Why Do We Still Use Chalk?

Picture walking into a classroom and seeing a well-used blackboard; you might visualize there being important upcoming dates, traces of old notes, and most noticeably the vast amount of dust that seems to have settled on every surface. 

One of the biggest disadvantages of using chalk is the fact that it is very messy and everything that is in the close vicinity of the board is covered in chalk dust. If you accidentally brush up against a surface around the board, your clothes, hands, and backpack will become a powdery mess. Additionally, chalk dust can be harmful for individuals with respiratory illnesses, as the dust can irritate the lungs when inhaled, triggering allergies and asthma attacks.

If you manage to deal with the dust and potential allergies, the next big problem with chalk is its visibility. If the writing surface is well-used, there are often large amounts of residue (dust) left over from previous writing. The dust makes any new writing blend in with the background making the visibility much worse than an alternative such as a dry-erase marker. Chalk can also easily be smudged, further reducing visibility, when accidentally touched which is a possibility when the writer is trying to write quickly. 

Lastly, another major disadvantage of chalk is that it is very fragile and difficult to work with. Chalk, especially those of a lower quality, are not very visible, therefore it requires the writer to apply larger amounts of pressure to make letters clearer. However, applying too much pressure can easily break the chalk, interrupting the lesson. While some broken-off pieces can still be used, most of them are too small and difficult to write with, causing the amount of chalk-related waste to add up. 

Despite the many flaws with chalk, it is still the preferred method of teaching because of one main reason: chalk is reliable. Several alternatives for chalk such as whiteboards or projection devices can have many problems related to them. For example, markers may have dried out because of being uncapped or the projector might not be working properly. With chalk ,however, there is nothing that can go wrong, only the chalk and board have to be there. In the end, teachers prefer having a dependable and simple tool even though it may be messy and old-fashioned.