Education Helps

While man did not evolve, education has evolved. In my "typing" class in 1974, IBM electric typewriters were just making their entrance. At the time, our business class was filled with manual typewriters and a few of the electric. My business teacher, Mrs. Helen Clements, required that we learn to type on both since it was uncertain where we would end up in our unforeseen futures. By the time I graduated, we had to type 90 error-free words per minute to make an "A" on our cardstock report cards. Mrs. Clements was amazing, and I had advanced even beyond the 90 wpm's and gone to Miami for national competition.

Times have changed. A student that I taught in the 1980s came back several years after he had graduated and asked that I help him refresh his typing skill for a job he wanted at a major airline. He said he needed to type 30 words per minute to get the job. Thirty? I was shocked and asked him, "Do they know they could hire one person who types 90 words a minute and save two salaries?"

Having taught for forty-plus years, I've seen the evolution--in both the skill and knowledge of today's young people. The by-gone days are...gone; and the challenge is real to reach students' minds and hearts. While change is inevitable and even welcome, it's imperative to understand that knowledge begins with God and His Word (Proverbs 1:7) and must be ongoing while we are teaching academics. When education is kept in perspective, wisdom comes alongside. What an important job educators have in this twenty-first century!