Thank You Mister Wheeler

[matthewb0051]

Mr. Wheeler was my typing teacher in Junior High School. He hated it when you ripped the paper from the typewriter without opening the register, thus making that noise.

Anyway, I am eternally grateful for the skill that I learned way back then and every now and then I say thank you to him out loud. Usually after typing out an email and realizing just how lucky I am to have learned to type and not sitting here hunting and pecking.

My fingers are currently on the home keys.

Anyone else?

[gwmac]

Mrs Scroggin
9th grade

[Sooner or later]

I was the only male in my typing class. (1970)

Now, thumbs only since I only use a phone or tablet.

[Por_sha911]

I started on a manual typewriter. When the high school got IBM Selectrics we thought we hit 21st century high tech stuff! After that, I was spoiled and had to have an electric but couldn't afford the IBM stuff.

(and yeah, I typed up hill, both ways, in the snow!)

[Seahawk]

Sister Peter Ellen - 11th and 12th grade.

I actually made money in college typing friends papers.

[Baz]

Never took "typing" but wish I did.

Nevertheless....I'm a VERY accomplished hunt and pecker!

I do appreciate the use of an old fashioned typewriter though and hope to acquire one at some point to use just for the romantic aspect.....

Nice thread, Matthew. Giving praise to others is the sign of a generous soul.....and someone who is of high character!

[greglepore]

Jim Algeo. Our Catholic HS football coach and typing teacher. Everyone called him Kooba behind his back because in the late 60's some poor kid showed up for practice with hair below the helmet, and he told him to get back to Kooba (Cuba) where he belonged.
He nearly thew me out for reading Rolling Stone before class.

[Scott Douglas]

I can't remember who I had for typing in junior high. Give me a break it was 1963+/-1 yr.
I do remember getting up to all of 15 words per minute or there about. Today I'm not much better but am glad I don't have to hunt 'n peck.
My wife never took typing as she didn't want to get 'classified' as a secretarial type of girl. She is pretty good at hunt 'n peck though.

[LWJ]

The only C grade I earned in HS.

Today? I have hit 90 wpm on occasion.

[matthewb0051]

I'll add this: during my first military school to learn how to be an intelligence analyst (photographic) we had to take a typing class/test. It lasted several weeks and you could graduate with 20 wpm. Alternatively you could test out on Day 1 at 20 wpm and skip half a day of training every day until everyone passed.

I tested out on Day 1 and was able to do what I wanted for half of the duty day. It was brilliant.

[stevej37]

I took 2 semesters of typing in 1970. We didn't have electric ones yet...I think I finiished in the 45-50 range.

It was one of the most worthwhile classes I took in HS.

[ToySnakePMC]

Too funny. At the age of 57, I think back every now and then to my HS days. Took Mrs Speight's typing class on our IBM selectrics. You were not allowed to look down at your hands as you typed away... Having learned this skill has made my life much easier since, that's for sure. Funny to think back that as a 17 yr-old I would finish typing class, skip final class of the day, and drive my school bus to go pick up the elementary kids on the first route and then back to the Junior High school and haul that bus load home. Think we made $185 a month driving a North Carolina pubic school bus. Mine was an INTL with 4 speed manual in the floor - just as any good truck would have had back in the early 80's...

[GH85Carrera]

I was the third week into my typing class when my brother broke my arm in a fight. It is just impossible to type with your arm in a 90 degree angle cast.

I had to teach myself to type when I got my first computer and I am a visual two finger typist now.

I am NOT a Hunting Pecker!

I know where the keys are, but I still have to look at the keyboard to type.

[Tobra]

Yes, learned to type in high school. Fairly certain the typing teacher was a child molester.

[McLovin]

Typing was an elective at my junior high.
I never would have thought of taking it, but my mom highly suggested it.
Very glad I took it! A very valuable skill.

[stevej37]

^^^ yes..it should be required.
Once a person learns the home keys...practice makes it easy.

[McLovin]

I hadn’t actually thought about typing in years, but it is an amazing skill.
Just think of the words and they magically appear on the screen.

[Evans, Marv]

I took a summer school typing class in 1959 for something easy. It's served me incredibly well ever since. I can still remember the clatter of all those typewriters during that class.

[Tobra]

It was not optional when I went to school

[wildthing]

I watched my father type, and he taught me the basics. My kids now complain that I type too loudly. I had to tell them about the old days when you really needed to strike the keys hard.