Shorter school year sought to allow return to old school calendar

[GeoffH]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

I graduated from high school in 1968.  I took a half credit typing class as an elective.  I can still touch type at age 73, one of those skills that you do not lose.  

I did something similar, took 'Business typing (which was 30 young women plus me and one other guy) and I have never regretted it.

I'm slower than I used to be (arthritis) but I can still trundle along at 60 wpm without many errors touch typing.

[Lee]

I also took a required typing class while in Jr HS.

Recall complaining bitterly about my being in the class in the first place as I was never going to be a secretary so there was no reason for me to learn how to type.

The passage of time has proven me wrong of course.

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, GeoffH said:

I did something similar, took 'Business typing (which was 30 young women plus me and one other guy) and I have never regretted it.

I'm slower than I used to be (arthritis) but I can still trundle along at 60 wpm without many errors touch typing.

I was similarly the only guy in a class of 30 or so females - one of which was my sister-in-law so no luck there! 

I think you did better than me - I was on maybe 60mpw rather than 60wpm! 

[GeoffH]

3 hours ago, hk blues said:

I think you did better than me - I was on maybe 60mpw rather than 60wpm! 

At the end of the year long course I tested out at 75 wpm at 99%+ accuracy (which was near the bottom of the class), from memory the fast young ladies (typing wise I'm talking about) were pushing along at around 120wpm at 99%+ accuracy.

[Mike J]

13 hours ago, GeoffH said:

At the end of the year long course I tested out at 75 wpm at 99%+ accuracy (which was near the bottom of the class), from memory the fast young ladies (typing wise I'm talking about) were pushing along at around 120wpm at 99%+ accuracy.

Wow, that is fast.  Manual or electric?  My class was all manual typewriters.

[GeoffH]

8 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Wow, that is fast.  Manual or electric?  My class was all manual typewriters.

We were typing on IBM Selectrics, the ones with the interchangable font balls, they released the first ones in the early 60s.

On a manual (they had some to give the trainees experience on) I would have been about 10 wpm slower, on a conventional electric typewriter about 5 wpm slower. 

The Selectric were faster than conventional electric typewriters as well (the ball movement was simply quicker).

[BrettGC]

54 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Wow, that is fast.  Manual or electric?  My class was all manual typewriters.

As a navy signalman we were taught to type on our initial training on the old teletypes and part of the graduation criteria was that we had to achieve 45wpm/98% accuracy.  A couple of guys didn't make it and had to stay back a couple of weeks until they did.  By the time we'd been out in the fleet a while most were up to 80-120wpm depending on whether they were mainly employed in commcens (radcen for the yanks) or on the visual signalling side of the house. 

It's a skill I'm very glad I obtained. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by BrettGC

[Snowy79]

I know we have wondered off course but some of the AI apps out there just now are scary. Within a couple of years it has accelerated exponentially. Give it two more years and everything you ever wanted to know will be found by talking into your smart phone. Books will be written just by giving the app ideas, same with songs, music etc. 

The education system will need a complete re vamp. No more foreign languages to learn etc. You talk in your language and the other person's ear piece will repeat it in theirs. 

Cashier tills already tally up your groceries and tell you how much change to give. 

I'll stop now as this could be a whole new post on its own.