Re: Typing requirement in a tech writing ad - how to respond?

["Cheryl Wallace" <cwallace -at- costlink -dot- com>]

Typing (on typewriters! yes, electric) was available in Montreal high
schools in the late 70's and early 80's.  I know.  I forced myself through
two years of touch typing.  Tape over the keys, hands under the paper.  Data
enty was the only thing that cured me of looking at the keys - and got me
over the 35 wpm hump.


Cheryl


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "France Baril" <France -dot- Baril -at- ixiasoft -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Cc: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 9:36 AM
Subject: RE: Typing requirement in a tech writing ad - how to respond?


>
> Ok... well I know kids are now learning how to type now in high school,
but when I was there, it was not an option for women nor men. I think my
generation was between the dactylo age and the computer age.
>
> Is it just the vapors from all the chemicals in our new office, or am I
not making sense when I write this morning!?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulis -at- fiam -dot- net]
> Sent: 11 septembre, 2003 09:29
> To: France Baril
> Cc: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Re: Typing requirement in a tech writing ad - how to respond?
>
>
>
>
> France Baril wrote:
>
> >Why don't you just test your self at home? Find a text, retype it during
5 minutes and count the words and mistakes.
> >
> >As to why they are asking for this requirement, I'd say they want a woman
(men were not taught how to type until very recently)
> >
>
> France,
>
> I have no idea whether that is true in Quebec, but typing classes have
> been open to people of both sexes in all parts of the US that I'm
> familiar with for many decades. I took typing in the summer of 1961 and,
> while the instructor was a woman (as were most schoolteachers), the
> class was not predominantly female. My dad was not offered a typing
> class by the US Army in WW II only because his two-finger typing speed
> was high enough to pass the course exit exam (and so he never did learn
> to touch-type).
>
> Dick




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