The Lowly Pencil - Giving it the Credit Its Due!

The lowly pencil doesn’t get the credit it deserves.

Imagine you gave a 6-year-old, a blue ballpoint pen, and notebook at the Kingdom Hall or convention venue. Within a few minutes, they might have more stripes on the back of the seat than a Siberian tiger! (and hopefully not on their face).

Learning to write with pencils and, in particular, old-fashioned wooden pencils (not mechanical pencils) is easier. That's  because of the feedback from the friction with paper... you know... that sweet wooden pencil scrubbing sound... ahh! Furthermore, whereas kids are more likely to damage pens, a wooden pencil is almost non-destructible. In fact..., you can break it in half and make two pencils out of one. So it makes total sense for kids to use pencils.As childhood is the stage for much learning, kids can also make a lot of mistakes. But the mistakes done in pencil are easily undone, which you cannot say for something written in pen.

A pencil can produce all sorts of shades of gray and when used on its side can create wonderful effects.

Finally, as for the mess, ballpoint pens can sometimes lead to disaster. Ballpoint pens can inexplicably leak from either end, or blobs of ink can slip out onto the paper.     

Pencil graphite can rub away, but will otherwise never fade or bleed into the paper.

In review: Pencils are:

• inexpensive
• less messy
• pencil marks can be erased
• quite expressive in the right hands!

At Ministry Ideaz, we provide pencils for kids (or adults), which feature the encouraging text: "Study makes me strong." Check them out!

What is your preference for note-taking? Pen? or Pencil? Let us know if the comments below!