Not to diminish the rest of your comment, but your mention of an IBM Selectric sure brought back a flood of memories. What an amazing piece of machinery/technology that was! I still wish I could get a keyboard for my PC that was built like one of those Selectrics instead of the cheap plastic crap that is out today.
At 52, I suspect I’m probably one of the last generation who actually took typing classes and learned on a Selectric back in high school. Actually took it in summer school as I couldn’t fit it into my schedule during the year. As I’ve been in IT since college, it sure has been a blessing to know how to type efficiently.
Sorry for the thread distraction...
:-) you’re just a wee youngster!
My husband, same age, same high school, never took typing and suffered for it when computers came around. He is a self taught C programmer and hunt and pecked the keyboard writing computer code, it was rough. I think he has his own system now, but not the one I learned. I can probably still type 90 to 100 words a minute.
They did encourage girls to take woodshop and I took them up on it, first girl in wood shop in my school in 1970.
I’m 68, and the typewriters we had for class were all manual machines.
I took typing LONG before that; before electricity.
(Sure had a nice girl/boy ratio there!)