# Will chalk soon be obsolete? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586 "2011-07-11T03:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/1 "2011-07-11T03:33:25Z")
It seems like dry-erase boards are becoming more common than chalkboards. And in the near future, no doubt, some type of digital system will surpass the dry erase board. Chalk is also dusty; it leaves residue on hands, which nobody likes; people are allergic to the dust. And as far as I know, it is a limited natural resource which must be extracted from the environment. When will stores stop selling chalk altogether? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/2 "2011-07-11T03:37:30Z")
Someday, maybe, but probably not anytime soon. As for digital systems, they already exist, but the current ones require a projector and probably a decent amount of upfront cash. I’d imagine long before the projector ones take over an LCD or plasma version will be available. The only nice thing about a projector version is that you can roll up the screen and get it out of the way. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/3 "2011-07-11T03:42:39Z")
Not anytime soon, with people out there [painting](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/look/look-chalkboard-paint-on-a-kitchen-wall-001587) [every](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/dc/roundup/the-many-looks-of-chalkboard-paint-148357) [available surface](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/hot-trend-a-chalkboard-paint-explosion-email-from-8808-059740) with [chalkboard paint](http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/roundup-chalkboard-paint-off-the-wall-149696). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/4 "2011-07-11T03:50:56Z")
Go check out the sidewalks at any college campus and it’s pretty clear chalk is still in use. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/5 "2011-07-11T03:56:40Z")
Chalk has advantages even over dry-erase markers (and digital media). It’s cheap, so you can have pieces of it everywhere, and no one is likely to walk away with it. You don’t have to recap it (and it never dries out). You don’t need to “clean” a chalk board nearly as often as a white board. These advantages outweigh the dust-factor for most situations–there will always be contexts where it isn’t obsolete, just as with pencils. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/6 "2011-07-11T04:01:20Z")
dry erase boards are damaged when things that are not dry erase markers are used. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/7 "2011-07-11T04:01:57Z")
As far as i know chalk (very expensive chalk) is used by scrapbookers ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/8 "2011-07-11T04:11:49Z")
Not as long as Glenn Beck is around. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/9 "2011-07-11T04:45:36Z")
I’ve never seen a chalkboard in a classroom that wasn’t in a movie (born 1985). Sidewalk chalk is another matter, though. ---
**Author:** ![TNWPsycho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@TNWPsycho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNWPsycho)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/10 "2011-07-11T04:48:02Z")
There is also the “smart board” that the college i went to used. Its a digital version of a dry erase board. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/11 "2011-07-11T05:14:20Z")
You can’t make a hopscotch pattern on a dry erase board. And I used to give my daughter a bucket of colored chalk and tell her to go have fun on the driveway and porch. I couldn’t have afforded a dry erase board that big. However, I do like my dry erase board on the fridge, it’s very handy. ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawk441](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Blackhawk441](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawk441)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/12 "2011-07-11T05:15:33Z")
Smart boards suck, though. We had them in every room at my high school but they were **never** used. Takes a good 5 minutes to calibrate the board anyway, and as with any computer program its buggy (buggier than physically writing on a board). I see dry-erase boards being the standard for a good while. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/13 "2011-07-11T05:23:49Z")
Not likely! The school systems here in Minnesota have been so starved of funds that they haven’t even painted\* rooms for at least 8 years! It will be decades before they replace the thousands of chalkboards with dry-erase boards, much less some digital electronic board. \*Yes, literally, painting the walls. We have held Precinct Caucus meetings in the local high school for the past 8 years, using most of the same rooms. Some of them needed painting 8 years ago, and need it worse now. But no painting has been done. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/14 "2011-07-11T07:28:46Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > And as far as I know, it is a limited natural resource which must be extracted from the environment. Blackboard chalk is actually gypsum - so we’d be up against a shortage of drywall board long before we’ve exhausted the planet’s mineral capacity to provide writing chalks. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/15 "2011-07-11T12:53:21Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I’ve never seen a chalkboard in a classroom that wasn’t in a movie (born 1985). Sidewalk chalk is another matter, though. Where are you? I was a school photographer from 2001-2009 on Long Island (NY); chalkboards in every school. (Elem., Middle and High.) Very few dry-erase boards, and I only saw an electronic one twice. ETA: Just checked your profile. What part of LA? ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/16 "2011-07-11T13:05:06Z")
Old technology takes a long time to die, especially when heavily embedded in conservative, institutions with limited funding. On a new installation, are dry erase boards cheaper? There was a plumbing thread recently where I pointed out that the inferior gate valves have been obsolete for over 40 years, but the stores are still full of them. Technology seems different. I was amazed how quickly VCR replaced Betamax. Now somebody wondered how long rewind will last. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/17 "2011-07-11T13:24:45Z")
I was so sad when all the remodeling at my undergrad alma mater got rid of the chalkboards - they were the real old slate kind. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/18 "2011-07-11T13:27:49Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > You can’t make a hopscotch pattern on a dry erase board. And I used to give my daughter a bucket of colored chalk and tell her to go have fun on the driveway and porch. I couldn’t have afforded a dry erase board that big. Know how to keep 3 young girls busy for an afternoon? Draw a 20 ft high elephant on the driveway, and let them color it in. ---
**Author:** ![SimonMoon5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@SimonMoon5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SimonMoon5)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/19 "2011-07-11T13:36:30Z")
As someone who teaches math at a university, I see chalk boards all the time with only the occasional marker board. Personally, I prefer chalk to makers. For one thing, it’s a lot easier to clean chalk off your hands than it is to clean marker ink off your hands. And there are the reasons guizot gave as well. I also find that it is easier to draw or write more precisely with chalk than with markers, but that may just be me. All of our classrooms also have “smart boards”. I hate them. Well, I wouldn’t mind them so much if they weren’t completely immobile. At least with projector screens, you can roll up the screens when you’re done, but the smart boards stay put, and they usually cover up the middle third of the chalk boards, leaving much less room for someone (like myself) who needs to use a lot of the chalk board. I have occasionally used the smart boards, but for me personally, they’re a pain in the \*\*\*. First, you have to turn on the computer connected to it and wait for it to be ready. Then, you’ve got to get the remote controls and hope they’re working. And then, once everything’s perfectly ready… assuming you don’t need to recalibrate the settings… you have something that works just as well as an ordinary board. Yay! Keep the class waiting for 5 or 10 minutes just to have an ordinary board! Now, I know that smart boards do have uses. They can show anything a computer can show, so they’re great for showing Powerpoint slides, for example. And then you can draw on your slides. That’s great for people who like to lecture with slides. Generally, though, I find writing material on the board myself helps keep the class flowing at a reasonable rate (whereas I might be tempted to zoom through the slides). And since I don’t have any ridiculously complicated pictures to show that I can’t easily draw (unlike, say, the biology professors), I have no real need for the smart boards. They just get in the way. If they were a bit more optional, if they could be moved out of the way, they’d be a lot better, imho. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586/20 "2011-07-11T15:22:55Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > However, I do like my dry erase board on the fridge, it’s very handy. One distinct advantage of a dry-erase (white) board in the classroom is that you can also use it as an OHP (or LCD) screen. Then you (or the students) can write “on” the OHP image with markers. What you (or they) write can be easily and quickly erased and re-written without altering the imagine coming from the projector. It’s like having a huge, re-usable worksheet that the whole room can see. However, in rooms where I have the authority, I ask for a [Lightning Board](http://www.aceofficesystems.com/BR106A_Lightning_Board_for_Projection_Marker_and_p/br106a.htm) to be installed. This serves as both a chalk board, dry-erase board, and OHP-LCD screen. You can even write on it with pencil and pen. Everything washes off of it easily with a damp paper towel–no need for that expensive, scam erasure fluid. It’s also metal, so that magnets can be used to fasten paper visuals to the board. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-chalk-soon-be-obsolete/588586.md?page=2)