> I was all-too-frequently chosen to go bang the chalk dust out the erasers, becoming coated from tip to toe in said dust. Our teachers had a small bucket of

> I was all-too-frequently chosen to go bang the chalk dust out the erasers, becoming coated from tip to toe in said dust. Our teachers had a small bucket of water and simply cleaned the sponges themselves, if we had to do it it was fun rather than a health hazard. > Not to mention the need for a deep cleaning of the board periodically Again wet sponge technology comes to the rescue, plus window cleaning thingies to get the blackboard to dry before the next lesson. That school was ass backwards in so many ways, but even they didn't manage to mess up using blackboards. > the moment it starts to crap out it's tossed and replaced from a backup container sitting nearby How does all that plastic compare to some colored chalk and water though? What's involved in producing colored chalk versus producing whiteboard markers? It's a honest question because I have no clue, but of course the implication is that it seems likely to me, not having looked into it at all, that chalk is way more environmentally friendly. I also think the skill ceiling for chalk, and the possible range of styles, is greater, so to speak. But I never really saw gifted whiteboard use, and did have some teachers who had beautiful handwriting on a blackboard and used little tricks to make neat graphs or images, who had a real sense of craftsmanship if not artistry about it, so I'm probably biased in the other direction.