Berol pens ..... why?

[aristocat]

At my DCs school they progress from pencil to Berol pens. The pupils are only allowed to use blue (not black) berol for their work.

Is this something that only our school does? We use all sorts of pens at home (have a pen fetish myself )

DS will be in yr 6 in a few weeks and I hope that when he moves to Secondary they will be thankful if he has a pen at all

Hate, hate HATE Berol pens, although not as much as biros. They run out after 5 minutes, and the blue ones vary in shade depending on their mood. The same child has to use the same pen all the time, too, as the nibs mould to the way they hold them; if someone else uses it, they scratch the paper.

mrz we had the issue of pen showing through to the next page. Turned out to be the fault of the exercise books (cheap and nasty) but as we'd just ordered a shedload of them, we had to fart around with page blotters until we'd used them all up.

Other things that have deteriorated in quality in recent years: Tippex (they took out the vital ingredient that made it cover up ink, as it was considered dangerous to inhale), Pritt sticks (don't stick), sellotape (doesn't stick either), pencil sharpeners (jam when you put a pencil anywhere near them).

Oh, and bin liners and carrier bags. But that's not for a school thread.

No our exercise books are quite good quality and we don't have the problem with other types of pen just Berol. It isn't a blot on the page they are writing on but when you turn the page the other side is covered with blots.

Ours too - and usually on to the page beyond. By 'page blotters' I mean a sheet underneath the one they're writing on to absorb the blots.

We don't use Berol anymore, but
these which are arguably even worse.

When I was at primary school we had to write with pen holders with a scratchy steel nib in them and 'dippy' ink that went everywhere if you put too much on your pen. We invariably went home with ink stains on first and second finger. And often on clothes..

So I suppose that Berol are a slight improvement.

I was taught handwriting using a pen holder and nib and ink well

Our children have to use Berols, too. It's a real shame, as DD writes beautifully with her fountain pen at home, which is great, as it forces her to slow down a bit. I'm the same - illegible scrawl with anything else; lovely with a fountain pen. It's a great pen, doesn't leak like the cheapie Smiths ones of yore, but they won't let her use it at school.

I have that hard skin lump thing on my middle finger, and also had years of Berol pens at primary school too. I had never put the two together before. Class action lawsuit?

I hate the idea of a pen licence - especially the fact it can be revoked if their writing isn't neat enough!

I mean, sure, teacher decides when child is ready to move on to using a pen rather than pencil, but calling it a licence and revoking it I was horrified when I read this in DS's school's policies! The rest of the school is great though so this is really odd and out of place.

I guess they are cheap and schools can get them in big boxes.

No they aren't cheap compared to other options

Teacher here - I detest Berol handwriting pens. The children I teach have to use black as we have to mark in blue.
I have dealt with the way the pens mould to their owners by naming the pens.
I spent ages trying to persuade the HT to use the stabilo rightie and leftie things but he is obsessed with Berol even though they cost an arm and a leg and run out after about 3 minutes.

I have terrible handwriting as I was taught to write by my sister who holds her pen on a funny way and no one ever corrected it.

I was the only child left in year 4 still writing in pencil. In the end my teacher gave up and gave me my beryl pen.

30 years later and I still bear the emotional scars

clam I completely agree over pencil sharpeners.

I've bought about 5 different ones over the past 6 months and haven't sharpened a single one properly

I also have the hard skin lump on my right middle finger. Hate, hate, hate berol pens!

I've always wondered what that lump was!

To be fair I've never used a Berol pen in my life and I have a lump on my finger (think it's from pencils.)

Yep, me too with the lumpy middle finger and I had an proper fountain pen all through junior and secondary school and probably rollerballs through Uni. I just think it's a 'went to university before word processing' thing!

I have the hard lump on my middle finger too. I learnt to write before berol was invented. I used fountain pens at school and migrated to biros in mid-late teens. I always assumed it was just a callous caused by too much writing.

I till remember the day I was given my 1st Berol pen at school! I think i was one of the last to get one

I was at primary school in the late 1970s and I remember how we progressed from pencil to fountain pen (not biro, oooh nooo) but then someone up high decided that if we didn't have a a fountain pen we could use Berol pens (esp if we were left-handed like me, and a smudger). I have loved Berol pens ever since, and still use them. They are ace!

It's far harder to write with pencil than a fountain pen and the use of ink in biros is rapid compared to a fountain pen. Berols loom to be more like colouting in pens and must bleed awfully considering how cheap jotter paper ist therefor the cost of jotters will be double if you cannot use the back side of every sheet due to excessive bleed through.

Attempts to economise on ink or pen type invariable leads to an extra cost.

What is wrong with a basic osmiroid for learning cursive letters.

Loopy I've got a Berol-Bump!! Thought I was only person in the world to sport such a, well, pronounced scar!!!

Strokes bump ...

What is wrong with a basic osmiroid for learning cursive letters.

I don't think many school budgets will run to providing all pupils with Osmiroid pens. ( It isn't just for learning cursive letters the pens are used for all written work. )

But surely if they are using pen they should be using cursive letters as a matter of course and that is for all writing work too.

Yes but the "pen licence" means they are proficient in cursive handwriting and they are able to use pen for all of their work.