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Newspaper Article: "School brings back pens so pupils get write stuff"
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1675472006
| School brings back pens so pupils get write stuff | STEPHEN MCGINTY ) | | A PRIVATE school is insisting pupils use fountain pens, in an | attempt to save the dying art of handwriting. | | Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville junior school in Edinburgh | believes longhand is on the brink of extinction, thanks to text | messaging and computers. | | Bryan Lewis, the school's headmaster, has banned the use of | rollerball pens and pencils by pupils from P5 onwards. The school | believes that mastering stylish handwriting with a fountain pen | raises academic performance and boosts self-esteem. | | Mr Lewis believes the problem to be so acute that new staff often | have to be given lessons in how to write before entering the | classroom to teach. | | The move comes after Scottish Qualifications Agency examiners said | markers were encountering problems on exam papers due to illegible | handwriting. | | In an attempt to preserve the beauty and clarity of a well-drawn | script, Mr Lewis has insisted that all older pupils compose all | written work using a fountain pen, in which the flow of ink must be | controlled to avoid smudges. | | Mr Lewis said: "All teachers who join our junior school are taught a | handwriting style by my colleagues and they, in turn, teach all our | children the same style. | | "Learning to write in fountain pen not only results in beautiful | presentation but also has the not-insignificant bonus of developing | children's self-esteem." | | Fountain pens are regarded by many serious writers or artists to be | the best tools for writing or drawing with ink on paper. However, | they can be more expensive, harder to maintain and are more fragile | than a ballpoint pen. | | Mr Lewis believes handwriting is just one of the skills that has | suffered as a result of the "progressive" teaching approach | introduced in the 1970s. | | He added: "Modern teaching methods overwhelmed the curriculum in the | late 1970s and early 1980s. | | "They proved to be no more than an excuse for the lowering of | standards of basic literacy and numeracy under the guise of freedom | of expression. | | "From that time, generations of children were no longer taught to | write properly." | | Mr Lewis said his school was struggling to recruit teachers with a | good command of grammar, spelling and punctuation. | | He explained that most job applications he receives from young | teachers are discounted because they are littered with mistakes. | | He has now been forced to introduce refresher lessons in basic | numeracy and literacy for new teachers before they are allowed to | enter the classroom. | | Mr Lewis said: "We have some fantastic young teachers now. But some | of them will openly say that they need support from us for language | skills because they came from the era when correct English was not a | priority." | | While modern standards of handwriting have dropped as a result of | texting and e-mail, a similar problem occurred in the 16th and 17th | century when handwriting became cramped and difficult to read as | writers grew lazy on the knowledge that their finished work would be | set in type, following the invention of the printing press. | | The Headteachers' Association of Scotland believes handwriting | skills should be taught as a "priority" as soon as children begin | primary school. | | Meanwhile, the Campaign for Real Education said: "Good spelling, | handwriting, grammar and punctuation make for confident use of | language and smooth communication." -- Mark Atwood When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. http://mark.atwood.name/ http://fallenpegasus.livejournal.com/ |
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