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Were there typing lessons for girls in schools in 1966
- Thread starter cooeedownunder
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My mother had typing classes in a podunk little MI town in the mid-1950's. My best friend had typing classes (there was an entire track of schooling for girls who wanted to become secretaries in her high school, actually) in 1967.
I'd say the odds are pretty good that 1966 is covered.
I'd say the odds are pretty good that 1966 is covered.
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Australia.
I was 9 and had classes at school in 1975 here.
I just thought of Mccardey...she might know.
I was 9 and had classes at school in 1975 here.
I just thought of Mccardey...she might know.
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In the US, there were typing classes in high school since I-don't-know-when. There was Typing I and Typing II, as I recall (I didn't go to high school in the 60s, but I'm familiar with what was offered in school then).
In the US yes, I know cause I took two years of typing in 68 and 69 and the program was well established.
I was the only guy in the class of about 30 girls. We used IBM Selectric's. They also taught punch card technology and teletyping, which is how the first computers operated. Because of these classes, when I went into the Navy I got communications instead of some swabby position, all because I knew how to type and input punch cards...
I also took Home Ec...
I was the only guy in the class of about 30 girls. We used IBM Selectric's. They also taught punch card technology and teletyping, which is how the first computers operated. Because of these classes, when I went into the Navy I got communications instead of some swabby position, all because I knew how to type and input punch cards...
I also took Home Ec...
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Alleycat, thanks for that. I didn't realise they had electric ones back then. Don't recall what my first one was later.
US -I graduated from high school in '62. There was a secretarial track offered - Typing I and II, Shorthand I and II, Business English, etc. No electric typewriters in the school. (Actually there were still some manual typewriters in the workplace when I started working - and no IBM Selectrics - Adlers, Smith Coronas for electrics then.) I would think Australia would have been similar. Puma
ETA: Pretty sure there were typing and shorthand classes offered when my siblings were in high school in the 40's. And, very small school, only about 8 or so kids in a grade.
ETA: Pretty sure there were typing and shorthand classes offered when my siblings were in high school in the 40's. And, very small school, only about 8 or so kids in a grade.
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Yep!
In both NZ and OZ, cooee, there were commercial classes which covered typing, shorthand and office proceedures. The clever kids were put in the academic classes, the others into commercial classes for girls only and the boys got trade classes.
In both NZ and OZ, cooee, there were commercial classes which covered typing, shorthand and office proceedures. The clever kids were put in the academic classes, the others into commercial classes for girls only and the boys got trade classes.
Australia.
I was 9 and had classes at school in 1975 here.
I just thought of Mccardey...she might know.
Oh good grief. mccardey would like to point out that she didn't finish high school, but that at the time she was there the electives were automotive maintenance and smoking in the dunnies. Effete studies like typing were for Private School Girls. She wasn't one of those....
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I wasn't talking about highschool, necessarily. Something then must have change in the slightly different periods, because I went to a public school and had a choice of typing at nine years of age in 1975 as a subject instead of sewing or something else - maybe gardening and I'm not joking
I wasn't talking about highschool, necessarily. Something then must have change in the slightly different periods, because I went to a public school and had a choice of typing at nine years of age in 1975 as a subject instead of sewing or something else - maybe gardening and I'm not joking
Maybe smoking in the dunnies....
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Nope. I was a good girl until I started smoking in the dunnies at 16 ANd I was serious, lol, about the other subject being gardening LOL
ANd I was serious, lol, about the other subject being gardening LOL
You're fine on your gardening Cooee. As pdr said, there were different tracks kids could take. Here in the US there was a college prep track, secretarial track, industrial arts (guys basically), home economics for girls, and vocational agriculture for guys. In my high school (class of about 75), there were about 10 of us in the college prep track (we even had two years of Latin), and the other 60 were pretty much equally divided between the other four tracks (this is/was a farming community). Sometimes kids would take classes from tracks they weren't in as an elective just to get the additional knowledge or skill.
So I'm not surprised at your sewing and gardening in elementary school. Puma
So I'm not surprised at your sewing and gardening in elementary school. Puma
My mother reports that in Toronto in 1966 typing was available as an elective for high school students of both genders in the academic stream and as a requirement for students in the commercial stream.
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Yes in the UK as well! Manual typewriters and the noise of thirty of them being used was horrendous. My mother taught typing and I learnt to touch type by going to the evening class she ran. The noise was unlike anything I had ever heard. Over all the noise though, my mothers voice rang out "keep your wrists up girls!"
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I took typing in a US high school in the mid- to late 1960s. Manual machines, a mix of Royals and Underwoods, about 25 or 30 students per class, mostly female. Many were mediocre students who knew they could always find work if they had secretarial skills. A few were interested in journalism or other writing or believed knowing how to type would help them in college, which it did.
They were serious about touch typing, no looking at the keys, and students who could not stop themselves from looking were sometimes assigned to a machine that had capped keys covering the letters.
We had timed self-tests several times a week, and our tests were just more of the same. I never got really fast, but considering that the strength of your fingers affected whether the character struck the paper hard enough to print properly, as well as to raise the platen(?) for capitals, I'm amazed so many of the students did type fast.
Small detail: The typing textbook was designed to stand up in an inverted V, like the materials being typed in one's future office would be. Its cover included a strap which snapped to the other cover, so it would not collapse as the table or typing stand shook with the typing.
Maryn, ancient crone
They were serious about touch typing, no looking at the keys, and students who could not stop themselves from looking were sometimes assigned to a machine that had capped keys covering the letters.
We had timed self-tests several times a week, and our tests were just more of the same. I never got really fast, but considering that the strength of your fingers affected whether the character struck the paper hard enough to print properly, as well as to raise the platen(?) for capitals, I'm amazed so many of the students did type fast.
Small detail: The typing textbook was designed to stand up in an inverted V, like the materials being typed in one's future office would be. Its cover included a strap which snapped to the other cover, so it would not collapse as the table or typing stand shook with the typing.
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I took personal typing, business typing and shorthand in my high school years (1966-1970) but was placed in the 'college track.' My counselor tried to dissuade me from taking business typing and shorthand. In college, I would need neither skill. Those skills were for girls who planned to be secretaries.
But my mother insisted I take them. She said, any girl who can type and take shorthand will never lack for a job.
She was correct about the typing. I never look at the keys on my PCs and type (write) damn fast.
But my mother insisted I take them. She said, any girl who can type and take shorthand will never lack for a job.
She was correct about the typing. I never look at the keys on my PCs and type (write) damn fast.
