VERTICAL WRITING PROVED SUCCESSFUL.
Supt. B. W. Tinker, of Waterbury, Conn., says the School Journal of May 28, adds his testimony to that of other schoolmen who have given vertical writing a fair and full trial. In a recent report to his board of education he says:— Vertical writing has done a great deal to make the teaching of writing easier, and much for the pupil as well. It has given us a better position for pupils, simpler letters, done away with shading and guide lines and allows the youngest pupil to make his letters large and coarse. The youngest pupils seem to take to it naturally, and within a few months are able to write more legibly than was ever possible under the old slant. The average writing has very much improved. While under the slant we had some pupils whose writing was absolutely illegible, we have none at the present time whose writing can not be easily read. The question of speed depends very little upon the system taught, but very much upon how it is taught. Extensive speed tests taken throughout the country show that public school pupils using the vertical can, and have, written more words in a minute than professional penmen using the slant. A test taken in a large number of cities, including Omaha, Des Moines, St. Louis, and others, gave a rate of 130 letters per minute for public school children who have had vertical writing from two to five years, while the average of business colleges and professional penmen in the same cities gave an average of only 103 letters per minute.