Education system out of touch

[wrobert]

So I am working to get my son started in High School next year. On the paperwork it tells me that all 9th graders will be enrolled in a required credit course, keyboarding, to teach them to type.

Yes I do believe the Walton County School District is a bit out of touch.

 

[Jdarg]

So I am working to get my son started in High School next year. On the paperwork it tells me that all 9th graders will be enrolled in a required credit course, keyboarding, to teach them to type.

Yes I do believe the Walton County School District is a bit out of touch.

Is this new? We didn't have to do this.

 

[seagrovegirl]

Kids type better than their parents..........access to the internet, texting,,,........let's teach them something they need to know....like reading.

 

[scooterbug44]

Big difference in familiarity w/ computers/texting and touch typing for speed and accuracy.

I had a required high school typing class and had to actually work so I didn't get a B, despite years of programming and computing experience!

Despite widespread internet use and texting I bet a good secretary can still leave those kids in the dust and it makes a big difference when writing term papers etc.

 

[hnooe]

Big difference in familiarity w/ computers/texting and touch typing for speed and accuracy.

I had a required high school typing class and had to actually work so I didn't get a B, despite years of programming and computing experience!

Despite widespread internet use and texting I bet a good secretary can still leave those kids in the dust and it makes a big difference when writing term papers etc.

100% correct--how many times this year will I say that on the heels of a SB44 post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your knowledge spans the generations.

 

[wrobert]

Is this new? We didn't have to do this.

They tell me that they are using it to meet a computer requirement. Who knows. I was required to take typing when I was in school, and later was happy I was made to do it. But I did not hang out every night banging on a typewriter like kids do today. And yes there is a proper way to type, but I have seen little interest in correcting behaviour already learned. Keyboarding should be taught a lot sooner than the 9th grade. I am hoping that there is more to this class than just practicing typing for a semester.

 

[scooterbug44]

I think we had a required typing class for one semester, then could take a computer science class for the 2nd credit instead of a 2nd typing/secretarial type class. Memory is a bit fuzzy as to just what a 2nd typing class entailed because that was back when the only color that showed on the screen was green and all the computers were apple 2s.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Do not know about high school, but at Gulf Coast CC the keyboarding class is much more than typing.
Speaking as an English tutor, I wish every student had keyboarding/computer skills. They need it for Research papers, and all the English instructors expect them to know how to format and present a paper in MLA style. The computer skill makes it much easier--the student who does not have the skill starts 'way behind the one who is proficient...

and there is a big difference in just knowing how to type, and knowing how to use a computer to set up a research paper or an essay in MLA format.

 

[NoHall]

So I am working to get my son started in High School next year. On the paperwork it tells me that all 9th graders will be enrolled in a required credit course, keyboarding, to teach them to type.

Yes I do believe the Walton County School District is a bit out of touch.

Big difference in familiarity w/ computers/texting and touch typing for speed and accuracy.

I had a required high school typing class and had to actually work so I didn't get a B, despite years of programming and computing experience!

Despite widespread internet use and texting I bet a good secretary can still leave those kids in the dust and it makes a big difference when writing term papers etc.

Do not know about high school, but at Gulf Coast CC the keyboarding class is much more than typing.
Speaking as an English tutor, I wish every student had keyboarding/computer skills. They need it for Research papers, and all the English instructors expect them to know how to format and present a paper in MLA style. The computer skill makes it much easier--the student who does not have the skill starts 'way behind the one who is proficient...

and there is a big difference in just knowing how to type, and knowing how to use a computer to set up a research paper or an essay in MLA format.

There is nothing more frustrating to me than watching a thoroughly-educated person hunt and peck to type a simple document because they don't know where to put their fingers on a keyboard.

Kids who type/text emails also use a shorthand that would not be acceptable in the business world. I get a LOT of emails, Facebook messages, and texts from kids, and their spelling (despite spell-check) and typos make me want to puke. (SoWal kids are excluded from this indictment, by the way.) Kids also use predictive text on phones, which is a whole other ballgame.

When I took keyboarding in high school, it was on a typewriter. Even so, I learned a ton about formatting that I'm using right this second. As Goodwitch says, they learn a lot more than just how to type on a QWERTY keyboard.

I'm in my final semesters of graduate school, and I have to take a computer technology class. It's a pain in the rear and (to some folks' way of thinking) a waste of $900. Even so, it's a good excuse for me to catch up on the tons of things I don't know.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I want them to learn keyboarding and reading and spelling and grammar and message development.

I am distressed that any high school in the U. S. is graduating a student who can not read or write a coherent sentence with the , and ;'s in the correct place.

This does a disservice to the student and to society in general.

Thank God the FCAT is losing its appeal...I wish every parent and every elected official could be forced to grade some of the papers I see every day...maybe then the parents would insist on a better education system for their children and the elected officials would no longer be able to pass such things as the FCAT.