Community Chat

[proudlyfromNJ]

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@Bridgegal wrote:

@proudlyfromNJ

That's funny.  At my HS, only those of us going to college had to take typing.   It was optional for others.  This was in the mid 60's.

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@Bridgegal.  Mid 60's for me too. We had set courses for college and non college. The school was very small so not a whole lot of courses were available.

[ShowMe]

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@jubilant wrote:

I took typing.  DH didn't.  You should see him pecking out one letter at a time on the computer.  It frustrates him to the point he rarely uses one.  I think I would feel the same way if I didn't know how to type.  

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@jubilant....that was known as "hunt and peck".  It would frustrate me too if I didn't know how to type.  Your poor DH.

[jubilant]

@ShowMe

Yes, I feel sorry for him, too.  What came of it is now I am his personal secretary!  LOL!

[riley1]

I never wanted to take typing or a secretarial course in HS. But I needed the credits so there I was - an old, black typewriter with an incredibly "mature" teacher.

Well, I learned the rows by heart, up & down, figured out which finger was for which number key, etc.

Who knew I would excel at typing and steno. It got me a starter job with a well known company right after HS. I did get many promotions through the years because of my typing skills. 

Oh, and when I got that electric typewriter, I thought I went to heaven. It was an IBM Selectric in blue - woohoo!

The trick for me was to "zone out" any surrounding stuff and just type - not reading what I was typing. I was probably 100+ words a minute. 

My kids loved that I could type. Even though they could do it, they asked me to type their school papers every now and again.

[ShowMe]

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@jubilant wrote:

Some of the skills or things we learned in school help us whether or not we make a career out of them. Like home economics.  That gave me the skill to repair my own clothing, sew on a button, and hem my own pants.  All of that sure helped when Mom was no longer around to do it for me!  My daughter, on the other hand, took Shop.  She knows more about the tools in the garage and how to use them than her husband does!  He obviously didn't take shop!

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@jubilant.....I used to mend my clothes, take up hems in my pants, sew on buttons, etc, but today my eyes won't let me do that kind of stuff.  Getting old is no picnic.  

Love it when I hear or read about young women knowing how to use tools.  They won't have to depend on a man to do things for them.  More power to her.

[OnlyShopsOnline]

I'm going to have to agree with those who said typing.  I took typing in middle school.  I was able to get a job, during the summer, with the law firm my cousin managed, at the age of 14!  All through my school years...high school and college, I was always able to land really good paying jobs because of my typing skills.  

[ShowMe]

@riley1.....yes, my typing speed increased a lot when I got my grey selectric.  Loved that typewriter.

Did your kids ever learn to type?  Or did they just depend on mom to do it for them?

[jubilant]

Another article in today's paper was....School's Moving Beyond Home Ec.  The Indiana Department of Education approved 40 high school family and consumer sciences classes for this academic year.  Titles include, Biochemistry of Foods, Education Professions, Fashion and Textiles Careers, Interpersonal Relationships, and Personal Financial Responsibility.  One school in our area is in its 2nd year of letting students explore culinary art, hospitality, nutrition, child development, fashion design, and human and social services, among other topics. Not all classes are offered in all schools.

[ShowMe]

@jubilant......that is wonderful.  Those students are very lucky.  With the way the business world has changed, they are needing to know more than just the 3 R's.......

[Snowpuppy]

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@Trinity11 wrote:

@jubilant, I learned in high school that my own insular existence wasn't everyone's. I had a Sociology teacher who taught me to expand my horizons and think outside of the box.

My upbringing was one of intolerance and I learned that there are other ways of looking at the world. She made a real difference in my thought processes and I am eternally grateful.

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Than you for pointing out that thinking for oneself and expanding your life past the limited experiences you were given is worth far more than a typing class!