Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/74

56 subject of this Chapter is one of the first importance. What kind of Copy Books shall be employed? Are they to be Blank copying books or are they to have engraved headlines? There is almost a consensus of opinion in favour of the latter, an almost endless variety of Headline Copy-Books testifying to the superiority which in the judgment of the great mass of teachers is to be found in the books provided with these set copies, one or more on each page. Nevertheless during the past few years an agitation has been encouraged to establish the use of Blank Copying Books, and this agitation has been fanned and fostered by certain officials in the Educational Sphere who shall be nameless.

The Theory proposes that writing should be taught exclusively from the Blackboard and that children should use plain-ruled blank books instead of the Headline Copy Books hitherto in vogue. is the cry. Exception must at once be taken to this watchword phrase as it is ambiguous and delusive, because it insinuates that Blackboard teaching is as scarce an element in to-day's system and practice as the Blank Copy Books are, which is contrary to fact. Every teacher knows that Blackboard demonstration and illustration are an essential factor in existing methods of teaching writing with Headline Copy Books. Every Training College inculcates it. Every Educational Manual imperatively prescribes it, and every true teacher to the full extent of his ability and opportunity practises it. In this chapter we have not to consider the question of Blackboard instruction at all, that having been settled by universal consent long long ago, but we have to investigate the merits of