Cleaning Erasers – Privilege or Punishment? [POLL]

When I was in third grade, one of the biggest privileges the teacher would bestow upon us was the gift of cleaning the chalkboard erasers. For those youngsters out there, chalkboards were these big green panels that teachers would actually write on using.... get ready for this.... chalk. Later in life, I learned we may have been duped. Is it true that cleaning the erasers is actually a form of capital punishment?

I clearly remember coming home from school and telling my mother about the honor awarded me by the teacher. Oddly, my mother kind of looked at me funny, unable to comprehend this great accolade. It seems that in her day, having to stay behind after school and clean erasers was a severe form of punishment.

For those not familiar with chalkboards, here's a demo that transcends all cultures.

As if I weren't already confused enough after 13 years of public education, now I'm really a mess. Help me out.