Crossing Out vs Erasing

    Writing by hand is fun, has a sort of artistic feel to it, and it's a great opportunity to practice nice penmanship. Though just like when typing on a computer, mistakes happen, and must be eliminated from the passage. When a person is writing by hand, there are two ways to do this: erase it (with an eraser or whiteout) or drawing a line through the words with pen or pencil. Erasing the imperfections is definitely the neater option, and best when you want to keep pages looking nice and beautiful (particularly when the handwritten passage is for school or for work). But there's also great value in crossing out unwanted words/sentences instead; skill-sharpening, useful value.
    Mainly, it lets you know what phrase or word you decided not to use. And looking at such a word again, noticing it's crossed out, can help one remember that the word didn't fit and perhaps remember the reason why. A particular phrase (like say, one that's totally out of character for the speaker) is noted as one that will not work and shouldn't be used in the future when writing similar things.
    Crossing out only a few particular words in an awkwardly worded sentence also sticks out as a reminder of proper diction (the order of words in a sentence). The act of crossing out individual words can be more effective for remembering what way to word such a sentence than erasing the whole statement would be.
    In some instances, words can be crossed out when one starts a sentence but realizes midway that there's something else that should be written instead (a description, an action, some dialogue). But maybe that particular line will be put in play a little bit later in the writing, so having the sentence (or the beginning of it) visible could be better than trying to call it back later from the depths of memory.
    And, of course, crossing out words instead of erasing them saves more eraser for other things (like sketches).
    So there are a few advantages to going the sloppier way of self-correcting writing. :) Does anyone else prefer to cross out unwanted words when they're writing on paper?