Touch typing was eventually taught in high school.
Over the next few decades, international typing races-a sort of So You Think You Can Type? trend-were the craze. Afterwards, the inventor, Frank McGurrin, toured the country, performing his feat in front of large crowds. The winner, who used something called “home keys,” typed a then-astonishing 126 words per minute. In 1889, there was a “duel” between two teachers who claimed to have devised the best methods. There has been, since the late 19th century, a “right way” to type. I see many young people typing pretty fast, but some of them only use two fingers and no home keys…if there’s one “right way” to type…I don’t think many of us know it.”
YOUNG TECHNOLOGY ROSE DIAGRAM HOW TO
However, I think most of us never learned how to type. As one of my undergraduates at Oberlin College put it: “People from my generation grew up with a computer so they knew how to use one before entering junior high school. Many do not touch type, or type without looking at the keyboard by placing the fingers on the home keys (asdf jkl ). “The kids already know how to type,” the staff at my son’s school told us at curriculum night, “so we have decided to use computer time on something else.”īut how are kids typing? Most develop idiosyncratic, personalized hunt-and-peck methods. Most children start typing on cell phones and computers long before they take keyboarding classes, so many schools, noting this trend, have stopped teaching typing.