Schools study handwriting to understand students better
City schools are increasingly turning to graphology — the science of analysing handwriting — in order to understand the special needs of students instead of resorting to corporal punishment to discipline them.
City schools are increasingly turning to graphology — the science of analysing handwriting — in order to understand the special needs of students instead of resorting to corporal punishment to discipline them.
“Through graphology, you can’t only identify nearly 180 character traits of an individual, but even change them to some extent by changing the handwriting in a scientific manner. And this is what some topranking city schools, and even some teachers on their own, are attempting,” director of the Kolkata Institute of Graphology Mohan Bose told HT.
Bose said the institute had already trained teachers of such schools as MC Kejriwal Vidyapeeth and Laxmipat Singhania Academy. More than 30 teachers of several other top schools, including La Martiniere, Future Foundation, Assembly of God Church and DPS have undergone courses in graphology.
“We’d sent about 25 teachers from various departments and classes of our school to get them trained in graphology. They were taught how to identify certain character traits by analysing handwriting. The results have, indeed, surprised all of us,” said KK Kejriwal, managing trustee of M C Kejriwal Vidyapeeth, which has about 3,000 students.
Bose said his institute had come up with a specially tailored course spanning two and a half months to train school teachers. The course, which costs R7,000, also imparts knowledge in child psychology.
“The course covers more than 50 aspects of child psychology, including mood disorders, conflicts, social relationships, parent-child relationship, memory retention, suicidal tendencies and crime-prone behaviour, among others,” Bose added.
Bose explained that the human brain was highly malleable and could be dramatically influenced by external factors. All aspects of an individual’s experience can alter the brain circuit and induce changes in it.
“When an individual changes his handwriting in a scientific manner, as prescribed by a graphologist, and practises it regularly it reacts back to our thoughts via the same neuro-muscular path and influences the thought process. This is an age-old practice and is being exploited across the world,” Bose added.
“The use of graphology to understand the psyche of students has become all the more important and useful at a time when society’s changing very fast.
There’ve been several incidents over the past few years where students have either committed suicide or have reacted violently against their teachers when the latter tried to mend their behavoiur in a traditional manner,” said a senior teacher.