A random question about US pencil use

[Bo Bo Olson]

'50-60's MP's were expensive; and ended up is some one's MP collection, fiddly with getting the lead in....and for a few seconds you could get a wood pencil so sharp.

At home you could take a pocket knife and get a wedge shape on a wood pencil too.

[jniforat]

as i am a college student, i can say that throughout high school and college i have only seen a handful of students use wooden number 2 pencils. most use pens, and during science / math exams, mps, specifically those cheap bic ones, are used.

[nxn96]

I've always preferred mechanical pencils over the wooden variety, although it's probably been a good 20 years since I've regularly carried a pencil. Back in my grammar school days, once we all learned cursive (in the second grade), pen use was increasingly encouraged for everything but math class. It was sort of a right of passage in school when you hit the point (no pun) that pencil usage was actually frowned upon. For me, the #2 wood pencil was for standardized tests. Once I figured out that HB mechanical pencil lead was #2 wooden pencil lead, out went the wooden pencil. A "RealThin Lead" Autopoint (.9mm in the modern parlance) got me through the ACT, SAT, CPA exam and GMAT. That pencil sits today in comfortable retirement in my "special pen" case.

 

As my major in college was Accounting, everyone had a mechanical pencil. During my years in public accounting, mostly in the days when 7, 14 & 21 column paper was how we did our work, most everyone had a Pilot or Pentel .5mm pencil. Of course, everyone had the Cross Century bp/mp set that they received as a college graduation gift, but with the .9mm lead, it looked too "mushy" on the workpapers. As a "junior auditor", you carried your Cross set in your shirt pocket; by the time you made the "senior" grade, it was more often than not sitting on a shelf at home, since it never got much use. Finding a good red mechanical pencil lead(essential for an auditor) that didn't come out looking more pink than red was something of a grail search. For the most part, most of us used a mechanical pencil for black, and a wooden pencil for red.

 

As a sidenote to the fp people, there was a Chicago CPA firm that was locally famous for insisting on pen (fp preferred, bp if you must) use for all workpapers. Their theory was that the use of ink over pencil forced people to think before they hit the paper.

 

Fast forward, I now have two children in college- one in Accounting and the other in Engineering; both are majors where one thinks a good mechanical pencil is a basic part of the "kit". Over the years, I've provided them with mechanical pencils at back to school time, only to note that they either use wood pencils or use the mechanicals as disposables as opposed to a pencil that can be re-charged with a new set of leads. Between the amount of learning/note-taking/work that is now done on a PC or on-line, I sense that having a reliable mechanical pencil is less important to students.

Edited December 20, 2010 by nxn96

[knitknitfrog]

I'm in Canada, but I see others using mechanical pencils sometimes. I prefer the regular sharpening-required pencils. Don't like those spindly leads

 

Try a 2 mm clutch pencil, same lead as in a Woodcase pencil, with the quality 'heft' of a fountain pen.

[Garageboy]

As a college Civil Engineering Student: I use Pentel Sharps,Fortes and Twist Erases. Some of my friends use the graphgear, but many use cheap disposables. Even with computers, all the quick stuff and exams are done in pencil

[fcescgb]

I am a teacher in a public school in the US. When students take tests, they are instructed to use No.2 pencils, NOT mechanical pencils. This is an instruction we read to students verbatim. Most of testing here is done by bubbling on a Scantron sheet, and mechanical pencils are not the best option for bubbling. No. 2 pencils are softer, and therefore, they are more reliable when it comes to do the grading. This is why mechanical pencils are not commonly used in the US.

Also, you would be surprised to know how many students don't even bring a pencil to class. So for the teacher, it is always cheaper to let students borrow cheap No. 2 pencils, than mechanical pencils. (When I use the word 'borrow' I am being too optimistic, because students do not usually return what they borrow)

[Jwolf24601]

Wood pencils were the only acceptable pencil in elementary school for me in the 1990s

I used Berol Mirados and bought them by the boxes because my mom didn't trust Made in China pencils (and we're Chinese :embarrassed_smile: )because some news story claimed that there was lead in Chinese Pencils

 

I too was only allowed to use wooden pencils in elementary school. Even in middleschool and highschool, some tests we were not allowed to use mechanicals, they would provide pencils.