Graphology :: Handwriting School Education Essays

Graphology Introduction The belief that handwriting is a sign of the inner personality is very old. The first serious attempt to analyze handwriting seems to have been that of Camillo Baldi, an Italian scholar, who published a book on the subject in 1622. As literacy spread, handwriting analysis became popular, being practiced as an art form by such literary figures as Goethe, Poe, the Brownings and Dickens. Jean Hippolyte Michon coined the term "graphology" in 1875. Michon systematized handwriting analysis by associating hundreds of graphic signs with specific personality traits. Around the turn of the century, the French psychologist Alfred Binet performed several experiments with handwriting analysis as a device for testing personality. Binet claimed that handwriting experts could distinguish successful from unsuccessful persons with high accuracy. The German school of handwriting analysis, led by Ludwig Klages, developed a subjective and esoteric approach to graphology, and apparently never even attempted experimental verification of its claims. There is today no single theory or method that dominates graphology. The French school concentrated on isolated signs as specific indicators of personality, and the Germans sought to make subjective interpretations based on a total impression of a person's handwriting. In 1929 M. N. Bunker founded "graphoanalysis" as a compromise between these two extreme positions The language and techniques of graphoanalysis seem to be more or less the common graphological practice in the United States today. (Bunker 1971). Bunker founded the International Graphoanalysis Society, which now offers an 18-month correspondence course for analysts. The society is based in Chicago and claims 10,000 active members. The Institute of Graphological Science in Dallas also offers courses and accreditation in graphology, but it is not affiliated with the Graphoanalysis Society. Unless indicated otherwise, I will use the term "graphologist" to refer to a practitioner of any school of handwriting analysis for per sonality assessment. Graphological technique Even though there is no canonical school of graphology, some discussion of the practice may be helpful. Remember that the basic assumption underlying graphology is that handwriting is an expression of the personality; hence, a systematic analysis of the way a person forms words and letters will reveal traits of personality. The graphologists are fond of repeating, "Handwriting is brain writing." Graphologists look for such features as the slant of characters, the size of individual letters, angularity and curvature, and such non-graphic features as the pressure of upward and downward strokes. In most systems, the slant of the letters is very important.

Freedom and Equality

Although freedom and equality are values that American’s hold dear to their hearts, they are difficult to enforce to an entire nation from the perspective of the US government. Freedom was easier breaking from the colonial days to a new constitutional government, one reason was because there was less people to govern, and secondly because only first class citizens (white male) had any true freedom to do whatever they we interested in. This was the case because all men were not created equal in the eyes of the wealthy white make, obviously I am generalizing, women and African Americans had a very difficult time even asking for the right to vote in the so-called free country. This being said true equality has never been mastered by the US Government, or any other governing body for that matter. The US today is still torn over the right to marry whomever you chose. This should be a no brainer in a country that prides itself on values of freedom and equality. Throughout the history of the United States government, I believe that equality has taken strides to encompass more and more people. I believe that equality is progress, and in this case it is progressing much further than freedom has. Most recently in this last decade or so since 9/11, freedoms have been stripped from civilians in order to promote safety. Under amendments such as the Patriot Act, the Executive branch has taken certain privacy freedoms from the citizens, informing us that the reason is to protect the Land of the Free. Quite a double standard when it comes to freedom and a governing body. If the citizens were to have every freedom that they so chose, without moral consideration, than laws would not be abided and the local or National governments would not have the freedom to enforce such laws that keep society running smoothly.

The Schenck Ruling by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Charles Schenck was the general secretary of the Socialist Party in the United States. During World War I, he was arrested for creating and distributing pamphlets that urged men to assert your rights and resist being drafted to fight in the war. Schenck was charged with attempting to obstruct recruitment efforts and the draft. He was charged and convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 that stated that people could not say, print, or publish anything against the government during times of war. He appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming the law violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes The former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. He served between 1902 and 1932.  Holmes passed the bar in 1877 and started working in the field as a lawyer at a private practice.  He also contributed editorial work to the American Law Review for three years, where he subsequently lectured at Harvard and published a collection of his essays called The Common Law.  Holmes was known as the Great Dissenter at the U.S. Supreme Court due to his opposing arguments with his colleagues. Espionage Act of 1917, Section 3 Following is the pertinent section of the Espionage Act of 1917 that was used to prosecute Schenck: Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports of false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military..., shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty..., or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. Supreme Court Decision The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled unanimously against Schenck. It argued that, even though he had the right to free speech under the First Amendment during peacetime, this right to free speech was curtailed during the war if they presented a clear and present danger to the United States. It is in this decision that Holmes made his famous statement about free speech: The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. Significance of Schenck v. the United States This had a huge significance at the time. It seriously lessened the strength of the First Amendment during times of war by removing its protections of the freedom of speech when that speech could incite a criminal action (like dodging the draft). The Clear and Present Danger rule lasted until 1969. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, this test was replaced with the Imminent Lawless Action test. Excerpt from Schencks Pamphlet: Assert Your Rights In exempting clergymen and members of the Society of Friends (popularly called Quakers) from active military service the examination boards have discriminated against you. In lending tacit or silent consent to the conscription law, in neglecting to assert your rights, you are (whether knowingly or not) helping to condone and support a most infamous and insidious conspiracy to abridge and destroy the sacred and cherished rights of a free people. You are a citizen: not a subject! You delegate your power to the officers of the law to be used for your good and welfare, not against you.