Children should be taught to type in primary school

HeadPig

The amount of people who "hunt and peck" out there is pretty ridiculous. A typing class would be far more practical than a lot of the rubbish taught in primary schools.

Typing properly is faster and its better for your fingers. Like a lot of other things its easier to learn when you're younger rather than trying to get in the habit in later life.

Saila

r u aware of txting tho, dis wood kill it neway

General General

Children should be taught to read & write Chinese too.

bonerm

With the way tech is progressing I doubt 10-15 years from now anyone will be typing anything.

rebel10

As would learning Chinese.:rolleyes: They will need it in the future.
There are so many things that we need the kids to be taught, typing isin't really the most important.

Carl Sagan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVtw-ctzA7Q

How I learned.

dxhound2005

HeadPig wrote: »

The amount of people who "hunt and peck" out there is pretty ridiculous. A typing class would be far more practical than a lot of the rubbish taught in primary schools.

Typing properly is faster and its better for your fingers. Like a lot of other things its easier to learn when you're younger rather than trying to get in the habit in later life.

Fully agree. I learned to type to use teleprinters and telex machines. For a few years I did not have much use for it but when computers came in it was so useful. I don't see keyboards going out of use anytime soon.

HeadPig

bonerm wrote: »

With the way tech is progressing I doubt 10-15 years from now anyone will be typing anything.

What do you think will replace it?

flyaway.

I was taught to type in primary school.

Arnold Layne

Why should it be taught in schools since we now have "99%" broadband in the country according to the "green" party. This must mean everyone household has access to a PC.

IMO, kids should be taught Mandarin and Spanish instead of Irish as it opens up a vast percentage of the world to our future generation of emigrants.

Typing skills will allow them to remain in Ireland on the minimum wage, whatever that will be, but it won't be enough to sustain themselves.

Dean820

Sure most Irish teachers can't even type themselves. Never mind teach it.

HeadPig

Arnold Layne wrote: »

Why should it be taught in schools since we now have "99%" broadband in the country according to the "green" party. This must mean everyone household has access to a PC.

IMO, kids should be taught Mandarin and Spanish instead of Irish as it opens up a vast percentage of the world to our future generation of emigrants.

Typing skills will allow them to remain in Ireland on the minimum wage, whatever that will be, but it won't be enough to sustain themselves.

Teaching another language, although obviously useful, would require hours of work every day. Typing could be taught one hour a week for 1 year and that's it. A foreign language would need hours of schooling everyday for years.

partyatmygaff

We used to have computer classes every week from senior infants onwards in my primary school. The nearest thing we did to a typing class was a spelling program that happened to tell you your WPM.

IIRC my WPM progressed like this

6 years = 18-20WPM (Faster than my teacher despite not even having my own computer at home yet )
8 years = 25-28WPM
10 years = 32-35WPM
12 years = 40-42WPM
14 years = 50-60WPM
17 years = 90WPM (Measured two minutes ago )

I never took a single proper typing class. All it took was experience. For most, 30-40WPM is more than enough though.

rebel10

Dean820 wrote: »

Sure most Irish teachers can't even type themselves. Never mind teach it.

What a ridiculous assumption to make. I don't know anyone who has a degree that hasn't had to type up a 10,000 word thesis, can imagine how painful that would be if you hadn't the ability to type.
Jeebus, some people will just moan about everything

HeadPig

rebel10 wrote: »

What a ridiculous assumption to make. I don't know anyone who has a degree that hasn't had to type up a 10,000 word thesis, can imagine how painful that would be if you hadn't the ability to type.
Jeebus, some people will just moan about everything

TBH, he's probably right.

rebel10

HeadPig wrote: »

Teaching another language, although obviously useful, would require hours of work every day. Typing could be taught one hour a week for 1 year and that's it. A foreign language would need hours of schooling everyday for years.

But would be much more beneficial for our future workforce if they were able to speak the mother tongue of the new super powers

Ruu_Old

I had a typing teacher in primary school called Mavis Beacon.

AnneElizabeth

Why is everyone saying to learn Chinese? First of all it would be far too confusing for primary schoolers when they're still learning spellings, words and the alphabet in their own language and secondly if everyone speaks Chinese the other languages will die out. Let Irish die, but I like English

I agree with the OP though, typing is vital these days. though there are plans to get rid of the keyboard and mouse altogether in the future and find new ways to communicate to computers (like orally etc)

HeadPig

partyatmygaff wrote: »

We used to have computer classes every week from senior infants onwards in my primary school. The nearest thing we did to a typing class was a spelling program that happened to tell you your WPM.

IIRC my WPM progressed like this

6 years = 18-20WPM (Faster than my teacher despite not even having my own computer at home yet )
8 years = 25-28WPM
10 years = 32-35WPM
12 years = 40-42WPM
14 years = 50-60WPM
17 years = 90WPM (Measured two minutes ago )

I never took a single proper typing class. All it took was experience. For most, 30-40WPM is more than enough though.

I presume you type with proper form? Fingers on the home keys etc

rebel10

HeadPig wrote: »

TBH, he's probably right.

No, he is not probably right, any person who has qualified in the last 20 years has had to learn to type, so no I don't accept that

jaffa20

rebel10 wrote: »

What a ridiculous assumption to make. I don't know anyone who has a degree that hasn't had to type up a 10,000 word thesis, can imagine how painful that would be if you hadn't the ability to type.
Jeebus, some people will just moan about everything

Hmm, some people actually pay to have their essays typed in college!

DOC09UNAM

I had never used a computer until I turned 16.

By 17 I could touch type and was in a computer course in college.

If you're interested in it, you'll learn, it's the same as everything really.

rebel10

jaffa20 wrote: »

Hmm, some people actually pay to have their essays typed in college!

Yeah, because of the workload involved in it on top of all the college essays. You would be hard pushed to find a student now who hand writes their essays.

Copper23

HeadPig wrote: »

The amount of people who "hunt and peck" out there is pretty ridiculous. A typing class would be far more practical than a lot of the rubbish taught in primary schools.

Typing properly is faster and its better for your fingers. Like a lot of other things its easier to learn when you're younger rather than trying to get in the habit in later life.

I have to disagree... the longer we can keep "juveniles" from being let loose on the world of the internet the better.

partyatmygaff

HeadPig wrote: »

I presume you type with proper form? Fingers on the home keys etc

Yeah, I stopped search and hunting keys around the age of 8. The only time I ever do that now is when I'm using keyboards with strange layouts or different charactersets like a French AZERTY keyboard. Even then it doesn't take too long to get used to.

jaffa20

rebel10 wrote: »

Yeah, because of the workload involved in it on top of all the college essays. You would be hard pushed to find a student now who hand writes their essays.

No, you'd be surprised at the amount of mature students who pay to have their essays typed. I hardly see it as an issue anyway. It doesn't make them in any way less intelligent than somebody who can type.

partyatmygaff

jaffa20 wrote: »

No, you'd be surprised at the amount of mature students who pay to have their essays typed. I hardly see it as an issue anyway. It doesn't make them in any way less intelligent than somebody who can type.

It's a bit lazy though. Computers are used almost everywhere now and typing is very much a necessary skill.

Naikon

I have noticed three things over the years that have improved my typing. I can touch type now despite never attending lessons. Not the fastest in the world, but touch typing is really nice. Not sure if my typing conforms to "standards", but I tend to keep on the home row and just memorise each key/function. Oh, yes, these should be taught to every kid(earlier the better):pac:

1: How to download, install, and use Debian Linux(higher level pupils -> Gentoo/LFS)
2: How to properly use the vi/vim text editor
3: Type, type, TYPE!

If I was minister for Education, I would ensure every pupil can do the above before leaving school. Forget crap like Irish, tech skills will get you a job in the 21st century. Irish won't.

/awaits some flame
/fanboy

rebel10

jaffa20 wrote: »

No, you'd be surprised at the amount of mature students who pay to have their essays typed. I hardly see it as an issue anyway. It doesn't make them in any way less intelligent than somebody who can type.

I'm not talking about mature students, I'm talking about teachers who have qualified in the last 20 years. I believe its not something our country can afford right now anyway, can you imagine the amount of money needed to give each school at least 30 computers for the kids to work on. Mainly because they have them at home and with practice and help from parents they should have accomplished the basic skills once they reach secondary, where they do have computer classes. May i also add, its not just typing they will need, there are many other programmes they will probably need to be able to function before they enter the workforce.
But once again, there are other priorities for schools right now

partyatmygaff

rebel10 wrote: »

I'm not talking about mature students, I'm talking about teachers who have qualified in the last 20 years. I believe its not something our country can afford right now anyway, can you imagine the amount of money needed to give each school at least 30 computers for the kids to work on. Mainly because they have them at home and with practice and help from parents they should have accomplished the basic skills once they reach secondary, where they do have computer classes. May i also add, its not just typing they will need, there are many other programmes they will probably need to be able to function before they enter the workforce.
But once again, there are other priorities for schools right now

I've never heard of any secondary school holding computer classes (Barring 4th years). They should introduce an ICT subject for the Leaving Cert. I'd have taken it in a heartbeat.

Saila

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I've never heard of any secondary school holding computer classes (Barring 4th years). They should introduce an ICT subject for the Leaving Cert. I'd have taken it in a heartbeat.

mine did, so you have now :cool: