Handwriting and School Supplies

School has started for some, or is about to start for others. I have noticed lists of school supplies showing up in various stores, as well as in our Courier. If you have taken a few minutes to glance over these lists, you are probably amazed at what children need nowadays for school. First, one needs to realize that the suggested lists are for the year, so the amount of pencils per se are not quite so out of line. I am sure some of the young parents shopping for these items have questions as to the why some items are needed, etc., but for my generation it is really hard to set your mind to.

Remember the wide-rule Big Chief tablet, gummed at the top, that the elementary grade-schoolers took to school? Maybe a pencil and a box of crayons. When did backpacks become the required thing? I remember it being rather great if you or your parent could or would buy you a zippered three-ring binder. These binders would hold your pencils and erasers too.

Some of us had the pencil holders that would fasten into your three-ring binder. I have seen very ornate wooden pencil boxes that belonged to my parents’ generation. I wonder how those were carried to school, or what the “backpack” of that era looked like.

Remember your classroom and the chalkboard? I think every school classroom had a border or sign of some type that hung above that chalkboard that featured the alphabet in cursive, both large and small letters. How about the hours of the school year that you spent practicing cursive writing?

If you were in a small community, like many of our school districts were, you may have noticed how similar some people’s handwriting was. Do you think this might have been due to the fact that many students attended country school, had the same teacher for some years, and therefore learned the same handwriting techniques?

I will have to admit that those hours spent making loops between the lines of my tablet were wasted as my handwriting was never excellent, and I will use a typewriter or computer any day rather than resort to hand-written documents. Yes, I am grateful for the computer.