An Experiment To Determine The Contribution Of Speed Practice During First Year Typing To The Development Of Typewriting Skills

As head of the department of business training at the city high school the writer was faced with the fact that there was a wide gap between the skill acquired in the high school typing course and the skill needed by the typist to meet business production requirements. That this feeling toward the high school trainee was widely experienced was revealed through a cursory reading of the essays and reports of investigations of commercial educators. Recognition of deficiencies in typewriting skill was repeatedly given in magazines on business and economic education such as The Journal of Business Education, The Balance Sheet, and Business Education World. This feeling of dissatisfaction was reflected in books by authors in the field such as Blackstone, Viteles, Myers, and Andruss, as well as in the summary on typewriting reported in the Encyclopedia of Educational Research. Practical proof of the inadequacies of typist training was given in discussions with business men who attempted to work with high school trainees and by the writer's personal experience of thirteen years employment in the business world working with, and supervising the work of, typists.