I cannot believe that as recently as 6 years ago,
teachers believed that children should be (forcibly if necessary) right-handed.
When I was 5 (1962), I remember the teacher tying my left hand behind my back so
I could not use it. I had a very assertive mother who, when I told her what my
teacher did to me, went to see the headmistress, and this treatment stopped
immediately.
I might add, I have legible, neat and
"forward" sloping writing, also having gone from pencil writing to pen and ink,
without too many smudges! Remember those slope cards?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 12:53
PM
Subject: Re;ultrasounds
There are a few men in my family - grandfather,
uncles, who are left-handed. Maybe it is a genetic thing. I don't feel that
intellectually they are disadvantaged. It's not a disability, but it 'has'
been treated as a disability/problem in the past. Left handed children were
often labelled clumsy, slow or even stupid, when they may be highly
intelligent but lagging behind right-handers because of simple things like
trying to cope with utensils designed for right-handers and they
have different brain organization resulting in different modes of
perception. Only 8 - 20 percent of the population are left-handed. My little
boy is quite a character so I feel that it suits him to be a left-hander. Once
when someone said to him, 'Hello, how are you? He replied "I'm a left-hander".
When my eldest right-hander son was in pre-primary 6 years ago, he's teacher
believed all children should be forcibly encouraged to be right-handers. I was
young and naive and didn't give her opinion much thought. Now I'm horrified
that she wasn't able to recognise children for the gorgeous little individuals
that they are.
Lorraine Sharpe
'Goldfields Birthplace'
Kalgoorlie
WA
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