THE COMMERCIAL FACTOR
We are living in a practical age. Every institution of worth points to the truth of this statement. Of every plan advanced the query comes, “Will it stand a practical test?” We are constantly experimenting with, and adopting, new methods, and those in force today may be displaced tomorrow as being behind the spirit of the time. It is only natural that the commercialization of penmanship should take place.
When a business man is asked what qualification counts most in employing clerks he is very apt to say, “Other things being equal, the good writer gets the place.” Henry Clews, the Wall Street banker, frankly states that the beginning of his successful career may be traced to good penmanship.
A letter of application for a position is not judged by school room standards, but by business standards. These two sets of standards should be in harmony. An educator of authority finds that “there is little contention as to the function the child is to serve when he becomes part of the world in which he shall eventually find himself. Our methods as practiced however, would hardly be recognized as having any foundation in the thought for future citizenship.” Think of the vast army of boys and girls who leave the elementary school at an early age to earn a livelihood. These should be given the best practical equipment.
To be sure, there are those who cite instances of great men whose handwriting is almost unreadable, and argue that point in favor of allowing all public school pupils to be poor writers. Common sense teaches us that it is unwise to burden ourselves with an unnecessary handicap.
Others will say that it is not worth while, as every one will use a typewriter upon entering the commercial world. Only a certain proportion will enter the world of commerce, and a majority of those who do enter tell us that they have as much work to do with pen or pencil as on the typewriter.
The initial drafts of the majority of all important documents are usually written with the pen. We have the word of many an author that an attempt to dictate the first draft results disastrously to the content of the manuscript. We therefore infer that in matters of importance the use of the mechanical device is not conducive to the best composition. The typewriter is of great convenience after the first draft has been revised.
THE EDUCATIONAL FACTOR
Again, would it not be vastly worth while, even for school purposes alone, to learn rapid, easy and legible hand-writing, since a majority of pupils spend nine years in the elementary and junior high schools? A good percentage finish high school and many pursue a college career for four years. What an asset good easy writing is in school and college! Every pupil owes it as a duty to himself and to his instructors to express himself legibly on paper.
Finally, while its worth cannot be fully estimated, good writing is eagerly sought and its possessor finds it ever a ready servant and valued friend. We should strive for usable knowledge. In McMurray’s How To Study we learn that “It is a part of one’s work as a student, therefore, to plan to turn one’s knowledge to some account; to plan not alone to sell it for money, but to use it in various ways in daily life.”