Let's Revive Pitman's Typing Skill

The New Paper has posted a question as to whether youngsters should learn some typing in school.

As more and more school children now have access to the computer, it is definitely a bonus if they could have the chance to learn Pitman's typing skills. After all, the computer keys have the same keys (perhaps) more than the original manual typewriter. If the school children can improve their typing speed, it translates into saving a lot of time over the years.

I learnt Pitman's Shorthand and Typewriting when I was doing a Secretarial Course, I passed with 84 wpm on a manual typewriter, and through the three years of working as a legal secretary my typing speed improved. Now that it is the computer, my speed is even faster - about 130 to 150 wpm.

It only suddenly dawned on me how fast I was typing one day when a group of students surrounded me when I was typing at an internet cafe at Hotel Meridien. "Aiyo, Aunty, so scary.....you type so fast", one of them remarked. I told the kids that they should take up Pitman's Typing course.

"What's that? one of them asked.

Before I could reply, one of them said, "I know. My mother told me about it. She also learnt to type with Pitman's method."

"There, you have the answer!" I smiled.

It only takes about three to six months to learn Pitman's typing skill. Of course, one's skill will improve more with practice. On hindsight, I am grateful for working in a legal firm where the
work was so demanding. Very often, we had a group of clients waiting for their agreement to be ready, and it was painstaking if we made an error. For it would imply having to erase some four to five times because of the carbon copies. Thank God for computers today!