As I watched my teenage daughter clattering away on the keyboard of her laptop this week, blissfully unaware of my casual observation, I realized one very important thing: She typed with two fingers.
Now, I’m aware she types with two fingers. This is not a new thing. Since she’s been using a computer on a regular basis (for a few years now), I’ve offered to teach her the ten-fingered method that lets writers race along at the speed of light. That’s the proper way to type; might as well do it right, yes?
No. Teens are extremely resistant to parental offerings of help. They know everything. We are stupid. My daughter protested that she could type perfectly well and there was no need to learn a different way (and definitely not from Dad). She was just as fast as I can be when typing. It was true, too. We tested the theory (because I always need proof).
So I let the matter drop a few years back, sighing and shaking my head. It has occurred to me, though, that many people don’t know how to type properly. That skill is still a bit of a wonder, and proof of it is when people ask me, “You don’t have to look at your fingers when you type?” No, I don’t. In fact, I can watch television and type at the same time, and my sentences make absolute sense. (I don’t think that’s a skill though – I’m not sure what that is.)
My thoughts led to those people who have kids surrounded by computers, keyboards, and technology who don’t know how to type and so cannot teach their children. In my mind, the task of teaching typing falls to the schools, then. After all, that’s where I learned to type – second year of high school.
Casually, I asked, “When will they teach typing in school?” She gave me a funny look and informed me they don’t. In the five years she will attend high school, no one will teach her to type. Yet, the school has computers for student use, expects them to use the computers to work on, and assigns homework that must be submitted in typed format. My daughter will go on to CEGEP (the
Huh?
My daughter lives in a technological world increasingly dependent on the typed word, computer modules and keyboards to communicate, and yet no one will be teaching her how to type to ensure her ability to work with these machines. They will teach her math and economics, geography and social studies, and they will teach her music, drama and art. They will teach her to cook a meal and sew a skirt (yes, home economics still exists). They will teach her to read, write and spell…
But not to type.
As this realization hits me and I am faced with the problem of convincing a stubborn, willful teen she really does need ten fingers to type and that yes, she has to take lessons from Daddy, I hear a noise. It sounds like tapping.
I look away from my daughter, the glow of the laptop screen highlighting her face as she chats happily via IM to her friends, and turn to the source of the noise. My other daughter, a determined toddler who will definitely lead her kindergarten class with imperious rule, is tapping letters on an old keyboard. “I make letters, too, Daddy,” she states. “M, B, E, D, C…”
“That’s right,” I nod. “You are making letters.” A last glance at my teen, and I go to join my toddler on the floor. “Put your fingers here, honey. Then you can make letters faster…”
i am trying to learn how to type alot faster cause all my friends at school have a computer that they use to carry around and they type really fast without looking at the keyboard i have to look and i cant type fast so i need some help
Hey Kelsie,
Good on you to want to learn to type faster and better. Most of your friends are probably learning on the fly and doing it with two fingers – but honestly? If you learned to type the right way, you’d be typing way faster than they could.
If you search for ‘free typing lessons’ or ‘free typing games’, you’ll find tons of links. It’s mostly practice, so find something that’s fun for you to work on.
If you have a little bit of money or your parents are willing to pitch in, check out Mavis Beacon’s software. It’s not expensive and it’s worth it.
And you know what? It’s not hard to learn to type and it doesn’t take long. Hang in there!
For me, it is hard to learn to type. I have tried many programs, but have made no progress.
My excuse is “I am not wired for typing”. I know, it’s a lame excuse.
In high school I didn’t take a typing course because that was part of the business curriculum, and I was math/science major. In those days,, there was no typewriter or any keyboard in the house. Finding one to use was also hard. When I went to college, I found typewriters commonly available, but no instruction was available. The attitude ot my liberal arts college seemed to be, don’t let a typewriter stifle your creativtity.
I have been using personal computers for many years now, but still use the hunt and peck method to get my message across. It’s a fast hunt and peck using more than two fingers, but definately not touch typing.
It takes me 5 times as long to write as it should, so I really want to learn to type. I have tried Mavis Beacon and a few others, and jsut become frustrated.
Any suggestions?
I started with 2 finger typing and I automatically graduated slowly to multi-finger typing but not ten finger typing. I still occasionally have to look at the keyboard or make mistakes when I am not looking. I can type really fast but my accuracy tends to decrease with speed if I am not looking. For long sessions it is rather painful to the eyes and tiring. So yes, learning to type at young age is beneficial and recommended. Show her this comment if you like.
.-= Angsuman Chakraborty´s last blog ..Software Testing Methodology in Brief =-.
I learned correct finger placement about the same time I learned to write on paper, but never typed enough to memorize the keyboard to touch type till about a year and a half ago when I started using email, forums, IM, et cetra. So, since I knew finger placement the world became my practice and within a matter of months I could touch type confidently and quickly. Makes me pretty grateful to my Mom for teaching me that, even though I had no use for it at the time. And now that I’m in the teen years and am inclined to reject authority it serves as a prime example that my parents really can see farther down the road than I can.
Dominus Vobiscum
Jackson
.-= Jackson4Christ´s last blog ..You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society. =-.
Hi James, found your blog while googling.
Let me share you my experience about this. Last year our school started a new elective subject ‘Typing’. All the student were laughing, they gave their comments like “We don’t need typing lessons, we know how to type” and some other comments.
And then I challenged them, and 19 students joined that subject. And they found out that they actually can’t type that fast as they said before. But after joining that class, about three months later, they realized that they have improved their typing skill a lot! After one semester 17 out of 19 students can type without looking at the keyboard. How convenient!
My suggestion to the schools, give them typing class. It’s fun and it works!
I am trying to learn to touch type, after failing multiple times over the years. I tried to learn as a teen, but to no avail. I am trying now and have actually made more progress then ever before. I still look sometimes and I find that I am not any faster and still make plenty of mistakes. Still, it would be nice to be able to type without needing to look at the keyboard.
I cant type with ten fingers, BUT I started typing with 2 fingers and over the years i’ve got so much more proficient, I type with more than 2 fingers now, and can type without thinking about it. I don’t think this is really an issue, if people spend a lot of time typing they will find there own style that they are fine with. And if they don’t spend a lot of time typing, it doesn’t matter anyway.