School is a place where work is done all the time. In school, students do all kinds of worksheets, essays, and papers. Although now a lot of the work students do is online, still quite a bit of it is on paper. In most classes, pencils are the main writing utensils that students use. Many people use the standard wooden pencils, but over the last decade, mechanical pencils have come to be a popular writing utensil.
Mechanical pencils were invented in 1915 by Tokuji Hayakawa. According to Global Sharp, he created the pencil by putting a piece of lead into a metal shaft. He called the pencil the Hayakawa Mechanical Pencil. Since then, the mechanical pencil has been upgraded and perfected. Students now have access to more mechanical pencils.
Freshman Bailey Harris said, “They (mechanical pencils) are sharp pretty much all of the time, and more fun to use.” .
Mechanical pencils are convenient since they do not need to be sharpened. One downside of mechanical pencils is that, when pushed on too hard, the lead can break easily.
The classic wooden pencil was invented in 1565 by a man named Conrad Genser. Wooden pencils are skinny cylinders of graphite encased in wood. Wooden pencils have been associated with the school since the late 1500s. Many generations of students have used wooden pencils. Wooden pencils are offered in classes at all times and sometimes there are all sorts of decorated ones.
One downside of wooden pencils according to Sophomore Elizabeth Kelley is that, “they (wooden pencils) give me blisters after using them for too long.”
In all, mechanical pencils and wooden pencils are somewhat different. One person may like wooden pencils because their handwriting looks better with it, while another person may like mechanical pencils for the same reason. The debate on which is better really just depends on a person’s preference.
