i remember a friend of mine who was left handed , this was before the days of fountain pens, the imk wells were on the right hand side of the desk and the pupil had to dip the nib into the hole and draw it out
well if you are left handed [or as the dictionary describes them sinister] it then becomes impossible to do clean tidy writing, because the ink spills across the page .
the stupid schoolmaster and stupid headmaster would not let the child use a fountain pen or biro.. an example of the prevalent sticking to rules, of schollmasters of my acquaintance , regardless of how it interfered with a left handed childs abilty to do tidy work.