Were there typing lessons for girls in schools in 1966

benbradley said:

They let GUYS take typing class in the 1960's???

Click to expand...

My typing classes were for both boys and girls. (Public high school, small town.) Boys went to business college and many men at that time could type and did type some of their own correspondence. Also, boys who were going to college for 'journalism' or writing would need to know how to type. I do not recall typing being considered a 'girls only' class.

But shorthand? My shorthand class (Gregg shorthand, which I can still write) was all girls. These girls were going to secretarial school after graduation. I took it because my mother insisted I take it.

I never used it for much (shorthand) though it gave me another way to look at writing, and speech and sounds, as Gregg is a phonetic method of writing.

benbradley said:

They let GUYS take typing class in the 1960's???

Click to expand...

Indeed they did.

I took typing for a semester in the early 60s--62, I believe--as an elective. Can't remember if we used electric or non-electric typewriters.

I did learn what the home row was and most of the basics of touch typing. It's been of some benefit to me in the long run.

We had it for Clerical/Secreterial and College prep in NJ (class of 66)

I carefully avoided it and still type with anywhere fro 1 to 4 or five fingers (avoided math too) as the mood hits me and wonder "What is a home row" ... is that the same as a neighborhood?

But yes, as you know by now, boys and girls had typing in HS in 66 in NJ

I graduated from public high school in 1951. We had Typing I and II, on manual typewriters, Gregg Shorthand I and II, and Bookkeeping I and II, along with home economics (sewing, cooking) for girls and auto mechanics and wood shop for boys. I don't remember boys in any of the "office" classes, but there was one boy in the Gregg shorthand class. He wanted to be a reporter.

Brings back lots of memories--working in offices on old manual typewriters with carbon paper, and those little round erasers with a brush to whisk away eraser dust. Lots of fun when I worked for the military and had to type six copies of everything, letter-perfect!

benbradley said:

They let GUYS take typing class in the 1960's???

Click to expand...

Mark Twain used a typewriter a bit, and so did nearly every writer who came after. Where do you think all these writers learned to touch type?

All of these stories about how everyone learned how to type and the different eras they were in high school are fascinating. Very helpful for a future story maybe! Anyway, I wasn't around in the '60s, but I first learned how to type on a large print manual typewriter that was about thirty to forty years old when I used it (this was 1990).

When I was high school (graduated in 1997), I took typing I and II. I knew I would do well in that class because my first vision teacher taught me on that old typewriter when I was 12. But my vision teacher in high school didn't think it would be wise for take Typing I and II. Well, I took it anyway and got A's in those classes. Today, I type about 70 - 80 wpm and do not look at the keys.

-Kristi

Yeah, those of us who really learned to touch type can burn up a keyboard. Believe it or not, it really helps when the thoughts are coming fast and furious in a story!

Oh yes! Sometimes you mind thinks faster than your fingers, though.

-Kristi