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Interesting reference to adulthood. > ... The moment you graduated from a pencil or ballpoint, to a pen you knew you were no longer a child ... When I was gro

Interesting reference to adulthood. > ... The moment you graduated from a pencil or ballpoint, to a pen you knew you were no longer a child ... When I was growing up, we started with pencil, moved to fountain pens (the one with the cartridges & tiny glass balls), then graduated to ballpoint. A cultural difference.

bad_extension 6y ago
In my country it generally works the same (as writing with fountain pen is enfoced in primary schools), but after "ballpoint" phase during college some people go back to fountain pens, as they are seen as more classy and elegent writing tool.
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  Which country is that? My experience, and that of my kids (in USA) is that pencil is used through high school for daily work. When I was in school, final drafts of essays or other papers could be in ink or typed. Math and science was always done in pencil. Today, pretty much everything written is submitted by computer. Kids can barely print legibly, forget about cursive writing or any care for penmanship.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - zwirbl 6y ago
    Pencils are not valid for most (all?) exams in the kindof high school I went to and definitely not valid in university exams (in Austria). It's just too easy to fake afterwards
- luplex 6y ago
  This is what I see in Germany. A few people stuck with fountain pens thorough high school, but I think moist people switched to ballpoint or fineliners. I don't have a particularly nice handwriting, and a fountain pen would not help with that. So it's not worth the fuss.
safog 6y ago
That's surprising for me - my memory of it was that ball points were just plain safer as a 3rd / 4th grade kid using them. Fountain pens on the other hand were expensive, messy (they can leak in your pocket, you have to refill them with ink, the nibs might need replacing) and just plain hard to use in general. I think I got my first fountain pen in high school - one of those landmark dad / son moment along with things like learning how to shave etc.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  I grew up in the US in the 90s and 00s, and I only used pencils and ballpoint pens. I've never used a fountain pen, I don't even think I've seen one outside of a display case of a fancy pen shop. I'm also pretty sure I can now only write a paragraph or two before my hand starts cramping up.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    > I'm also pretty sure I can now only write a paragraph or two before my hand starts cramping up. This was actually a nice thing about picking up a fountain pen to write with. The ink flows without you applying pressure (or significant pressure) to the page, and you learn to let the pen mostly rest in place in your hand. If you're gripping it tightly, you're probably holding it wrong. I've written dozens of pages at a time with a fountain pen and never felt much hand strain, in contrast to how I often felt with other pens and pencils. Though since learning to hold a pen properly with the fountain pen, I've become better with those as well Except for cheap ballpoints, they suck.
  - OldHand2018 6y ago
    I’m about 3 years into an experiment in which I try to determine if fountain pens can reduce waste and be less expensive overall. This is the first time I’ve ever used fountain pens and am finding that success is likely, with the side effect of increased writing enjoyment. I bought a Lamy Safari and a Pilot Metropolitan with refillable tanks. These are “cheap” pens. Funny thing - I once was cleaning one of the pens in the sink at work and a colleague noticed, and happily told me of his happy memories with fountains pens growing up in India. There were a few others in the room who heard and started a conversation about childhood, school, and especially the anxiety of school exams with their fountain pens. It was a real treat.
gerdesj 6y ago
We use goose quills in the UK. No we don't! I'm 50ish and I started with a pencil and moved up to a variety of pens later. My prep school (that's a UK private school for 13-16) encouraged pretty much anything that made a neat mark on the page. The Head who later retired to Bursar was a massive fan of fibre tips - less blotting I suppose - how progressive. I should point out that corporal punishment (ie cane/belt/backboard rubber) was still legal back then, not so progressive 8) Everyone had a fountain pen or two. Generally cartridge type but some used a bladder sucker type and a bottle of Quink because it was much cheaper. We used a lot of pink blotting paper. At Rheindahlen infant school, I think we used chalk (it was pencil.) Paderborner First - probably a chisel on stone (pencil.) Those are BFES (UK military) schools and yes it was all a bit bewildering for a young child. Before 13, I went to those and Button Lane infant school in Manchester, not to mention "Jerboa" School in Soltau. I may have missed one or two out.
- hilbert42 6y ago
  "We use goose quills in the UK." Perhaps you should—perhaps we all should—when learning. The best handwriting I've ever seen was written with them. ;-) "<...>school for 13-16) encouraged pretty much anything that made a neat mark on the page." As I mentioned earlier, when I was first taught to write there was no option other than a steel-nibbed pen that we dipped into inkwells (pencils were first but only in infants' class (6 or so) and we basically only drew pictures with them). Well-behaved boys (teachers never ask girls) were chosen to mix up packets of powered ink with water. Budding young chemists like me had a ball of a time, we were excused from class to a sink near the corridor. Sometimes ink went everywhere including all over us. By 13-16 we too could use just any writing implement we wanted (presumably by then we were supposed to know what to do). Not that you'd know it, a teacher once likened my handwriting to Chinese hieroglyphics done by the wanderings of a demented spider (I'm sure that line was was wheeled out every year for especially 'problematic' kids like me.) Incidentally, I recall that on a few occasions we were given quills during our art class period to try out and they worked very well but they didn't stay 'sharp' very long (BTW, we used the ink in our normal inkwells to write with). We were shown how to cut and prepare them, this we did with single-sided GEM razor blades. I reckon today if a teacher gave 7 - 8 year olds razor blades to play with it'd be deemed child abuse. My-my, how things have changed.

bad_extension 6y ago

In my country it generally works the same (as writing with fountain pen is enfoced in primary schools), but after "ballpoint" phase during college some people go back to fountain pens, as they are seen as more classy and elegent writing tool.

throwawayboise 6y ago
Which country is that? My experience, and that of my kids (in USA) is that pencil is used through high school for daily work. When I was in school, final drafts of essays or other papers could be in ink or typed. Math and science was always done in pencil. Today, pretty much everything written is submitted by computer. Kids can barely print legibly, forget about cursive writing or any care for penmanship.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- zwirbl 6y ago
  Pencils are not valid for most (all?) exams in the kindof high school I went to and definitely not valid in university exams (in Austria). It's just too easy to fake afterwards
luplex 6y ago
This is what I see in Germany. A few people stuck with fountain pens thorough high school, but I think moist people switched to ballpoint or fineliners. I don't have a particularly nice handwriting, and a fountain pen would not help with that. So it's not worth the fuss.

safog 6y ago

That's surprising for me - my memory of it was that ball points were just plain safer as a 3rd / 4th grade kid using them. Fountain pens on the other hand were expensive, messy (they can leak in your pocket, you have to refill them with ink, the nibs might need replacing) and just plain hard to use in general. I think I got my first fountain pen in high school - one of those landmark dad / son moment along with things like learning how to shave etc.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
I grew up in the US in the 90s and 00s, and I only used pencils and ballpoint pens. I've never used a fountain pen, I don't even think I've seen one outside of a display case of a fancy pen shop. I'm also pretty sure I can now only write a paragraph or two before my hand starts cramping up.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  > I'm also pretty sure I can now only write a paragraph or two before my hand starts cramping up. This was actually a nice thing about picking up a fountain pen to write with. The ink flows without you applying pressure (or significant pressure) to the page, and you learn to let the pen mostly rest in place in your hand. If you're gripping it tightly, you're probably holding it wrong. I've written dozens of pages at a time with a fountain pen and never felt much hand strain, in contrast to how I often felt with other pens and pencils. Though since learning to hold a pen properly with the fountain pen, I've become better with those as well Except for cheap ballpoints, they suck.
- OldHand2018 6y ago
  I’m about 3 years into an experiment in which I try to determine if fountain pens can reduce waste and be less expensive overall. This is the first time I’ve ever used fountain pens and am finding that success is likely, with the side effect of increased writing enjoyment. I bought a Lamy Safari and a Pilot Metropolitan with refillable tanks. These are “cheap” pens. Funny thing - I once was cleaning one of the pens in the sink at work and a colleague noticed, and happily told me of his happy memories with fountains pens growing up in India. There were a few others in the room who heard and started a conversation about childhood, school, and especially the anxiety of school exams with their fountain pens. It was a real treat.

gerdesj 6y ago

We use goose quills in the UK. No we don't! I'm 50ish and I started with a pencil and moved up to a variety of pens later. My prep school (that's a UK private school for 13-16) encouraged pretty much anything that made a neat mark on the page. The Head who later retired to Bursar was a massive fan of fibre tips - less blotting I suppose - how progressive. I should point out that corporal punishment (ie cane/belt/backboard rubber) was still legal back then, not so progressive 8) Everyone had a fountain pen or two. Generally cartridge type but some used a bladder sucker type and a bottle of Quink because it was much cheaper. We used a lot of pink blotting paper. At Rheindahlen infant school, I think we used chalk (it was pencil.) Paderborner First - probably a chisel on stone (pencil.) Those are BFES (UK military) schools and yes it was all a bit bewildering for a young child. Before 13, I went to those and Button Lane infant school in Manchester, not to mention "Jerboa" School in Soltau. I may have missed one or two out.

hilbert42 6y ago
"We use goose quills in the UK." Perhaps you should—perhaps we all should—when learning. The best handwriting I've ever seen was written with them. ;-) "<...>school for 13-16) encouraged pretty much anything that made a neat mark on the page." As I mentioned earlier, when I was first taught to write there was no option other than a steel-nibbed pen that we dipped into inkwells (pencils were first but only in infants' class (6 or so) and we basically only drew pictures with them). Well-behaved boys (teachers never ask girls) were chosen to mix up packets of powered ink with water. Budding young chemists like me had a ball of a time, we were excused from class to a sink near the corridor. Sometimes ink went everywhere including all over us. By 13-16 we too could use just any writing implement we wanted (presumably by then we were supposed to know what to do). Not that you'd know it, a teacher once likened my handwriting to Chinese hieroglyphics done by the wanderings of a demented spider (I'm sure that line was was wheeled out every year for especially 'problematic' kids like me.) Incidentally, I recall that on a few occasions we were given quills during our art class period to try out and they worked very well but they didn't stay 'sharp' very long (BTW, we used the ink in our normal inkwells to write with). We were shown how to cut and prepare them, this we did with single-sided GEM razor blades. I reckon today if a teacher gave 7 - 8 year olds razor blades to play with it'd be deemed child abuse. My-my, how things have changed.