The History of Science and Technology Timeline Begins in Typing Class

It would not have been difficult twenty-five years ago to explain to anybody interested that the most important subjects in school were reading, writing and arithmetic. If you were good at math, today you might be able to decipher Keating economics. Keating economics is a mystery to most people with graduate degrees in advanced accounting principles. You had to know how to read because everything you were doing in school required an ability to read. Not to mention, everything in life that would follow. As children, the parents of Barack Obama learned how to read and today their son is running for President of the United States. Finally, writing was critical for all forms of communication and expression. Our political leaders have been able to write down the description of different types of governments and look how far that has taken them.

What I never would have been able to tell you back during the days I spent in junior high, was that I was going to be learning the most important skill necessary for my future years in typing class. My typing teacher was a monster. When she sat at her desk, eating or otherwise, she was able to create what is best described as bizarre Arnold Schwarzenegger sounds. A series of muffled grunts and exclamations with a hint of Austrian accent would have her appearing to always be passing some kind of stone or other by-product. I couldn't exactly tell you where she was from except that I'm pretty sure it wasn't anywhere near my neighbourhood.