School supplies, retrospect: erasers, part 0

Self-tutoring about school supplies: the tutor reboots his ideas about erasers.

Notice: philosophical, nostalgic post ahead

I’m hopelessly nostalgic, perhaps especially in the summer, still thinking like it’s the 70s. Moreover, to me, ignoring the 5 Ws about a given situation can be so difficult. I like to re-examine situations and decisions from decades ago.

A reader might ask, “Who writes with pencil anymore?” Fair point – adults almost always type, nowadays. “If you need to erase, just buy pencils with a good eraser at the top – like the Bic disposal plastic mechanical or else the the Staedtler’s wooden.” Right they’d be, of course: one 10-pak of Bic disposal mechanicals with 0.7mm lead (the kind I always see), or else a 60-pak of Staedtler wooden pencils, would likely last anyone a whole year in school, never needing a separate eraser. Therefore, the discussion about standalone erasers, unless you’re an artist, is academic.

Notwithstanding, I recall using pencils a lot as a kid, and my eraser was my friend.

In the elementary school on the military base, where I attended grades 1-4, you didn’t have to bring a pencil to school, or an eraser. The teacher handed us one of each at the beginning of the year, and there was a hungry sharpener on the wall. The only time you could leave your seat without permission was to sharpen your pencil.

The pencil was Dixon; the eraser, a full-sized Pink Pearl, also by Dixon.

The teacher always advised us not to use the eraser on top of the pencil; rather, use the Pink Pearl. I recall that as being good advice.

We moved, so I left the base elementary school for a civilian one in April of grade four. Suddenly, school supplies were wide open: the kids’ parents had to buy them, but they could buy anything.

Although it was a farming region, and not exactly rich, some people definitely had it pretty well. The kids from those families tended to have pretty darn nice school supplies. Some went almost unused, but they were sure nice.

My parents would have bought me what I wanted, but I hadn’t realized I could be playful about school supplies, so I just chose what I knew from the school on the military base – Dixon pencil, Pink Pearl eraser. Interestingly, those same items continued to be what the teachers, even in the civilian school, were using.

Some time around then, I saw a white (vinyl) eraser for the first time. Believe it or not, I recall the name of the kid who had it. I didn’t know what it was at first, but then I saw them pick it up and erase something.

While erasing, their body language transmitted that the vinyl eraser was easier to use than a Pink Pearl. Moreover, that kid always had the best stuff, so I knew the vinyl eraser was likely better than the pink one I had.

“What’s that you got?” I asked.

“Oh,” he smiled, “just some eraser my Grandma bought with my school supplies.”

“How does it work?”

“Great. I guess the lady at the store told her to get this kind.”

It wouldn’t be until the following year that I, too, got a white eraser. By then they were getting common.

I have much more to tell, and plan to follow up.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.