fraidycat Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 whether erasers are 'instruments of the devil' or not? :) I'll wait to share my thoughts so I don't inadvertently steer the discussion in any one direction. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 oh for pete's sake :svengo: . . . . haul that man off to a rubber room . . . . . the men in white coats are here to help you . . . . . . . 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammi K Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I rather like the idea of a line through an error and then moving on because I like the idea of it saying: Yep, there is a mistake. Let it go and move on. No need to pretend it didn't happen but let's not dwell, either. This is what I dis when I was a classroom teacher. Some kids got so hung up on erasing the mistake so that it looks like it wasn't there or so annoyed that they aren't perfect that they never move along. But, I also like the idea that 'finished' or 'published' work is presented in a neat, tidy final copy. I think there is a place for both schools of thought. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Let's see, I remember using pencil mostly up until high school. In high school we did a lot of in class work in pencil but papers were expected to be done in pen. Yeah, the olden days when no one had a home computer and hardly anyone owned their own typewriter. It wasn't until 12th grade that our English teacher said all tests in her class were to be done in pen. She had specific rules. Erasable ink pens weren't allowed; the ink was messy and sticky. Errors were allowed to be lined through neatly; rabid crossings out got points deducted. And for tests we were allowed to write notes or a simple outline in the margins to help us organize our thoughts. Not being allowed to use pencil was probably the most helpful way of forcing us to think before we started writing. Math and science were still done in pencil though, even in college. I don't know about banning erasers in the classroom, though. I mean, people do make minor mistakes that are easily erased and corrected rather than rewritten in the next available space. But with my own dc, I prefer big mistakes just be crossed out with a big X or simply lined through and then the correction done next to it. I just think it's tidier; too much erasing usually leaves the page in a mess. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I don't mind erasers. It's eraser dust that drives me up the friggin wall. All the little bits that scatter across my kitchen table, perpetually. Grrrrrr..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I told my boys to strike off the error (the whole line) when doing math instead of erasing because erasing waste time. Besides one of my boys manage to erase until there are holes in his paper just because it is not clean enough. I don't think erasers should be banned though. I still remember the blue part of the eraser in the photo in OP's link was used for erasing pen marks. I grew up using Pelikan erasers link below http://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US_INTL.Store.displayStore.121561./the-erasers-from-pelikan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I like erasers. Erasers are our friends. :) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I need to think on this more. What popped into my head was being a college freshman with a (GASP!) typewriter (a daisy wheel cartridge no less!) who was told that if she did not make use of the student lab computers, she would fail freshman English... ATM, I kind of see the point of both sides. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Gosh, I didn't even know there was an eraser issue to take sides on! I didn't, either! :svengo: Thank goodness a few of us are here to fight the haters and defend our precious erasers. :D 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I don't allow erasers. I have the girl write in pen and be done with it. I don't have the patience to sit about watching a kid write, erase, write and erase until she's rubbed a hole in her paper.Erasers are allowed in our drawing class. We don't know how to draw clouds without them. :p 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Nobody is taking my eraser! I'll defend it to the last crumpled up, lead-grimy page! :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: (And now we'll both get offline for a while, and when we come back we will find out that someone reported us for being big bullies to the people who don't like erasers... :laugh:) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I had to ban erasers a few years ago. Not because they're bad, but because Certain People would just keep erasing and erasing until their homework got a hole in it, and then they'd cry. Then they'd rip up the homework entirely and cry some more. It wasn't worth it. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 So then... Are all of you eraser lovers a bunch of shameful liars? :P The cognitive scientist told the Daily Telegraph that rubbers create "a culture of shame about error. It's a way of lying to the world, which says 'I didn't make a mistake. I got it right first time.'" Will we never have personal responsibility if we erase our spelling errors? "For young children the step of being able to own up to a mistake is a big step to make," says Dr Anthony Williams, a child psychology expert from the University of Sheffield. "Even as adults we sweep in and out of accepting our mistakes." I'm a huge proponent of accepting personal responsibility. It's probably my number one "hill to die on" in parenting. But, equating erasing a miscalculation or misspelling with the inability to accept responsibility and consequences? I can't even imagine the cognitive leaps required for that one. Plus, dude needs to get a Frixion pen. Best. Invention. Ever. And possibly extra-terrestrial in design. Seriously. I think aliens brought the technology with them because it's too cool. 👽 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Explains my fear of failure. Too much eraser at an early age. You poor thing. :crying: But try not to blame your parents. I'm sure they did the best they could. No one knew about the hidden dangers of erasers when we were kids. ;) . 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I like the idea of mistakes as a useful part of learning. But I think throwing away rubbers is overkill. Back when I was a kid you did a rough draft then perfected the final copy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Reposting: 😀 I would partially agree with him. I had to ban erasers for one of my children who had a tendency to be obsessive about correcting the slightest perceived error when he was learning to write. He would melt down almost every day after erasing the heck out of his papers. It didn't matter to him that my expectations did not require him to erase, and that I didn't care if his work was not perfect. He couldn't let his perceived imperfections stand. Removing permission to erase at all drastically improved his ability to cope with slight errors. If you think about it, most students in days of old didn't have a way to a way to erase. That is why we have the adage handed down to us "practice makes perfect." Also, writing had to be done deliberately and intentionally, instead of in a hurried fashion. (This does not mean I am an advocate of taking away everyone's eraser, just something to think about.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 What does it say about me that as soon as the eraser on a pencil dies I plop a replacement onto the end of it? DD only uses erasers when sketching. Otherwise she finds them a waste of time. Why erase? Just cross out and move on. Guess my evil eraser needing self somehow failed to pass on my insecurities... :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 First thought. "foos-ball is the devil, Bobby Boucher." Once I got past that I went to "this guy is a bit of a whackadoo." However, sometimes you need to ban the eraser. I always taught mine to put a line through it and move on. Do not erase until you put a hole in the paper. Do not scratch out until there is a big ink blob on the page. However, despite instruction sometimes they would get into perfectionist mode and erase and erase until tears resulted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 No opinion whatsoever here. I seriously never would have thought there could be an eraser debate. My only question is can it get as involved as shopping carts, crockpots, cupcakes, or sunscreen? Erasers didn't hurt my guys (yet) - not even my perfectionist. Writing in pen and crossing things out didn't either. I guess like most things, we're in the middle and can go either way pending the whim of the day. I have no intentions of ever banning them from any of my classes. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I'm an atheist. I buy erasers in bulk. :lol: 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 They say Confucius does his crossword with a pen. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Rubbers Rule!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 An eraser, to me, is not a way to lie about imperfections, but a chance to have a clean slate. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 In the US "rubbers" doesn't mean erasers. It's more common as a word for condoms. Gives Rubbers Rule! a whole different meaning. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 In the US "rubbers" doesn't mean erasers. It's more common as a word for condoms. Gives Rubbers Rule! a whole different meaning. I definitely would not want my kids using rubbers in school. Though I suppose that would be better than going without rubbers in school... Now i'm torn, lol. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 When I do psych evals, I give kids a pencil without an eraser and tell them (depending on the test) either to cross out mistakes and move on, or not to correct mistakes. It's very useful to me to see what kinds of mistakes kids make and how they handle them. I've also had to work with my own perfectionist kid about not getting hung up on erasing. When she erases a mistake in math, she loses the thread of the problem because she's focusing her attention on getting every last trace of pencil mark. Erasing during a writing assignment can lead to paralysis as she focuses on getting a particular word right rather than expanding on ideas. That said, however, I think the child psychologist in the article is whackadoo. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeWillSoar Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I remember telling one of my kids, "Everyone makes mistakes. If people didn't make mistakes, there wouldn't be erasers. " 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 They say Confucius does his crossword with a pen. Doesn't everyone? :laugh: Back story: During one of MIL's visits she was impressed that I was working the Sunday NYT crossword in pen; she works them in pencil. But the difference is that she buys the crosswords in a puzzle book which has that book kind of paper that takes pencil nicely. I do the ones in the newspaper, and newsprint doesn't take pencil nicely. So it's just more practical to use pen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 fake member above reported (the one who copied and posted part of Tammi K's post) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Excessive eraser use I think can be disruptive to the flow of thoughts. I am particularly bad in this department. And I notice that wore off on my kids. I really never gave this much thought until we started using IEW. He discourages eraser use in rough drafts. It was surprisingly difficult for my kids to get past that, but I think it really helped them to focus more on the thoughts than erasing and perfection. Totally anecdotal obviously, but I am really starting to believe there is something to this. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbotoast Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 As long as there are scantrons, there will be erasers :D 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 They say Confucius does his crossword with a pen. I'm still the angel to a girl who hates to sin. Now listening to Little Earthquakes....... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbobeara Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I rather like the idea of a line through an error and then moving on because I like the idea of it saying: Yep, there is a mistake. Let it go and move on. No need to pretend it didn't happen but let's not dwell, either. I didn't read the rest of the replies, but when I was working in a group home and had to make notes on a resident's behavior, this is what we had to do. Nothing scribbled out, blacked out, or whited out--just draw a line through it and move on. For my youngest who gets easily distracted, I tell her just X it out and write the correct answer. I want her to focus on the lesson, not that the had to erase it 3 separate times to make it legible. Although now that I type that out, maybe we'll focus on that next year. NEXT year :smilielol5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 If your erasers make holes in your paper and giant smudges, you have an eraser quality problem. Staedtler erasers are lovely. I often write the wrong letter--my brain is already on the next word--but catch myself and fix it. (I really can spell.) If I had to rewrite the entire word every time, I'd be a terribly slow writer. Imagine a computer with no backspace. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Pentel. Always Pentel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I have not the "like" capacity to do justice to this controversial and timely thread. For those on the side of Justice, Truth and Erasers for all, consider yourselves "liked". :laugh: (I bet that the people that created the "like" limit are anti-eraser.) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 The guy in the article seems a little crazy, but I do get the point he's trying to make. I don't feel strongly enough to take a side either way, though. I'd have much stronger opinions if we were talking condoms rather than erasers. ;) Though now that I think about it, I can't remember the last time I actually wrote something on paper. Huh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Will the world ever run out of new mental disorders? Misosgomata = inaccurate grammatical rendition in modern Greek of "hatred of erasers" The use of an eraser by a child indicates maturation of thought because the child recognizes his own error and takes steps to correct it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 We like erasers here. I seem to buy them with some frequency. I encourage scratching through mistakes in writing. You never know when you just might need that line, paragraph or page for a rewrite. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I need erasers for math, good grief I make enough of a mess and use a lot of paper trying to figure out a problem, if I couldn't erase it would 1000% worse 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer&Mom Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 We weren't allowed erasers for writing assignments in elementary school. We were also allowed to just underline words we thought we had misspelled. The idea was to just keep writing. I like it. There is a time and a place for a finished draft. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeghanL Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 The eraser is the one true way to cover your sins (mistakes). All your sins can be moved to the eraser. You just need to pick it up and use it. Satan doesn't want you to know this, so he created psychologists to make you think erasers are Satanic, and not the only way to salvation. The REAL instruments of Satan are white out, delete keys and crumpling up papers and just starting over. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I'm an atheist. I buy erasers in bulk. :lol: I buy erasable pens in bulk. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I like cupcake-shaped erasers, but won't use them because they are too pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Are none of the rest of you eighties children thinking of Square One while reading this thread? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4zAp4AGiK2Y I don't care one way or the other. We are going to make mistakes. Erase them, or cross them out -- whatever. One of my children prefers to do math in pencil, the other in pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Are none of the rest of you eighties children thinking of Square One while reading this thread? I don't care one way or the other. We are going to make mistakes. Erase them, or cross them out -- whatever. One of my children prefers to do math in pencil, the other in pen. that was one of dd's favorite shows. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 We've spent years working with my daughter to not allow her perfectionist tenancies cripple her. If she didn't have the safety net of an eraser, it would have been that much harder. I know it sounds funny to sound so dire over something like an eraser, but for some kids, it really does matter that much. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 No opinion whatsoever here. I seriously never would have thought there could be an eraser debate. My only question is can it get as involved as shopping carts, crockpots, cupcakes, or sunscreen? It can if people start expressing very strong opinions on the matter. I'll start: All you anti eraser people are teaching your poor children that the world will never get over their mistakes! Do you always hold everything against your children and remind them constantly?? How do you sleep at night?? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 It can if people start expressing very strong opinions on the matter. I'll start: All you anti eraser people are teaching your poor children that the world will never get over their mistakes! Do you always hold everything against your children and remind them constantly?? How do you sleep at night?? No. I stand them on a busy corner with a sign around their neck that says... "I think 3x8 is 25" (/sarcasm) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 "I think 3x8 is 25" That kind of maths does work when I buy vegetables from a vegetable stand :lol: The vegetable seller thought that I was a malnourished undergrad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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