School Pens And Pens For School - Who Used (Uses) One?

[AAAndrew]

I'm curious about who has used a fountain pen for school, whether it be elementary school or university or anywhere in between.

 

I'm curious about those who used pens in the past:

1. Were they required? In what grades?

2. What pen or pens did you use? (specifically student pens? fancier?)

3. What pen or pens did your friends use?

4. Was ink provided by the school, or did you just fill up at home?

 

I'm sure there are a fair number of current students on the forum. And I'd be curious to know for those using pens more recently

1. What pens do you use?

2. Do you use them for notes, composing work, or what?

3. Reactions from your fellow students and teachers/professors to your using fountain pens

 

I'm sure things are very different now than when fountain pens were either the only form of pen available vs. when they were required over ball points or pencils, vs. today where there are so many more options for writing.

 

Thanks

Andrew

[Elana]

My answers are probably not too exciting, as I am a current graduate student, which is borderline not-really-a-student and often closer to a teacher...

 

1. I use almost exclusively Japanese fines, with a good mix of steel and gold nibs.

 

2. I use my pens every chance I get. I filled entire notebooks while studying for my comps exams. I take my pens to conferences and lectures to take notes on speakers. However, I do not use my pens while marking student work. Since I am still new to teaching, I write comments in pencil so I can revise my tone if I notice I'm being too harsh. When it comes to composing work, I rough out my notes in pen and ink and then do the bulk of the writing on my computer.

 

3. My fellow graduate students geek out over my fountain pens too. One fellow student is Romanian and remembers using fountain pens there as a kid. (She would probably have more interesting answers, but isn't on this forum.) I was once side-eyed at a guest speaker event, and then the girl sitting next to me pulled out her Kaweco. I once got a funny look from my supervisor when I filled out a form in front of him, but I don't know if it was due to the pen or the shade of ink (it was Noodler's Beaver; disclaimer, it was a sample, I'm not a big fan of Noodler's). So overall, at the graduate level, things are pretty favourable to fountain pens. Note that I am in an Art department

[The Blue Knight]

University undergrad student.

 

I use mainly Parker Frontiers day to day and keep my nicer pens at home. I only carry pens I can afford to lose.

 

I use them for most things notes in particular.

 

A few people find them interesting but as I'm carrying only cheap pens they blend quite nicely into the surroundings so attract minimal attention,

[Serlo]

1. I think that we were required to use fountain pens, at least, most of us used them.

2. I had several Lamy Safari.

3. Pelikan, Lamy and Geha (do they still exist?). I can remember that the cartridges are not compatible, so if someone ran out of ink they usually asked "Has anyone got a cartidge for XYZ". The ones that used Pelikan had an advantage over the Lamy people, because they could collect the little plastic balls (I don't know what they are called in English) that seal the cartidges and have fun with them.

4. No.

 

Well as I am teacher I can also answer the other questions:

1. I think most of my students use either "Lamy", "Pelikan" or "Online pens" (cheap fountain pens that seem to be on vogue right now). The older the students are, the more likely they are to use rollerball pens, biros etc. However, the majority of pupils in Germany and Austria still use fountain pens (one student recently showed me his exercise book and asked me to tell him whether his handwriting looks better if he uses fountain pens; yes, it does)

2. They use them for anything!

3. As a teacher I prefer fountain pens. However, they have to use blue or black ink (one girl had experimented with green ink, but sadly this colour is not allowed in schools as it's the headmaster's colour); I actually have never told anyone to use fountain pens, they just do it or they don't. I think one of the reasons why they use fountain pens is that blue ink can be erased... (much to my dismay as my red ink doesn't look that good if I write on spots where ink eraser had been used before; at least it doesn't disappear; extreme feathering!).

Edited June 10, 2015 by Serlo

[sandy101]

I had to use an FP at school at English secondary school twenty five years ago. We had to use FP until we were 16.

 

We had WH Smith (a large UK high street stationary store) and had to use blue or black ink.

 

Some folk had Lamys or Parkers, but for the most part is was store branded stuff, and back then they were plastic, but pleasant enough to use.

 

These days they are cheaper and much poorer - a minimum of material and they leak or dry up very quickly.

 

I work at a FE College and I have a Parker IM Premium I got cheap on e-bay in my drawer and a Jinhao 159. The Parker has black ink, the 159 blue.

 

I use them for meetings and stuff.

 

In classes I have biros as pens just vanish - students borrow them & I don't get them back.

 

I find G2s are great for industrial marking - there's a range of colours and it doesn't matter what paper you are writing on.

[Boller]

I think I got my fountain pen in the 4th grade. The whole class got one. It was an emerald green Geha. Our school mates of the other 4^th grade got blue Pelikanos. These choices split the harmony between all 4th graders and it became another episode in the legendary debate between the followers of the two pens.

 

The only ink we had been allowed to use was Geha/Pelikan blue. The school district provided the ink and the paper for free until 6^th grade and it was common to use it until the end of high school. All my siblings got a Pelikano or a Geha and used the same blue ink like I did.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Boller

[NinthSphere]

Parker 51s are the daily carry, so they get used for notes, assignments, etc. Although if I've got (bleep) on my hands or am doing something pencil specific, I'll pull out a pencil. The only time I've ever gotten a reaction was when I was getting ink on my hands getting some fibers out from between the tines & one guy remarked on how fine the point was when he asked to see it. I don't think he even realized it was a fountain pen.

 

The only time I've had to use a fountain pen (actually a dip pen) for school was a long term journal writing assignment in middle school. We were required to purchase our own pen & ink, but the journal materials were supplied. It was a "pretend you're on the Oregon Trail" deal iirc.

[Serlo]

I think I got my fountain pen in the 4th grade. The whole class got one. It was an emerald green Geha. Our school mates of the other 4^th grade got blue Pelikanos. These choices split the harmony between all 4th graders and it became another episode in the legendary debate between the followers of the two pens.

 

The only ink we had been allowed to use was Geha/Pelikan blue. The school district provided the ink and the paper for free until 6^th grade and it was common to use it until the end of high school. All my siblings got a Pelikano or a Geha and used the same blue ink like I did.

I just read that Pelikan bought Geha in the 90s... And I can remember the debate!

[Alohamora]

In the early 60s, we had to use fountain pens in 2nd and 3rd grade. I had the Sheaffer cartridge pen, the one with pointed/conical ends. We had to supply our own ink, always washable blue, not sure if that was my mother's choice or the school's.

[subbu68]

My first pen was a local made pen named Bismi in grade 4 some 37 years ago I think it was a piston filled pen.

 

Used FP till Grade 10 as it was compulsory and then a mixed use till graduation. I remember Indian Pilot, Bismis, Wilson as these were the only affordable ones.

 

Used to look at my classmates' Sheaffer or Hero or Parker the richer ones had with envy. Never got a Hero until I finished 10th when my aunt gave me one.

 

Used to buy ink from local shops when they used to measure out from jumbo bottles in ounce measures and fill the bottles we carry. Bottled inks were costly.

[AAAndrew]

These are all great! At least I'm finding this all interesting. I appreciate you sharing.

 

Keep the stories coming!

[jar]

I can't remember any requirements for using fountain pens but I did use them as well as wood pencils. The first pens were hand-me-down Sheaffer Balances and Parker Vacs but around middle school I switched to the new Sheaffer cartridge pens. But pencils were the normal writing tool and IIRC required for tests.

[grainweevil]

I'm curious about those who used pens in the past:

1. Were they required? In what grades?

2. What pen or pens did you use? (specifically student pens? fancier?)

3. What pen or pens did your friends use?

4. Was ink provided by the school, or did you just fill up at home?

 

1. We had handwriting lessons when I was 8? 9? Using those bright blue weird-looking Platignum school pens provided by the school. (fellow Brits of a certain age will know the ones) Perversely we were then saddled with Berol rollerbally things for the next year, before the dawn of the Bring Your Own Fountain Pen era at age 11 right through secondary school.

 

2. My personal preference was for Stypens; cheap, but those folded tips gave a lovely fine line, plus they took standard cartridges so I could get creative with the notion of "blue". Absolutely no staying power though; I used to get through one a term, pretty much. Either they cracked or the nib wore away. They got hard to find, and eventually I used a rOtring Art Pen towards the end of my school days, which I still have.

 

3. I recall Sheaffer NoNonsense's, maybe Parker 25s, and whatever generic "school cartridge pen" was available in WHSmith at the time.

 

4. Apart from the early Platignum experience, and the accompanying lurid pink blotting paper that really did not go with royal blue, you provided your own ink, and I don't recall anyone using anything but cartridges.

[benbot517]

I am an undergraduate I'm college and I use them for all of my notes. Lately I've tended to use a pelikan m400 that I found at an antique shop, a Parker 51 I got on ebay, and a kaweco al sport. For notes I've tended to use whatever ink I felt like at the time. They haven't been required, but they making note taking fun.

[Dickkooty2]

Oh, my ... in the Philadelphia schools of seventy years ago, penmanship began in 3rd grade with a wooden dip pen and inkwell built in to the corner of the desk.

 

Lessons in cursive using the Palmer Method continued into 6th grade, still with the dip pen. Joinz and some sense of the curve were stressed as we improved. Each of us had our dip pen, ink rag, blotter, and workbook in our desk. At the command "Bring out your writing instruments", you cleared your desk top and got to it!

 

Supposedly, each student now had a uniform and, hopefully, legible hand to be read by teachers and others.

 

We bought our own pens, but by about the middle of grade 7, the ballpoint had pretty much replaced the Parkers and Esterbrooks with the lever fills. Gone were the considerations of gracious penmanship.Legibility was all that counted.

 

But, of course, the expression of the thinking became more and more important regardless of how the ideas were laid down.

 

Legibility, at least, has been eliminated as a problem with the computer.

 

Hermann Zapf died 4 June. Palitino, Optima, and Dingbats! His printing in ink looked like it had been type-set.

[Mari1013]

In parochial school in the 1960s, the nuns started torturing us with the Palmer Method in 3rd grade. That's when our respective parents got us Sheaffer school pens and mandatory washable blue ink cartridges. Loved the pen (mine had a green plastic barrel with chrome cap); hated the penmanship drills. I don't think FPs were required for anything else, so I used mine on and off through the years, switching between it and a variety of BPs -- the latter cheap extruded-plastic tubes with refills, in pastel colors, bought in packs of 20 for $1. (Yes, everything was cheaper then.) We also used wood-clad pencils (mainly in math class) or inexpensive mechanical pencils that took .9 or 1.1 mm leads.

 

In high school some of us got fancier: the latest writing rage then were plastic-tipped pens (the precursors of Le Pen and the Razor Point) and the brand-new, state-of-the-art 25-cent Bic pen -- yellow barrel, blue cap, blue goop-for-ink (white-and-black came later, IIRC). In college I discovered stationery shops -- there was one just by the campus -- and the Pentel .5 mm mechanical pencil, which became my go-to writing instrument.

 

Then I got my graduation gift from my parents: a Touchdown-fill Sheaffer Imperial FP. I was home.

[Water Ouzel]

I'm curious about who has used a fountain pen for school, whether it be elementary school or university or anywhere in between.

In the past (high school and college):

1. Were they required? No.

In what grades? High school (9-12, 1964-68), College (undergrad)

2. What pen or pens did you use? (specifically student pens? fancier?)

Sheaffer and Parker "dollar" cartridge-fill pens aimed at students, sequentially (when one was lost...).

3. What pen or pens did your friends use?

Only a few did, and they all tended to use the same types.

4. Was ink provided by the school, or did you just fill up at home?

Bought my own cartridges, kept them in my dorm room (boarding high school and college dorm).

Now-ish:

1. What pens do you use?

Various Twsbi, Pilot, Platinum, Sheaffer, Lamy, and Edison pens.

2. Do you use them for notes, composing work, or what?

Mostly brief notes, signing documents, personal letters.

3. Reactions from your fellow students and teachers/professors to your using fountain pens

Ranging from "I didn't know they still made those" to "fancy!" to "how old is that?" to "what is it?".

One (of three) teachers at the school took to writing with fountain pens, a handful of students (grades 4, 5, and 8) have continued to use Preppies or Varsities or one Metropolitan. So far, only with cartridges.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Water Ouzel

[catbert]

1. We had to do cursive writing patterns in pencil first, which I hated. Then we got pens. That was around age 10.

2. First pen - a Sheaffer with a touchdown filler, probably an Imperial II Deluxe (lost), then a Sheaffer with an inlaid nib (dropped, bent the nib). At secondary school - a Parker 61 (lent, lost), then a Parker 75 (still have). Backup pen at university - Waterman Jiffie (still have).

3. Some friends had Parkers and Heroes. There was at least one Montblanc Carrera. At secondary school more people had ballpoints. Not sure if they were allowed before. The inside cover of an old exercise book states “Your basic equipment for all classes is: a fountain or ball-point pen containing blue or black ink …” (Note hyphen.)

4. I filled my pen at home from a bottle of washable royal blue Quink, which was the required colour, and switched to blue-black in secondary school.

These days I carry vintage Italian school pens and Sheaffers similar to the ones I used to have.

[WaskiSquirrel]

1. Were they required? In what grades?

No, I'm way too young for that.

 

2. What pen or pens did you use? (specifically student pens? fancier?)

Parker Vector at first and later a Cross Century

 

3. What pen or pens did your friends use?

I think I was the only fountain pen user.

 

4. Was ink provided by the school, or did you just fill up at home?

I used my own ink. There was no ink provided at the school.

 

 

 

Of course, I'm still young (39), so my school experience comes from the 80s and 90s. My first was the Parker Vector which I purchased in 4th grade. I purchased the Cross Century in high school when I got my first job.

[peterg]

We started off with dip pen and ink wells at the end of primary school to prepare us for the 'big' school. Before that it was exclusively pencils.

 

At secondary school I promptly lost the expensive Osmiroid 75 we have been conned into buy on leaving primary school, which I didn't like. There must have been a tie up with the manufacturer. We provided an example of our writing and they selected the perfect nib for us. I got a standard medium nib

 

After that I went through a sucession of about three cheap Platignum pens with steel italic nibs, I still have the remains of two.

 

I didn't notice what my friends used. Probably a mixture of Platignums, generics and the odd Conway. Ink cartidges were only just begining to become popular. They were quite expensive against bottled ink so people tended to sqeeze them to suck up ink from a bottle when they ran out.

 

I can remember that we had ink monitors at primary school and we used the ubiqutous Stephens ink which tended to be watery. At secondary school we took our own blue black Quink.

 

One one occasion we were having a french test. I had filled my pen, so the bottle was on the desk, in its box, and someone behind ran out. I was told to 'lend' it to him. Not happy about giving away ink I picked the box up and handed it over my head back to him. What I had forgotten was that I hadn't screwed the top on. You can guess what happened when he opened the box! I wasn't allows to continue with the test until he had cleaned up the mess. Not that it made any difference to my results!

 

At college I used ball pens but ink for letters. I didn't go back to using a fountain pen for work until about 15 years ago when I was senior enough to want to look distinctive. In the last 7 or 8 years I noticed a tendancy for senior management to start flahing their Mont Blancs about, along with the latest mobile/ Blackberry!

Edited June 11, 2015 by peterg