What happened to fountain pens?

[DrearyLane]

When I was at secondary school, all work had to be in fountain pens. Ink everywhere, collection of those tiny plastic balls from the cartridges were seen as a “win” and it was a pain to write quickly. Whether to use a classic Parker (which your parents thought was posh but actually harder to find a cartridge in an emergency for) or a stationary box special - still remember my lovely green jungle themed one.

in the past 30 years (The time span between me leaving school and DS starting secondary) they’ve gone.. completely. He doesn’t even recognise what one is.

When did the tide turn? (I’m very grateful it did)

Loved them. You could also get an "Eraser pen" to delete mistakes. It was a double ended pen with a white eraser nib on one end and a blue ink pen on the other that was different ink that would write over the erased bit.
Those were the days!

Love them. I have a great collection from Mont Blancs to cheaply Platignum Preppys.

We didn't have to use them, but it was a bit if a 'thing' when I was 14/15. Also 30 years ago.

When did it stop being something schools insist on?

Same. I love my fountain pen and use it whenever I write anything. It’s currently got an ink called ‘writer’s blood’ in it.

My eldest DS (23) loves a fancy pen. He asked for a Pilot capless for Christmas and some beautiful writing paper. I think letter writing is making a comeback. He and his friends often write to one another

I am German and that was the reason we got DD one when she was 6. Learning to write with a stupid pencil or a biro is just creating awful handwriting

A fountain pen forces you to write joined up letters a lot more and for DD it meant her writing was finally readable.

But no, the school had their rules and the pen was reduced to homework only.

Funny to see this thread as I was just thinking earlier I haven’t seen a fountain pen in many years. There were 2 for sale on The Travelling Auctioneers programme. I never did master the technique of writing neatly with one .

Yes, I've wondered this too, and when I've asked about it with friends/colleagues (it's been a recent topic for me when one of the DC got their much coveted 'pen licence') they have all said 'did you go to private school?' When I asked about what happened to fountain pens. I did, but also they were definitely a thing at my state primary too, maybe I am just older than most of my colleagues? I'm 37. I am also glad you mentioned collecting cartridge balls, as that is another thing I have mentioned in conversation and everyone has looked at me blankly. I wondered if it was just a my school thing 😂.

As a left hander, fountain pens don't work for me, and caused me to develop that odd upside down hand writing lefthanders do to avoid smudging ink. But one of my DC have beautiful handwriting and was very curious about the fountain pen he saw in a charity shop recently, I've been thinking about buying him one.

All us left handed people threw them in the bin as we were sick of ink all over us 😂

I recently bought a couple as I felt they would be more eco-friendly than biros. Especially if a convertor used to fill them. So far the Lamy is far better than the Parker.

I think I’ve had a life long aversion to them as I have bad memories of school in the early 1960s. We had the little white earthenware inkwells in the school desks and a pen to dip in it while the teacher watched over our shoulders waiting for a droplet of ink to smudge on the page 😟

Good riddance to the bloody things.

They might be all right when you are learning nicely-formed correct cursive script (and have all the time in the world to do it), but utterly useless the rest of the time. I had several teachers who expected us to copy stuff off the blackboard at the speed of light, and write down his musings at dictation speed. You need a ballpoint for that. You don't want to be fannying around with blotting paper and cartridges and blue-stained fingers. We also had maths teachers who expected us to do their test papers in as short a time as possible.

Did anyone ever stamp on a cartridge at school and spray ink everywhere?

My DC had to use them in primary school, but not in secondary. I never liked using one, especially how unstable the ink was, it would smear everywhere at the hint of water. I think we still have Lamy pens and cartridges in the cupboard from when the DC were younger, but nobody wants to use them. If I need to write rather than type then I use a Schneider Slider Edge because it's triangular so easier to grip (I get sore fingers now that I'm old).

It just seemed to be that having to use fountain pens at secondary school had the twin effect of slowing down and frustrating the more able students, and making writing as difficult as possible for the less able.

I left primary school in 2007 and we had those red berol pens then when we got the pen license. But my mother (now 50, can’t be bothered to figure out when she left primary school!) always made me do my homework with a fountain pen. She was very upset they weren’t used anymore! She was taught actual cursive too rather than the ugly joint up writing they do now and back when I was a youngster!
They are so much better for developing good handwriting! I’d love to see them come back, more environmentally friendly too. But alas, I’ve seen people argue there’s no point doing handwriting at all and just teach kids typing. 😔
The DC are use the fountain pens granny got them all the time! With the exception of maths and their handwriting books which are pencil. (Home educated).

U guys reminded me I have a Parkers ink pot and no pens to use it for, what do I do with it??

They have Lamy ABC ones and never have any issues

buy a pen!

I still use one for special letters. I got a beautiful Wa

Waterman pen for my birthday.

I still have the Waterman fountain pen I was given for my 21st, love it but think I've currently run out of ink cartridges and can't be arsed to go to Rymans (Amazon didn't have the right colour) to get some.

I'd love a nice but not wickedly expensive fountain pen which can use easily available cartridges - any suggestions?

I'd love to use my fountain pens more. Unfortunately 99% of my writing is in shorthand and they are completely unsuited to that - cheap biros being my favourite (have tried rollerballs etc, just doesn't work)