5 ms·

In the late 60s, my mother typed my father's thesis -- because she knew how to touch type and he didn't.

NoZebra120vClip 4y ago
In the mid-1980s, I inherited my mother's Smith-Corona and she sternly informed me that I'd better learn how to type before entering high school, because I was gonna have a lot of papers to write. That was the best advice that Mom ever gave me. Not only did I top 30wpm by the end of that summer class, I'd met our band director who was the typing teacher, and he'd put me on alto saxophone. I stuck with band for 4 years, learned lots about music and stage performance, earned an academic letter. Fast forward 40 years, and I'm still typing 100wpm and using it professionally, for personal business and recreation. Thanks Mom! Thanks, Smith-Corona!
- euroderf 4y ago
  Same here - my mom insisted I take a touch typing course. Excellent advice!!
  - bookofjoe 4y ago
    Yes! In the summer of 1973, between my 3rd and 4th years of med school (UCLA), I took a basic touch typing class at Sawyer Business College. I was the only male among about 25 people. I got up to about 30wpm which has stood me in good stead in the decades since. One of the best things I ever did in terms of yield on investment.
    - JoeAltmaier 4y ago
      Same here! But I got up to 70 :0
- thewebcount 4y ago
  In the early 1980s our family got an Apple ][+ computer and I started printing out my book reports, etc. for my 5 and 6th grade assignments. My teachers didn’t want to accept them at first thinking that I must somehow be cheating. I’m not sure what that would have involved. Maybe they thought my parents were typing writing them for me and to cover it up, they typed it so the handwriting wouldn’t be different? But it was clear from the content that I wrote them myself, so eventually they accepted it. Here I was trying to make things nicer and they just couldn’t believe it!
  - elzbardico 4y ago
    Lay people usually think computers are capable of more stuff than what the machines can actually do. I wouldn't put past your teachers to think that the computers at that time could be capable of doing stuff a la ChatGPT, given the prevalence of SciFi movies overhyping computer capabilities.
- deltarholamda 4y ago
  The most useful class I took in high school was Keyboarding (as they called it), which was done on Selectric typewriters. It was just a single-semester course, but it has done more and lasted longer than any other class.

In the mid-1980s, I inherited my mother's Smith-Corona and she sternly informed me that I'd better learn how to type before entering high school, because I was gonna have a lot of papers to write. That was the best advice that Mom ever gave me. Not only did I top 30wpm by the end of that summer class, I'd met our band director who was the typing teacher, and he'd put me on alto saxophone. I stuck with band for 4 years, learned lots about music and stage performance, earned an academic letter. Fast forward 40 years, and I'm still typing 100wpm and using it professionally, for personal business and recreation. Thanks Mom! Thanks, Smith-Corona!

euroderf 4y ago
Same here - my mom insisted I take a touch typing course. Excellent advice!!
- bookofjoe 4y ago
  Yes! In the summer of 1973, between my 3rd and 4th years of med school (UCLA), I took a basic touch typing class at Sawyer Business College. I was the only male among about 25 people. I got up to about 30wpm which has stood me in good stead in the decades since. One of the best things I ever did in terms of yield on investment.
  - JoeAltmaier 4y ago
    Same here! But I got up to 70 :0
thewebcount 4y ago
In the early 1980s our family got an Apple ][+ computer and I started printing out my book reports, etc. for my 5 and 6th grade assignments. My teachers didn’t want to accept them at first thinking that I must somehow be cheating. I’m not sure what that would have involved. Maybe they thought my parents were typing writing them for me and to cover it up, they typed it so the handwriting wouldn’t be different? But it was clear from the content that I wrote them myself, so eventually they accepted it. Here I was trying to make things nicer and they just couldn’t believe it!
- elzbardico 4y ago
  Lay people usually think computers are capable of more stuff than what the machines can actually do. I wouldn't put past your teachers to think that the computers at that time could be capable of doing stuff a la ChatGPT, given the prevalence of SciFi movies overhyping computer capabilities.
deltarholamda 4y ago
The most useful class I took in high school was Keyboarding (as they called it), which was done on Selectric typewriters. It was just a single-semester course, but it has done more and lasted longer than any other class.