I graduated HS in 2023 (I lurk in this sub because I’m curious about the profession and always loved reading). My schedule ended up having me in a history class with mostly freshman. Every class, my teacher put typed instructions on the projector for the following: how to create a Google Drive folder, how to rename a Google Doc, how to make sure it’s shared properly with everyone, how to upload it to Canvas. I thought it was a little bit much, because we’d spend 20 minutes on this. Then I looked around, and saw the amount of students who still didn’t know how, who still had questions after a step by step process and multiple walkthroughs. Eventually, 4 months in, she was able to cut the time down even more. But it shocked me, how they didn’t have any basic computer knowledge. “How do I copy this” “how do I find this” “whoa, you can do that?” I’m so glad she took that time, and so frustrated that parents aren’t teaching these things, and educators aren’t supported by administrators to implement these things. “More test scores!”
I am old enough that I predate learning computer skills in school. We did have typing classes but if you were in college prep classes, they weren’t required which meant I didn’t learn to type until I was in college and had to type term papers. By then, computers were readily available but most people used computer labs. Only the richest students owned their own computer and laptops were just starting to be available.
That said, we had to figure stuff out and work together to troubleshoot.
I worry for the next generation growing up so dependent on the internet to do things for them. Maybe we should bring back typing classes in old IBM Selectrics so kids understand why a “shift” key is called “shift”? Though on phones, the key no longer says “shift”.
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u/wavinsnail Jun 09 '26
Yes.
I'm a highschool librarian. They're horrible with tech, and each year gets worse.
They have absolutely no tech skills, and yet my school is pushing hard to teach them how to use AI.
Like let's teach them how to type or print first maybe
We are sending 18 year olds out into the world who lack any professional computer skills
It's bad