The one shill that I learned in high school that I still use to this day is keyboarding aka typing. I took keyboarding in my senior year and it was undoubtedly the easiest class I took, but it's also the only skill that I can directly point to that I learned in high school that I'm still using today, right now in fact.
I used to touch type and I thought I was relatively good at it, but I realized that it's essentially impossible to touch type faster than 40 words per minute, which is quite slow once you learn to actually type. I can type like 65 wpm, and clowns like Max can type like 85.
When I used to write papers in college and grad school, and even now in writing this blog post, I find it pretty helpful to be able to type at roughly the speed that I can formulate the sentence in my head. I'm not going to win any world records or anything, but typing quickly is a good skill to have.
All you kids out there (Keith Hernandez/Shaun Pertab) you should learn how to type.
7 comments:
I agree, I just want to say I agree.
I often also say that typing was the most practical class I took in high school.
f-f-f space
j-j-j space
d-d-d space
k-k-k space
KKK???!!!
I never took typing, but I feel like I can write at a pretty decent clip.
For those of you who did take it, do you think you are faster now because of it, or did you just arrive at your current pace sooner than you would have if you didn't take it?
My point is just that I think given the amount of time we spend typing in a given day, you eventually pick up a fair amount of speed even without "formal" training.
ironically, the QWERTY-style keyboard was originally designed to SLOW your typing speed (b/c a typewriter's keys would jam if you typed too quickly). I guess it's too late to do anything about that now.
that is all.
i imagine most people these days are pretty decent typists b/c of the time we spend in front of the computer. i think it would be hard to teach yourself to 'touch type', which is a great convenience. b/c i can type without looking i can pretty much type as i think the words - which is really very convenient. i don't know maybe you can develop it but i find non-typing class people, as good as they may be still employ and 'hunt and peck' technique to some degree.
wow, my last comment seriously needs some grammar check. apparently i never learned where the comma key is.
I never took a typing class and I'd put my speed up against any of yours (except Max...he's like a typing savant!)
I think Brian's right. I "learned" to type without looking at the keyboard by spending years typing quickly while looking at the keys. Eventually, I just didn't need to look down anymore and it had nothing whatsoever to do with Paws (anyone remember that little gem from Lowell?) or Mr. Handschu ("Easy to say, hard to spell.")
How's that for some Teaneck nostalgia? Also, I think they must have skipped where the Shift key is in Luke's typing class...either that or his English teachers never stressed proper use of capitalization ;-)
I learned the same way Goldie did. I tried to learn the proper way but didn't have the patience.
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