Ohio's low-tech curriculum had critics back in the day

• By the 1930s, it was common for Ohio students to learn typing in school and compete in speed tests.
• Those were the "hunt and peck" days — competitors rarely typed above 50 words per minute.

Yes, but: Even after decades of use, typewriters were controversial.

• "Many people who hear about the increased use of typewriters in the elementary school consider this another example of the 'frills' which ought to be eliminated," columnist Dr. Ernest G. Osborne wrote in 1961.
• "One of the principal objections is that children who are trained to use the typewriter will never learn to write legibly by hand."

By the numbers: A 1964 study of seventh grade students in Middletown, Ohio, found those that used typewriters had better reading vocabulary, comprehension and spelling.

• By 1966, one in four American homes featured a portable typewriter, according to a story from that summer in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, and millions worked as secretaries and stenographers.

The next decade saw the addition of computers in schools, which proved controversial as well.

• "But like any innovation that departs from time-tested ways, computers have their critics," an AP story from 1977 reads.
• "Even some of their strongest proponents caution that computers are limited, that they should never replace the encouraging word, cold stare and calculating guidance of a genuine teacher."