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Fountain Pens In Uk Schools?


birchtine

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Yesterday, I met a parent whose daughters (8 and 9 yo) use fountain pens at school, and claimed that it's nothing unusual and that kids use them often these days. Is it really true?

Edited by birchtine
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Well, dont know about UK schools but here use of fountain pens is mandatory until one finishes high school. Ballpoint pens are allowed only in colleges and universities.

Khan M. Ilyas

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I'm not particularly fond of making anything mandatory but since I love fountain pens I pretty much like the idea. Do you think that students tend to continue using them after high school? I'd love to know the statistics. Where do you live mitto?

Edited by birchtine
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There are several threads similar.

In Italy till end of '60 a deep pen was used at school.

When I went to elementary school at early'70 we used fountain pen.

Then after few year all changed to ballpoint.

Personally I don't think it is fear to make compulsory the use of one or the other. Students should be free, as they are, to use what they prefer.

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@ birchtine.

I live in Pakistan. And yes, students rotinely use foutain pens after high school. And you see a lot of FPs being used in workplaces, too.

 

I myself cleared all the exams upto Masters using fountain pens.

Edited by mitto

Khan M. Ilyas

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Hi Birchtine, et al,

 

I'm sorry, Birchtine. :(

 

I cannot answer your question, either... being an American... but since others have been discussing their national experiences... I figured I might as well plant my flag, too. :D

 

I attended various schools in the suburban Chicago area and in Jersey, (where I came of age), between 1973 and 1986, (K-12); plus five years of college in the State of Confusion.

 

I cannot recall seeing one teacher, professor or student using a fp in all that time. Ball points were probably most common; followed by fibertips and rollerballs. Gel pens and G2's didn't exist then.

 

Mostly Bics and PaperMates with some Parker Jotters and a few Cross Centuries tossed in. Otherwise, it would be Pilot Razor Points, (the original ones with the metallic bodies and yellow plastic finials and a few Flairs, (and in the '70s, you'd see an occasional Bic Banana).

 

I hope someone from England is able to chime in and answer your question. :)

 

I was able to, thanks to gridlock; due to construction. :gaah:

 

 

- Anthony

Edited by ParkerDuofold
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Here it was pencil only until middle school, then we were to use pencil for rough drafts and pen for final papers, and then in high school we could use whatever we preferred.

 

I used mechanical pencils and pens all the way, and think I haven't written anything seriously in pencil since high school (I still use pencils for drawing).

 

Fountain pens weren't disallowed or anything, but I had never seen one in use until I started using one. I've still never actually seen someone in real life use one (other than me).

 

Most people around me either use ballpoints (of various varieties) or gel pens.

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Fountain pens are very popular with school children which they are permitted to use when the have earned their pen licence and a FP is expected to be used for schoolwork, this link explains it all a little more

 

https://www.theschoolrun.com/what-is-a-pen-licence

 

This includes being able to

  • Using a correct pencil grip
  • Writing on the line
  • Joining letters correctly
  • Starting each letter in the correct place
  • Keeping letters the same size
  • Forming letters with the correct shape
  • Leaving appropriate gaps between words
  • Ensuring that ascending and descending strokes are the right length
  • Writing clearly enough for other people to read their work

 

I suspect that some FPNers might lose their pen licence!

 

Jinhaos are popular, especially the Lamy lookalikes

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Here it was pencil only until...

This salient point slipped my mind because my focus was on pens, but this is true for me, too,... but for me it was pencils only until the Fourth Grade... when we required to have a black or blue bp. :)

 

So, in a way, I guess you could say fp's were forbidden by default or proxy; since they never appeared on our required supply lists for elementary/junior high school. This is an outrage! :o

 

- Anthony

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This salient point slipped my mind because my focus was on pens, but this is true for me, too,... but for me it was pencils only until the Fourth Grade... when we required to have a black or blue bp. :)

 

So, in a way, I guess you could say fp's were forbidden by default or proxy; since they never appeared on our required supply lists for elementary/junior high school. This is an outrage! :o

 

- Anthony

 

I'm not sure they were forbidden, just that it never occurred to anyone to use one. I remember my mom telling me how big of a mess fountain pens were, they leaked ink everywhere, were hard to use, awful things. :P

 

I neglected to mention too, after we were allowed to use either pen or pencil, we were required to use blue or black ink for our final drafts of papers to hand in.

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I suspect that some FPNers might lose their pen licence!

Yeah, and some of us never would have got one in the first place... with that system, I'd probably still be using crayons... :D

 

Still and all, I read the article and think it's a great program... I wish we did that here.

 

 

- Anthony

Edited by ParkerDuofold
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Yeah, and some of us never would have got one in the first place... with that system, I'd probably still be using crayons... :D

 

Still and all, I read the article and think it's a great program... I wish we did that here.

 

 

- Anthony

 

 

Me too...as I've said before, I taught myself to write long after I'd entered the workforce. I think school districts believe that no one writes anymore. Are we all walking around with laptops strapped to the fronts of our bodies like drummers in a marching band? I swear that's how modern day school systems envision the future.

 

It was funny, I handwrite everything I can (and type it up later if need be). I took on a rather large project and had about 1/2" thick bundle of handwritten notes. We're in a WebEx meeting, and I'm discussing what's in my notes- they ask me to put it up on the screen. I give my boss (who is sitting next to me) a confused look. Then he explains that they aren't on the computer to share. :lticaptd:

 

I see a lot of people with tablets nowadays. I have one of those giant tablet phones, but I don't do business etc on it; I'd far rather type on an actual keyboard or better yet, write by hand. Sooner or later I'm going to have to learn to deal with an iPad I guess. Am I becoming one of those old fogeys who hate change? :lticaptd:

 

In school they pretty much let us do what we wanted after a certain point. I had a teacher refer to my handwriting as "alien heiroglyphs". No one bothered to correct us....our handwriting was our way of rebelling in middle and high school and we all did something or other that was completely off the wall. Like dotting all of our i's with little stars. Or intentionally writing so small the teacher needed a magnifying glass to see it. I turned my paper to the right so that my letters slanted the wrong way. Then I turned it all the way to the write and wrote top to bottom. :lticaptd: And let's not talk about the glitter gel pens. :wacko:

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I wish my country implemented this too! But so far, I've not spotted a single FP user in real life X.X

We use a pencil till 6th grade after which it's ballpoints/rollerballs, and pencils were only for rough work. I was never taught of the correct way to write or hold the pen/pencil, or how to place the book. This ended up with some students writing while placing the book at a 90 degree angle, writing with face glued onto the paper, tight grip, etc.

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In the UK there isn't a national rule that all pupils have to use fountain pens, it's more down to the schools whether they implement such a rule or not, though I think many do, esp public schools (ie private schools - the ones with exorbitant fees that are the stepping stone for the "boys clubs").

 

In Germany for reference, I'm not sure whether the states or the government decides for all states at once, but I have yet to hear that a school doesn't require fpens. You start in 3rd grade, the occasional class work and homework is written with fp (before that pencil only), in 4th grade even more is written with fp and then from 5th on it's fp only (except pencils for maths - occasionally only! - and drawing and such and coloured pens for colouring - d'oh! - and emphasizing). From 9th (or 10th?) grade on you may use any pen you like for notes and homework, but exams and tests must still be written with fpens. And then sixth form/ high school you can write with any pen, only in exams you may not use pencils (obvs, as someone could just erase your work), unless it's logical (drawings and such).

 

I fully encourage the "must use fpens"; I think otherwise many younger people won't use them and get hooked, which would turn them further unto oblivion. I mean the reason why fpens are still so normal in Europe is that it is pretty much still a must at schools in quite a number of countries and the tradition of pens still exists through parents & grandparents.

 

To me the problem is not being taught writing properly with fpens and not using the proper ink. This is tied to my personal experience: I hated using fpens and didn't see any difference to ballpoints, simply because I still pressed down heavily with fpens, so naturally I wouldn't notice too much difference. The problem was the requirement to use washable blue ink, which faded within a day. I liked more saturated inks and thought the more I pressed down, the better the ink line - not so. Never knew all those inks existed! Anyway, this led me to ditch fpens as soon as I was allowed to by the school. Hated the ink, knew no difference in writing and all adults used ballpoints and I wanted to be an adult!

My stationery obsession then kicked in back with a vengeance at some point at university and I was back to fpens after a while (I had exhausted all the available disposables -and non-disposables - I was interested in and needed new pens to play with, after ballpoints, rollerballs and gels only fpens were left to dive back into). Discovered this site, inks, pens and kicked myself for dropping fpens, because honestly, I love my ballpoints still and Pilots (Acroball for instance) and uni's Jetstream and many more are really smooth, but fpens still give the best writing experience when you have to write for a long time and use a proper grip, mostly because you don't need to hold them almost vertically for smoothness, you don't need to press at all (regardless how smooth a ballpoint is, my death grip always returns!) and you can find a pen that really really suits you and refill it over and over again with whatever ink. Maybe if more inks would be available more students wouldn't ditch fpens thinking that fp ink is dreadful.

That is my sliding into a whole novel unintentionally, hope you enjoyed my waffling!

 

In Germany you also encounter quite a number of adults using fpens, if not professionally, then at least at home.

So besides from teaching proper writing (as said I have yet to find a ballpoint as good as a fpen), it encourages continued use when fpens are a requirement at school and here in Europe you can find fpens and inks dirt cheap (ink wise only washable blue is dirt cheap though sadly!).

Edited by Olya
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I used a Parker 21 starting in 7th grade. Later I was packed up to an English Boarding School. They supplied me with uniform suit of gray flannel, a funny hat, and a Pelikan.

The pen had a flexible nib that I struggled to control while writing in those blue books. I had no idea of the great things you can do with a flexible nib. Perhaps, these nibs are not made for kids. Well this kid..😉

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In school they pretty much let us do what we wanted after a certain point. I had a teacher refer to my handwriting as "alien heiroglyphs". No one bothered to correct us...

 

Same here. I had ONE teacher who enforced penmanship rules and graded us on it; the rest couldn't have cared less. :(

 

 

...our handwriting was our way of rebelling in middle and high school and we all did something or other that was completely off the wall. Like dotting all of our i's with little stars. Or intentionally writing so small the teacher needed a magnifying glass to see it. I turned my paper to the right so that my letters slanted the wrong way. Then I turned it all the way to the write and wrote top to bottom. :lticaptd:

 

Boy, Kelly, ...what a brat! :lticaptd:

 

- Anthony

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I reckon I can shed some light on this since I went to a private Primary School in the UK not all that long ago and am now just finished with secondary school waiting to go off to university.

 

We used pencil to learn how to write and for english and maths lessons, up until around year 4(age 8 or so) and from then we were allowed to move up to using pens. We were not forced to use any particular pen but a lot of people went and bought fountain pens for their kids as their first "proper" pen. I fondly remember my mother bought me a cheap Parker Vector but being very young I thought it was very fancy indeed. Ever since I've used fountain pens in school and only very recently have I paid proper attention to buying and using "nice" fountain pens and inks.

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