My parents bought an old second-hand typewriter, when I was in grade school, mostly just to play around with. I learned to hunt and peck on it. It was a complicated gadget and weighed a ton, similar to this one. Learned to type with all fingers in a personal typing class in high school.
I skipped out on too many typing classes in High School, so there for my typing consists of...right index finger and left thumb...no talent here..
The first time I turned a typed paper in for a class in elementary school (fourth or fifth grade), the teacher refused to accept it and came pretty close to accusing me of not doing my own work. I was furious because, while I was proud of having typed it, I was being accused of cheating. It was kind of like learning a subject very well and acing a test only to be accused of cheating. She never told me she had done that but I think my mom called her because she apologized to me in class. She still insisted that my work be handwritten rather than typed, but she said that it was because a part of the grade was based on penmanship. I considered arguing that she could judge my reports based on errors or the lack of them, but I decided to let it drop. I think I was in seventh grade before I could turn in typed papers.
Yes, I took a typing class in my senior year of high school as I knew I'd have to type my reports in college. To hire someone to do it for you can be an unnecessary expenditure. I had been given an Olivetti typewriter so I was set. Wish I still had it. Went everywhere with me.
I took typing my senior year in high school and bought myself a Smith Corona Portable with money as a movie theater doorman.
High school in the 1960s. I think ours were Olympics; they were manual only, no electrics allowed, though our business had IBM selectrics. Ive got the added skill, woohoo, of owning and using a music typewriter. Can’t touch type on that baby, however. I’ve used it to engrave more than 10 music books.
Do they teach keyboarding in school? No, not the musical keyboard. Learning to use the keyboard on a computer has to still be a plus in some professions. You can get a lot more done than you can by searching and pecking.
If you take a typing class, you learn the standard querty keyboard. Musical keyboards are completely different.