Stop The Prejudice Against Bad Handwriting!

I learned something a few years ago: those of us with poor handwriting are at a disadvantage to others with good handwriting. I learned this during college, where we were forced to write for 3+ hours for finals. Routinely after 1 hour, I stopped caring about the neatness of my writing and are just struggling to finish the exam in the allotted time. The result is that while I may have written the best answer in the class, I was automatically downgraded due to my poor penmanship.

How did I learn this lesson, you ask? After taking one such final exam, I received the exam back the next quarter and saw I received a "B" for the overall exam grade. My friend, who took the same class and who has much better handwriting, received an "A". However, after looking at both of our answers, I realized that my answers were more on target and his answers were lacking! After realizing how I had been shafted out of my rightful "A" grade, I took my exam to the TA and asked him to regrade it while I watched just so I could scrutinize him in the same manner in which he scrutinized me. Needless to say, under my watchful eye, I received an "A" after he regraded the exam in light of my friend's exam. Although I no longer remember any of the facts I listed on the exam, I still remember the devious lesson I learned from this dreadful experience: there is an invisible prejudice that thrives on America's soil which targets those of us with poor handwriting.

My handwriting was the product of trying to conform my naturally small writing style to a larger script, and the result was disastrous. In first and second grade, the Man wanted huge block letters and I couldn't bring myself to write "D"s or "S"s that were over an inch tall, so I shortened up my letters, didn't follow the pattern on the page, after only a few years, I developed some of the worst penmanship in my class. This penmanship stayed with me and continues to haunt me every time I scribble words onto paper. In the end, the Man would win when I received B's, C's and even D's in my classes. But now I'm fighting back.

If you're like me, you've probably been shafted by the Man, too. I was blissfully unaware that I was being discriminated against when I went through junior high, high school, and part of college. I know I'm not the smartest guy, but now that I have some perspective, I'm pretty sure I didn't deserve some of the grades I received during my academic career. If you've had similar issues, I urge you to post your stories so we can commiserate and hopefully draw more attention our plight. While we may not end chirographism today, we can strive for a better tomorrow so that our children do not have to endure the discrimination that we faced due to our own ignorance. America is about equality, and when we discriminate against people with poor penmanship, we trample upon the very foundations of freedom, including the right to poor handwriting. Unite!