Form is an usher to content. - Mao Tse Tung
This essay was developed to train teachers in the summer camps run by M. V. Foundation.
In the school system, the poor face a lot of difficulties. Their schools have poor resources in terms of well trained teachers, library space and the number of teachers. In such circumstances, the poor can adopt a number of valid strategies which can give them some advantage in passing examinations.
All our examinations are written examinations. So presenting oneself in the written form is an important skill. The written form has some advantages and some disadvantages. The fact that you cannot use your voice, facial expressions and body language makes the demand on the written form more severe.
On the other hand, name (usually there is just a number), caste, dress, colour, gender do not come into the picture. Very often, examiners have preconceived notions and biases about these matters, and it affects their judgment. These considerations generally do not work in favour of the poor. Thus, on the whole for the poor - in the present situation - the advantages of a written examination are more than the disadvantages. So in education, the poor must concentrate on writing regularly. Even if they have to copy answers from guidebooks, it is better than just reading them.
In the final analysis of course, real understanding of the subject is very important. However handwriting is of no less consequence. It provides the first impression. Very often, an examiner on seeing a beautifully written answer paper straight away decides that the student ought to get good marks or at least pass!
Handwriting
In improving handwriting we have to understand two things: the first - what is the purpose of writing, and second - what is good handwriting.
Writing can have many purposes. It helps us to think, clarify thoughts and communicate thoughts to others. It is the last purpose we are interested in. Our handwriting should be such that others can read it easily. It should be legible.
So what is good handwriting? It is that which serves this purpose best, that is - it is very easy to read, clear and legible.
Many children, when unsure of the spelling, deliberately write in unclear scribbles. Their, a, e and i can all look similar. However, an examiner is not fooled, and so, unclear handwriting never serves any purpose.
For legibility, the best example is the printed book. There are six elements to its high legibility.
1. The printed page has margins at the top, bottom, left and right. These are at fixed spaces in a book.
2. The lines are straight and parallel and distance between them fixed.
3. Each letter is written separately or 'printed'.
4. The distance between letters and words are fixed.
5. The inking is uniform.
6. The letters are beautifully formed and retain the same shape and size no matter how many times repeated.
Of the six elements of good handwriting four are about organising space and only two are about actual writing, i.e. about inking and about forming your letters nicely. Thus, the major part of improving legibility is to organise the spaces on the page correctly. Even if the handwriting is bad, legibility can be increased to make it almost 100% legible by organising spaces correctly.
Of course there is a need to put in efforts to improve inking and letter shapes. The first is relatively simple. Nowadays with ball pens and good quality pens it is not much of a problem. For improving shape of letters, handwriting needs to be analysed. First, ensure the relative size of alphabets i.e. the height, width are correct and uniform. Then study the individual letter. Find out which alphabets look bad. Ask friends/peers to identify and improve upon them. Then concentrate on them one letter at a time. In a few days the handwriting will improve dramatically.
Rough & Fair Work
Many people first write a "rough" work version and then copy it out to a fair version. Often in their 'rough' work they write in a hurry, in poor handwriting, short hand, do not follow any of the principles of good handwriting. Thus, their rough work looks bad, illegible; sometimes even to the author.
It pays to have neat work everywhere, including in 'rough' work. This is a good habit. If the rough work is neat, one can make corrections on it neatly and there may not be any need to copy it out again. One can 'cut' & ‘paste’ that is, cut a paragraph and paste it on a fair copy without needing to copy out the whole work.
In mathematics rough work, students often make mistakes because the work is not done neatly. On the other hand, some examiners check the rough work also and if the work is neat and method correct, near full marks are awarded even if the final answer is incorrect.
Exercises for Good Handwriting: Tips to Students
Exercise 1
Write using a ball pen.
Choose your paper or notebook with care. It should be ruled. A comfortable spacing of lines is about 8 mm or 1/3 of an inch. Draw margins. The left and top margin should be 25mm or one inch. The right and bottom margins should be 16 mm or 2/3 of an inch. Though not fixed, they should be same on all pages.
Exercise 2
Copy a page from any book or newspaper on to the page marked with margins. Check for improvement in legibility. Give it marks on a scale of 1-10. You may ask your teacher, a friend or peer to grade it. Repeat 5 times.
Exercise 3
Copy another page. This time, write each letter separately. Grade it. Repeat 5 times.
Exercise 4
Copy one page. Print each letter separately. Keep the distance between words as one letter width. Try to write each letter with uniform height and width. Repeat 5 times.
Exercise 5
By now your handwriting will have improved a great deal. Now it is time to examine which letter you write badly. Seek help to identify these letters. Choose one letter to improve. Copy it 100 times.
Copy a page from a book keeping this letter in mind. Repeat 5 times.
Exercise 6
Repeat exercise 5 with the next poor letter. Go on till you have finished with all letters.
Now compare your original paper and grade yourself finally. Congratulate yourself!
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