> It was not unhead of to witness security hauling off weeping children who had the audacity to pull out a mechanical pencil.
"Hauling off" is obviously just an exaggeration, but mechanical pencils worked fine with scantrons and that's what I used starting in 3rd or 4th grade (maybe earlier, that's the earliest I recall using mechanical pencils). The author is apparently unaware of the fact that "number 2" is a reference to the grade of the graphite and not to a specific non-mechanical pencil.
Author here. It's mostly a satire piece referring to my own experiences. I actually am familiar with the numerical value referring to the "hardness" - but you're right that the way it's written could lead to that conclusion.
My elementary school specifically required Number 2 pencils on scantron related tests. And in the event that you didn't have one, a number 2 pencil would be provided.
"Hauling off" is obviously just an exaggeration, but mechanical pencils worked fine with scantrons and that's what I used starting in 3rd or 4th grade (maybe earlier, that's the earliest I recall using mechanical pencils). The author is apparently unaware of the fact that "number 2" is a reference to the grade of the graphite and not to a specific non-mechanical pencil.