I owe my legible handwriting to the drafting courses I took in high school. Before we were allowed to draw anything, we had to get a perfect score on one letter

I owe my legible handwriting to the drafting courses I took in high school. Before we were allowed to draw anything, we had to get a perfect score on one lettering assignment. It involved filling an A-size sheet (9" x 12"?) with many lines of alphabet and prose. You'd finish, walk it up to the teacher, and he'd look it over. He'd give lots of praise, find one tiny little mistake, then mark it a '9' (10 needed) and cheerfully hand it back, "Almost there!" It was weeks of this before the actual drawing started for some students. And they'd be expected to catch up to everyone else.