Chapter Three
THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED SOLUTION: MUSCULAR MOVEMENT
CONSERVATION OF HEALTH A PRIME FACTOR IN THE SOLUTION
Truly, necessity is the mother of invention. At the dawn of the present commercial age, the finger movement and even the slightly improved combined movement were forced to give way to some method more rapidly executed. Whole arm movement also proved inadequate. The method that has made the commercialization of penmanship possible is that of muscular movement. By this method only are the fingers relieved from furnishing the power which should rightly come from the large muscles of the arm. Muscular movement, as applied to writing, is a rotary motion with the large muscles of the forearm for a center while the fingers, though not held rigid, are not permitted any movement of their own. This movement takes place from the shoulder, the pivotal point, with the weight of the arm resting on the desk. Muscular movement method does not emphasize prescribed forms so much as proper method of execution.
It is no special wonder that the leading educators of the day are now investigating penmanship. Changing from the slant to vertical, and now again to the slant, what is the average teacher to conclude? What shall she teach indeed if she is convinced at all regarding any system of penmanship, or is qualified to teach any method?
The person who makes practical use of penmanship, the one who uses it to help him earn his daily bread, points the way. It matters not if he calls it muscular movement or if he ever saw a penmanship teacher. Watch such a person and observe his method. Observation will reveal that practically all use what we term a muscular movement slant method. It takes the practical person only a short time to discover the method that will best conserve energy, economize time, and, above all, lead to writing which will prove readable and attractive. It is a method of such character as fulfills all necessary requirements and thus proves the useful tool.
Because we are a practical people, the public is now looking forward to results from the formal writing lesson. Teachers should expect the same degree of excellence to come from penmanship instruction as from correct teaching of mathematics, history, reading, or any other subject in the curriculum.
It has been remarked many times that commercial schools and business men have put the stamp of approval upon the muscular-movement-slant method rather than upon any other. The reason is obvious. In fact, commercial schools have been the missing link between the oft-times theoretical public school and the actual business world. Commercial schools have found it possible during their short course of six or eight months to give our elementary school pupils an asset that the public schools have failed to bestow in as many years.
With the present day crowded curriculum it has been found necessary to adopt some method by which the time consumed in the preparation of the written lessons might be shortened. Again muscular movement slant method came to the rescue, this time to the elementary school pupils.
There is a certain amount of energy available in the nervous system. Discreet use of this energy is a lesson dearly bought by many. The automatic writing habit conserves energy and prevents diffusion of effort. In writing one’s thoughts, the mind should be occupied only in rendering the thought into correct English. To be truly useful the art of writing must finally be done with the muscles and not with brain energy. That we may save any draught on the intellectual power we should be entirely unconscious of the execution of the forms.
Men are constantly at work in the business world devising schemes whereby energy and time may be economized. Cannot the schools do their share in this great scheme for the betterment of humanity? We should teach pupils an energy-saving manner of expressing themselves upon paper. How much useless nerve force is applied daily by pupils of all ages in forcing the pen along with the fingers in such a way that it is only less painful to the observer than to the performer? Why not try to assist in ending this useless waste of energy in the school world by directing a reasonable amount of energy into the correct channel? How much of our energy is misdirected daily when we should be making it our ally? We should fund and capitalize all energy, and at last live at ease upon the interest. The more details we can hand over to automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for greater work.
Children are the nation’s most valuable asset. Vision is the first faculty in order of importance. How can it be best conserved? A proper regard for the future usefulness of the eyes of the pupils requires that a departure be made from the method now prevalent of demanding so much written work. A keen observer who realizes the true nature of a child will postpone the requirement of written language and fine print reading until a time when the more delicate eye muscles are properly developed and able to stand the strain. Muscular movement writing makes conservation of vision possible because it demands first, last and always, correct posture and proper lighting.
Nearsight is frequently brought on by straining the eyes to see objects, and especially small blackboard writing, at a distance. Light shining on the board causes a glare, and when pupils are sitting so that the work on the board is seen at a trying angle the result is harmful to the eye. All work placed on the board during a penmanship demonstration, or at any other time, should be executed large enough and with lines so bold that pupils in the rear of the room may see it plainly without eye strain.
Correct posture while writing precludes a tendency toward curvature of the spine, and also saves the eyes unnecessary strain. Numberless people sit and write more hours than they walk or ride. Who would presume to question the value of correct posture while walking, in its relation to good health? We are painfully inconsistent, when the writing habit is in operation, with regard to many of the laws that make for good health.
Only as we work toward the saving of energy for ourselves and others are we keeping step with the progressives who are teaching conservation from the kitchen to forestry. Surely our aim should be the greatest accomplishment with the least expenditure of energy.
ECONOMY OF TIME A RESULT OF THE SOLUTION
Second only in importance to conserving the health by economizing energy through muscular movement is the time saving element. People who would recoil from ordinary thieving are often guilty of dishonesty of a kind that is closely akin thereto. We joke over our own poor handwriting and moan over that of our friends, yet we would be greatly startled were we actually to compute the number of priceless hours wasted every day by busy people trying to decipher illegible writing. Not only time but temper as well is destroyed. Quite as painful, only less annoying, to the economist of time is the accurately drawn script that we know consumed fully three times as much time as should have been required for its execution.
In many schools we find that the method of executing written lessons is not equal to the need. Then also, we have pupils taking several times as long as should be required for written spelling or composition. Muscular movement will reduce several fold the time necessary for all written work and the benefits will not end there, for better quality in the content will result. The pupil will be left free to dictate and the hand will obey quite unconsciously.
We constantly hear the plea, “We cannot teach writing; we have not the time.” Would it not be well to make some computations at this point? Compare a class or school that uses a good muscular movement, acquired through a formal writing lesson of from twenty to thirty minutes daily, with a class in which penmanship is hit or miss. The latter irregular habit always results in an irregular slant and finger movement. Judge then if it would not be well to teach pupils to save time. We carefully consider how to minimize waste of energy in a machine. Is the human machine of less importance?
Since penmanship is used largely as a vehicle for expression to convey the mental product to others, is it not reasonable that we employ the easiest and speediest method of transportation? It is convenient to be master of a method that can record thought as fast as the mind shapes it. The right method will aid thought, not impede it.
Henry Maxwell, as a workman, began to study the length of time he required to each part of a job. He kept a record and studied it. He then busied himself seeing where he could cut down all unnecessary strokes. He found that on a certain six hour job all but two hours and forty-seven minutes were consumed by bad planning, poor tools, and needless movements. Maxwell, as a master craftsman, is one of the all too rare people who are setting things in order. Everything can be provided more easily as a result of the work of a man like him. He opens up the possibility of leisure through the saving of labor.
Assuming that not more than five or ten minutes were saved by the pupil during each written lesson, think of the total saving per day, per week, per month, not to mention the saving of time to that same man or woman when his school life is over and school of real life begins.