[my mom made me take the class...I hated it because truly, I hate typing]...:))
In the mid-70s, our school electric typewriters were *so* hug and heavy they’d have killed you if they fell on you.
Hmm. I took typing as an elective in HS in the late 70s if only because I wanted to learn to touch type and I already had enough credits to graduate. I knew I was going to pursue a career in computers. Figured it would come in handy and it has :-).
We only had manual typewriters in the classroom and they DID teach us to use capital O and lowercase l for 0 and 1.
Oh, some modern ones. When I took typing, in '63-'54, we didn't have electric machines. And the "professional" sized manuals would kill you without falling on you, your hands would just fall off after a while, and you'd bleed to death. :)
My first "personal" typewriter was a "desktop" manual, for the practice. But we just rented that, from an office supply place ran by my Dad's first cousin. When we turned it back in, in favor of an electric portable, which is what I used through high school..and college.. and grad school, we got credit for our rental payments, although I think that was not standard practice if you didn't keep the same machine. However, I used a dumb terminal hooked to an IBM 360 to write my master's thesis. They had to put a special print chain on the printer, along with special bond paper, when I printed it out. Wasn't cheap either. The paper that is, they didn't charge for using the chain, or the labor to put it on and take it off. The software used was far from WYSIWYG, rather it used in line codes, sort of like html in a way, or really more like WordStar. We only had manual typewriters in the classroom and they DID teach us to use capital O and lowercase l for 0 and 1.
My wife, almost as OLD as I am, says she remembers them saying it was OK to do that, but she also remembers her mother, a former secretary, telling her NEVER to do that if your machine had the "1" and "0" characters. I take it she, my mother in law, thought it low class and unprofessional I guess. :)
By 11th grade, I had finished all the required credit classes and instead of bugging out early, I spent my senior year in the art/photography department.
I had no need of typing but mom insisted in case I became a secretary. [no way]
That wasn’t the weirdest class I ever had.
In my freshman year, I didn’t get all of my picks and wound up in the Engines & Motors class with 20+ guys.
I spent 3 months rebuilding carbs, seating valves and disassembling/reassembling motors, etc.
They all snickered at me for even being there...until I got the highest final grade in the class.
The next semester, I wound up in Home Ec...and quickly became “partners in crime” with the unfortunate lone guy in the class.
We burned a lot of food and neither of us could sew worth squat...:))