habits; authority soon questioned
d at first, rule made and allowed to bt
}. broken by the children, Is bad.-Bag
r ley, University of Ill.
l. ..l,-. .. r..-.- -. - ...
). Mr.. J. F. Riggs is seeking the offic,
t of Superintendent of Public Instruc
J. ton before the Republican Primaries
i June Z, 1910. He incorporates hi
!. platform under Ave headings as fol
n lows: s... 80 ....".'. ~.
3: There should be one simple plat
D of organization and control for al
s. public schools, The board of direct
<. ors should be chosen at large by al
I. the people of the district, the area o
y the district in towns and cities not Il
II be less than the corporate limits 0