I am probably one of very few girls to escape a Texas high school in 1971, without ever learning to type. My mother begged me to take the standard class before it was too late, but I signed up for drama instead. I told her "I have no intention of ever being a secretary, so what's the point?" Of course, as we all know, that's just the kind of ignorant/arrogant statement that begs to come back and bite one in the ass!
High school was no big deal. Back then, teachers still gave you the option of typing or writing all your essays and papers. College, on the other hand, was a bit more problematic. My professors weren't about to waste their time trying to decipher a student's handwriting. At first I was quite proud of myself. Instead of being the co-ed that types all her boyfriend's papers for him, he was typing mine for me! Then he had the nerve to go and graduate halfway through my sophomore year, and I had to start paying someone to type them for me! That sucked. Especially for someone who was working multiple jobs to get through school.
If I'd had any clue about computers and how they would come to rule my world, I would have beaten a path to the nearest typing instructor. But of course, I didn't. The only computers I'd heard of then were massive things that filled up huge rooms, and were run by punch cards, not keyboards! No, it wasn't until we were married and living overseas that I finally met my comeuppance, and was forced to attend the Bahraini version of Mma Ramotswe's Kalahari Typing School for Men. It was exactly what I deserved.
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4 comments:
What on earth got you thinking about high school and not taking typing??!! Your post kicked off my memories of taking one semester of Gregg Shorthand and **hating** it. I was such a dork---Dictaphones were already in use by then. When was the last time you heard someone say: "Take a letter, Ms. Musing."
(guffawing to myself) ;-)
I have no idea. You just never know what's going to pop into my head out on the porch each morning. I was probably thinking about the aches and pains I get from spending too much time "typing" at the computer, and that, combined with all the pictures I've been sorting lately, including some from Bahrain, made me flashback to telling Mom I had no intention of spending my days typing!
We had the cutest typing teacher in high school. So, I took it with glee my junior year. I also became a pretty good typist in the the process - double win! :)
Unfortunately, having a cute guy teaching typing would have been unheard of back in my day. I might have considered it, were that the case.
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