Nostalgia - Memories of writing

A while ago, an American friend and I started talking about school memories. The starting point had been my mentioning that my handwriting had seriously deteriorated since I mostly wrote things by hand that only I needed to be able to read and that I wanted to go back to my fountain pen, mostly for letters, after I have been neglecting it lately.

From the fountain pen we got to differences in our school systems (of course I can't list all of them here).
Something that never ceases to surprise me when I see it in a TV show or a movie are pencils in US schools. Not that we didn't use pencils of course, but not for as long and not as much and definitely not in tests. As far as I know, pencils are still not allowed in tests here.
The following is such an American picture to me (as I don't know which other countries also use pencils). I honestly can't remember if I ever did a multiple choice test in school at all. From what I read and heard they are still hardly used in German schools, but you find them at universities.

Picture by Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu via Unsplash

I can't remember for sure in which class we started learning to use a fountain pen in the early 70s, but at first we had a plastic slate and a white pencil like the ones in the picture. The times of real slates and slate pencils were already over then.
These are not my original slates, I found them at the fleamarket (as you can clearly tell from the condition) and the pencils are new. Much to my surprise both plastic slates and pencils are still available and are also still used, mostly in the first class. I guess this old dinosaur had expected kids to start writing on tablets right away these days 😉
If you wrote on a slate that was still wet, your handwriting would get all fat and "creamy". I doubt I was the only kid ever playing around with that effect, but it was discouraged because it wore the pencil down more quickly.

Surprise - cursive writing is not all the same everywhere and
at all times. This is how I learned it in the olden days. 

The back - either with squares for numbers or empty for drawing.
As you can see, I'm a pro in both.

I found quite a bit of debate online on German pages about when to start teaching children how to use a fountain pen. There are even some schools - although they really seem to be the minority - that start in the first class, others let children use the slate for some things, but also paper with a pencil, then a rollerball, and the fountain pen follows in second or third class. "Ink killers" are usually not allowed.
My father had bought my first fountain pen for me and even got it engraved with my name which made it really special for me as my name was never on anything, due to its spelling.

It was a red "Pelikano" and I hadn't been aware that the red color - which was meant to appeal to the girls more than the blue one - had only been sold since September 1970 which was when I started school. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still tucked away somewhere here, but it wasn't fit for writing anymore. Should I find it, I'll add a picture.

In my time, you either had a Pelikan or a Geha pen (both German brands at the time) and you defended it to the death. The death of the fountain pen, I mean. Seriously, you can still read accounts of throwing matches to determine which brand was better! Less violent was arguing about the colors (Pelikano blue or red, later also black, Geha green) or about the fact that the Geha was the first one to have a viewing window (which I still find ugly because it disturbs the flow of the pen for me and yes, I know I'm talking about a "school pen") and a reserve tank.
I can't remember any matches in my own class, but there was a certain rivalry. Don't forget, we are talking about elementary school kids here.

While those two certainly made up the bulk of pupils' pens at the time, though, there were other brands as well, my sister for example had an Artus Prinz.
All of them had cartridges, I don't think I knew anyone who still used an inkwell then. You could use the Pelikan cartriges in a Geha, by the way, but not the Geha ones in the Pelikano. Pff. Made the Geha kids feel so special, but they gladly borrowed cartridges from us if theirs were empty 😉
I also remember my English pen pal sending me some cartridges, but I couldn't use them because they were too long. I don't know anymore what kind of pen they were meant for.

These days I use a Parker. I'm not a fan of fat ballpoint or fountain pens to write with (but sometimes to look at) and have always preferred the feel of a slim Parker in my hand.
It has a cartridge/converter filling system and I use a converter with ink bottles. It reminds me of my teenage days when my friend and I hung out at the office supply store (I wrote about us buying sealing wax there before which is part of my writing memories, but I don't want to repeat myself here). They had Pelikan ink bottles back then with different colors of ink. I have always enjoyed writing in other colors even in school and back then I wanted all of those bottles so badly - those expensive little bottles, sigh.
Nowadays I'm much more sensible and know how to limit myself meaning I only got "Intense Black" and "Tender Purple". Eight years ago! I only ever used my fountain pen for scribbling a short thank you when I sent off one of my jewelry pieces or on rare cards I wrote. Now that I have pen pals again, I finally have an excuse to buy more.
There's just one problem with ink and me, especially when I'm filling my Parker. I'm terrible at it. The last time I had to walk around with two nails rimmed in purple for three days because the ink just wouldn't scrub off! A small price to pay for being elegant enough to use an inkwell 😂

My handwriting has changed just a tad. At least
it's a little better with a fountain pen than a ballpoint.

For some extra nostalgia I'll show you how we learned to read and spell in my time. This so-called "Lese-Uhr" = "reading clock" was made by a local manufacturer for "learning aids and school games", E. Kuhlemann.

There were several versions over the years, but I can't tell you the time period when they were actually used in school (it ended sometime in the 70s, though, as my (not so) little brother didn't use it) or where exactly, but from a talk about them I know it was definitely not in all of Germany - different states, different rules - but also not just in my state.
I could already read when I started school, so I don't remember how helpful the clock actually was, but we did have fun with it.

This was the one I had. Blue plastic with
print letters. It's the one that is still rather
easy to find today, usually in quite good
condition and even with the original paper
jacket which had instructions how to use it.

I had only seen this one in museum pictures
for years, it's the older cardboard version
(which belonged to a school, there's a stamp
and inventory number). There are a few
differences from the newer one, like the
colored letters for example or the cover picture. 

This is a newer version with cursive
letters. There's no jacket, but two sheets
with explanations and exercises for the
teacher with synthetic teaching methods.

There were also big ones for the teachers which came in both cursive and print letters as well.

Picture via Wikipedia by Pomona under CC BY-SA 3.0,
taken at Museum Schönholthausen in Finnentrop 

Saarländisches Schulmuseum
This one is almost 3 feet high and made from
hardboard and coated cardboard.

And of course I have to end this post with my wax seal ... For those who hadn't seen it yet, do you recognize the image?