Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/85

Rh an inseparable or necessarily an inherent defect of the system, but under the existing state of things we fear it is an inevitable one. For it is impossible to conceive that Head, Assistant, and Pupil Teachers shall be able to compile or write off hand series of Educative and Consecutive headlines. We would not unduly press this point of heterogeneous headlines, but no set of copy books in these days would secure any approval were this principle ignored, as must generally be the case with Blackboard Copies; so that the importance and principle of such sequential and assorted headlines are satisfactorily established by universal consent and practice.

A second minor difficulty is the position of the Blackboard in relation to the several pupils in the class. It is a fact that in many schools the light is bad, and where it is good, myopia or shortsight, that obtains so generally amongst schoolchildren, will involve us in the same embarrassment. What shall be done with these shortsighted pupils that are always to be found in every standard of an elementary School? They are at a grave disadvantage unless special provision be made for them.

Then if they are placed in the front desks, and the Blackboard is brought nearer in order to accommodate them, those in the wings will have imperfect and one-sided views of the Copy that will render it practically worthless.

Short-sighted pupils render Blank Books with exclusive Blackboard teaching very unsatisfactory if not prohibitory.

A different class of objections to this Theory may now be examined, and in order to discuss them we will assume that the classes are always supplied with Perfect Models, Uniform Models, Graded Models, and Suitable Models, so arranged that every writer in the Class commands a perfect view of the same (all of which essentials as we have seen the System utterly fails to provide). However taking these points as settled it is asked, How will the change now proposed by these Blank- Book-Theorists affect our Teachers? For good or evil? We think the latter and for substantial reasons. On the ground first that it involves too great a loss of time, or it necessitates too great a sacrifice of time.