When I was in high school, Title IX was still a reasonably new thing, and many classes were still segregated by sex, not because it was a rule any longer, because it couldn't be, but because social norms took a long time to catch up with the new regulations: boys took shop and woodworking classes, girls took home ec and learned to sew and cook, and only one or two students were "brave" enough to cross the gender line.
It was spring of my junior year in high school, and I was selecting my classes for my senior year with my guidance counselor, and we got into a bit of a disagreement over one of the classes I chose. I had to take typing, which I had avoided thus far, so I signed up for Personal Typing, but my counselor told me I couldn't take that; it was for boys to learn the keyboard, but GIRLS needed to take a full year of typing, so they could become secretaries some day.
"I will NEVER be a secretary!" I announced, but my counselor wouldn't budge, and into the full year of typing I went, and I tried, I really did, but once we were past learning the keyboard, my typing ability went into a downward spiral, as did my grade, and I was failing, FAILING, every assignment I was given (you may not know this, but it is possible to type negative words per minute when you can't complete an assignment without making multiple mistakes), and the teacher began telling us how we were going to be using carbon paper starting second semester, and that's all I needed to hear.
"Get me OUT of there!" I said to my counselor, and even she had to agree that I wasn't Typing material and would have been better off with the boys in Personal Typing, and she took me out of the class (much to the delight of the teacher, I'm sure) and I got to work as an aide in the library for the rest of the year.
And I'm not sure who had the last laugh, but around 7 years later, I became a legal secretary and was able to type over 100 words per minute after about a year at it, even with heavy use of the backspace....
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Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge's Blog for Six Sentence Stories with the prompt "type"
"I will NEVER be a secretary!" Oh, how that echoes from my own past, lol.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting out of the class. I never took a typing or home ec class the entire time in high school :D Working in the library would have been my preference.
Damn, girl! 100 wpm with backspacing? I totally believe it :)
Nice to have you back at the SSS :)
Those words really came back to bite me in the butt! I never took a real home ec class, but I did take a couple of goofy ones that counted as a home ec credit (Child Development and something called Marriage & the Family). I also only took the bare minimum of science and math, which was one credit of science and two of math, and the rest of my schedule was all English and drama and music and nothing with a bit of meat to it. And thank you! Good to be back! Glad you didn't give up on me!
DeleteWhat is that they say, "Never say never" . . . Nothing like having to eat one's words, but what a tremendous come back! 100 WPM! Wow!
ReplyDeleteGreat SSS.
Thanks! Who knew I would ever amount to anything in the secretarial world?!
DeleteI failed typing twice. I never had call to use it in my chosen professions, however I write like an unleashed demon in my personal life, and even though I type, 'my way', I am both fast and accurate.. What they hay did they know anyway.... Excellent six!
ReplyDeleteThank you! All I wanted to do was learn the keyboard, which I did. I think the reason I got so fast was because the faster I typed it, the faster I was done with it!
Delete100 words a minute is phenomenal!:D
ReplyDeleteNice story!!
Thanks so much! I don't think I could anywhere near break 100 now.
DeleteWOW 100 WPM! I took typing for maybe 2 years plus college typing for accounting school. I think I type faster now as back then I kept looking at the keyboard. It's taken years to get to the natural way to type. I am glad you were able to get to what you needed without those noisy classes.
ReplyDeleteOur keyboard in typing class had the keys covered. You HAD to learn the keyboard, which I actually did, but my accuracy was a little less than ideal! I used to rip the paper out of the typewriter and wad it up and throw it on the floor and stomp my feet and sometimes cry. The teacher kept her distance and was probably thrilled when I transferred out!
Deleteno! (I am not young enough to remember in high school there were three curricula: Vocational, Business and College... business majors got to learn to type)
ReplyDeleteGuess which high school skill I value highest (hint: peck---peck---backspace---peck)
Fun Six, yo
Learning the keyboard was useful, but that stupid carbon paper would never have been; by the time I became a legal secretary, they had word processors and selectrix typewriters and xerox machines!
DeleteI figured you were a hunt and peck kinda guy.
Ah, the good old days, when typing was for girls, for "womanly" careers. (Although I spend several years as a secretary, and it does require certain skill sets to be an invaluable one, ya know, the kind who actually runs the place.) I remember having to learn on the manual typewriter, with carbon paper...ugh! But my last typing test, I hit 122 wpm. Not bad for an old broad! Good six, nice trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteOther than the keyboard, I didn't learn anything in typing class except how to center a heading by putting the carriage in the middle of the paper and backspacing every other letter. Like my teacher education program, typing class did NOT prepare me for any kind of office job any more than the teaching degree prepared me to teach. On the job is the only way to get either of those skill sets! 122 wpm?! I bow to you!
DeleteI took typing in high school and learned to type minimally fast. It wasn't until I started spending lots of time on the computer that my speed took off. I could do 90 words a minute at one point. I also took sewing. I took cooking in jr. high school and also sewing. I wanted to take shop but never had the chance until I was in my 40s and took an adult ed class and made two doll houses for my kids.
ReplyDeleteWe had to take home ec in 7th and 8th grade, but it was only a semester each year, half of it sewing and half cooking. 9th grade, you had the option to take drama instead of home ec, and I did. I still don't know how to do any woodworking, so good for you to make dollhouses for your kids!
DeleteI took typing and shorthand, never used the shorthand but I was pretty good at it. Typing came easily to me and I did use it quite a bit after high school in various secretarial and computer jobs. My first job was a telex operator which was sorta a pain in the ass cause if you made a mistake you couldn't backspace, you had to start all over again. Didn't stay in that job for very long. Anyways enough of my rambling. Great Six.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan! I can't imagine learning shorthand! Ugh! One of the attorneys I worked for would sometimes come out of his office needing something right away and would say "Stick a piece of paper in the typewriter" and then would proceed to dictate some urgent letter or court document. Used to make me a nervous wreck, but I could keep up with him!
DeleteOh P.S. I've moved over to WordPress but still have my blogs too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know! I'm getting a little frustrated with Blogger but I don't know what I'd do about it.
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