[Magdalen] pencils

[Marion Thompson]

A teacher friend used to take his high school classes to Uruguay to have 
a wider view of the world.  At the time when Clinton or someone was 
promising a computer for every child, I remember Jon saying that the 
kids there would be happy to have a pencil!

Marion, a pilgrim

On 9/8/2015 8:54 AM, Jo Craddock wrote:
> I live in pencil. Usually mechanical (0.7 mm HB), but if I run across 
> a stray Dixon Ticonderoga or Black Warrior #2, I can't help myself.
>
> In the brief foray R&H made to "real" school -- we call it a 
> homeschool field trip, as it lasted six weeks -- their supplies list 
> included a *gross* of pencils. I asked their teachers, "If I'm helping 
> supply children who can't bring these in, that's fine, but there is no 
> reason to expect one third or fourth grader to go through a gross of 
> pencils. What's the deal?" They break, they get lost, etc., etc. 
> (What's the matter with a broken pencil? Now you have two!)
>
> Back in my day <grin>, my mother, a teacher, handed out two pencils to 
> me at the start of school. They were expected to last through 
> Christmas, at least. She worked all manner of crossword puzzles, but 
> wasn't brazen enough to use pen. I have a little pile of two-inch-long 
> pencils gathered from around the house after she died, and her 
> hand-crank sharpener still hangs beneath a kitchen cabinet.
>
> Peace,
> Jo
>
> On 09/08/2015 7:13 AM, ME Michaud wrote:
>> Just saw a tweet where a librarian was handing out pencils to
>> students (today is the first day of school) and it made me
>> try to remember the last time I picked up a pencil to write
>> something. I bet it's been twenty years.
>>
>> AFAIK we don't have a pencil here in the house (except for
>> drawing pencils).
>
>