Formal Training?

[Richard]

I took 2 semesters of typing in HS.

Two reasons:
1- I was 1 of 2 males in the class.
2- Typing teacher had a white 67 Malibu and I was trying to get her to sell it to me.

End result - no girls and no car. But I did get a skill I have used for 43+ years so far. That's fair, I guess.

Yeah, but fess up....how good were you?

Two males in my 8th grade typing class. Myself and a fairly obese guy who was SMOKING if he could type 2 words/minute.

Therefore, I was the fastest male typest in the class....and but for a cute gal Alison who sat a row or two over, I would have been the fastest person in the class at 83 WPM.

Teacher came over and stated to me "you play the piano, don't you". Answer was no, but I had taken several years of lessons. She said she can spot them in a moment because of the hand coordination.

Today I can type pretty darn fast.....but can't play chopsticks. I'd be as happy if I were a slower typer BUT, could play something on the piano.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, but fess up....how good were you?

Two males in my 8th grade typing class. Myself and a fairly obese guy who was SMOKING if he could type 2 words/minute.

Therefore, I was the fastest male typest in the class....and but for a cute gal Alison who sat a row or two over, I would have been the fastest person in the class at 83 WPM.

Teacher came over and stated to me "you play the piano, don't you". Answer was no, but I had taken several years of lessons. She said she can spot them in a moment because of the hand coordination.

Today I can type pretty darn fast.....but can't play chopsticks. I'd be as happy if I were a slower typer BUT, could play something on the piano.

I topped out at high 40's with 100% accuracy.

I worked with a woman at the newspaper who was ranked in the top 20 world wide. She'd go to contests. Crazy to watch her type. Her job was to enter all of the legal advertising ads in the paper. Pages and pages back then. And, she did Obits.

 

[MoKelly]

A friend of mine in high school took a typing class.

We all made fun of him.

He then started dating one of the cutest girls. Got to sit by her in typing class.

He was a dog - but a clever dog.

To this day he can’t type.

MoKelly

 

[Williy]

I took typing in HS the gal next to me with long
slender fingers was typing 120 words a minute
and I asked her if we could trade typewriters as
mine didn't go as fast as hers. I was able to type
80 words a minute for 10 minutes with no errors.
Bookkeeping & Accounting plus typing was all I
learned in the last 6 years of school. Too many
coaches and all someone had to say "what happen in such & such a game" and that's all you heard! HS in Fond du Lac, WI you could learn how to play golf, tennis, basketball baseball, archery cross country skiing, ping pong, pool, foot ball, soccer, hockey, volley ball, handball, hockey, badminton, gymnastics and I probably missed some now my question is how do they make a living with the knowledge of sports??? Also when do they have time to study or maybe the necessity of a real education is no longer taught in school??? Is this the reason kids can't read or know how to add and subtract without a calculator? A lot of kids getting out of school
could not tell you any thing about the history
of the GOOD OLE U.S.A. Example when was
the WAR of 1812? kids answer 17 something
Who fought in the civil war? United States and
France

willy

 

[ultrarunner]

Self taught but started at age 4 steering down and back hay windows... best summer ever.

Attended inner city high school and no shop classes and driver training ended just before I was old enough

Started at 12 washing cars every Saturday for a car Dealership... then I was getting keys and starting cars and then moving them around the lot and filling tanks...

The owner saw me one day and called me into the office and told me who said I could drive... I said no one, only helping out... he asked where I learned and I said haying on Grandparents farm... after silence he said don't screw up!

Logged hundreds of hours parking before I ever drove on a highway?

Put my nephew on the Dozer at 12 and he was a natural... said video games!!!

Add me to the High School typing club... It was regular typing and got an A... no mistakes and lowest WPM to make it and she was tough, no non-sense and first day said anyone not serious should leave.

Always read the manuals and apply the tips on tractors... lots of useful info.

 

[ultrarunner]

Question for those driving on the road pre 16... what did you do for insurance?

 

[grsthegreat]

Funny, i operated dozers for years before i took flying lessons. My instructor was amazed how quickly i picked up flying. Dozer work tied my hand and foot coordination to a point most people didnt have when learning to fly.

 

[bigtiller]

Question for those driving on the road pre 16... what did you do for insurance?

Dad said I had to have insurance before I bought my car and I had to pay for it. So when I was nearly 15, I paid $50 for my '53 Chevy and bought 6 months of liability insurance which left me just enough for a tank of gas.

Back in the 60's insurance was cheap. Or at least it was cheap enough that I don't remember complaining about it.

 

[MossRoad]

Question for those driving on the road pre 16... what did you do for insurance?

I got my learners permit the day after I turned 15 in February. They'd give it to you if you were already enrolled in a driver's ed course. I was, but it wasn't until June that it would start. Didn't matter. You could drive with a licensed driver over age 21 in the front seat next to you. I drove with my folks everywhere in both of our cars ( 74 VW bus and a 71 Nova. both manual transmissions) as often as possible. By the time I took driver's ed, I was very comfortable behind the wheel on the roads. The instructor gave me a waiver, which meant I didn't have to take a driver's test when I got my license. Just had to take a written test. At 16 a month and a day I got my license. At that time I'd already had about 13 months and 12,000+ miles on the road.

As for insurance, in Indiana at least, it is not required for a minor with a learner's permit as long as the owner of the car has insurance. They are automatically covered. Once they get their license, they need insurance. It was the same way for both of our children when they got their leaner's permits in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

 

[Sportsman762]

I never had formal training for operating anything. Started mowing with a dixon zero turn when I was in second grade as soon as I weighed enough to keep the seat safety switch down. I was 12 before father would let me run the Ford 8N tractor. I worked for a neighbor who had a small import company. I taught myself how to run the Clark forklift. In college I worked grounds keeping, and though I had gone to heaven driving the TC40 with hydrostatic transmission. So much easier to use. I was the only student allowed to run equipment other than the Kubota RTV 900's. A few years after that I got a job working at a farm and got to run larger equipment. It was all older stuff, no powershifts, or anything nice. Most everything had a cab, but no AC.

I still marvel at a good operator, my one friend was plowing, and I was discing, and he could lift the front of the 4 bottom plow then the back in such a way that the edge of the field was straight. I have a long way before I get there. The only formal training I have had was to drive a car.

I do watch some videos to get tips from the Pro's and read NOISH reports to understand what can go wrong. NOISH reports are never fun to read, but I think that they make you more cognoscente of the dangers that come from doing something other than being an armchair jockey on the internet.