A shocking number of schools never actually teach typing or a lot of computer skills. Either kids are "too young", or they assume the kids already know it. So you end up with kids who are doing a whole series of spaces or tabs to get to the next line, or hitting caps lock for a single letter, and type with 3 fingers like a TRex.

I don’t know if she ever used that particular skill professionally, but she thought it would be useful snd set herself to acquire it.

I love that. I always thought shorthand was so cool, but I never learned it. Also fascinated by court reporters and stenography.

I took a typing class in 10th grade for grins, and it's probably one of the most useful skills I've learned, honestly. I kind of slacked when we got to the numbers and symbols, so I still have to cheat with those a lot, which is annoying. Every once in a while I set out to fix that, but I've never stuck to it.

I've been a full touch typist since 7th grade. I think it's one of the most valuable skills I picked up in all of Jr. High School.

A group of us students from all three disciplines (Theater, Dance, Music) petitioned the Dean to have classes in practical survival subjects, like shopping and cooking on a budget, typing and to-date basic computer skills, tips on job hunting and interviews, etc. His response?

"We are training artists here. If we do that right, you won't need ordinary jobs to support yourselves."

I taught myself to type on a tank of an old electric typewriter borrowed from the secretarial training lab at the community college where I wound up in an office, typing and filing.

I noticed a lot of younger co workers aren't familiar with the keypad. So when they have to type in their employee number and password (which we have to do for every transaction) it can take them longer because they rely on the numbers above the letters.

Then a few of them mentioned they mostly use laptops that don't have number pad.

I think it took two classes before I was truly comfortable touch-typing -- one in high school, the other after (during?) college. Later on I got jobs doing data entry -- and then started to learn programming and my speed really took off, because that's pretty much what you do all day, in between screaming at functions that don't work.

Interestingly, I don't actually spell out the letters as I type -- I think "with my fingers" so that I'm pulling up the muscle twitches ("right forefinger to upper right = t") automatically. I only have to slow down to type words that I don't know by heart.

Oh my, Beverly! I was sure that the boys had basic cooking, typing, and other life skills because I was ill equipped when I moved out. My stay at home mom did everything. We did dishes and maybe pealed potatoes, but I had no clue how to actually cook. I didn't know how to keep a checking account and pay bills. I barely knew how to do laundry. My first husband was 9 years older than me and he always said he trained me, in a totally affectionate way. But he really did. He taught me all the basic taking care of a household life skills. I wasn't going to let the boys go out into the world so ill prepared.

I never had a typing class. I laboriously typed on a manual typewriter in high school when I had to. In college I got access to computers and developed a one handed typing style where I would hold my handwritten ms in my left hand to read and type with my right hand. Worked surprisingly well

Because I worked in grocery BEFORE scanning, I am so good with the number pad. I HATE the laptop because there is no number pad, and I bought myself a keyboard for my Mac that had one. The drawback is that sometimes I misdial phone numbers because it is upside down.

My reference for shorthand is the Perry Mason novels, where Della Street is always taking dictation or notes in shorthand.