Sandra Jones, one of my teacher friends who taught typing in the past, asked me if the old Royal typewriter was a manual or an electric? Duh? You’ve got to remember that this was in the early 1950s, and I don’t think there was any such thing as an electric typewriter in those days. You had to put some energy into every typing stroke in those days. You developed good finger muscles in the process.
My mother kept that typewriter for many years after I was gone from home. It finally broke down and was un-repairable, and I bought her one of those new fangled electric ones. That was back in about 1980, and I don’t believe she ever learned how to use it.
I realize that children can now “type” now from the beginning. It’s just something that comes in their DNA. They are either are at a keyboard or a cell phone keypad or some other new device that I’ve not heard about . . . from birth. That’s good. I’m sure that the future, for now, is still somehow tied to our finger muscles.
What about voice recognition. I’m sure it’s coming . . . soon!
2 comments:
The term that has been coined for our kids who have been born with technology at their fingertips is "digital native." We, on the other hand, are "digital immigrants." Much has been written on that subject in the field of education. That's why blogs, wikis, iPods, clickers, and the such are pouring into classrooms for educational purposes. This is one of the major thrusts of our superintendent this year.
There were electric typewriters in the 50's. They were built far far away in New York, and I don't think that by 1950 that they had found their way to Texas.
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