The Most Useful Things I Learned in School

At University I studied Spanish Philology (linguistics and literature). Later, I got a graduate degree in Education focusing on technology and innovation. You would guess that my English, Spanish and Computer Science classes at San Carlos school would have been the most useful for my life after school. After all, in Spanish and English I learned about grammatical categories, literary movements, grammar and poetry. Father Sebastian taught me (to my own despair) how to graph sentences. Ms. De Bedout taught me how to read Shakespeare out loud. Marilyn taught me how to write complete sentences and paragraphs. And a few other teachers taught me how to create documents using Wordstar and WordPerfect (both disappeared now) or create simple programs in Logo.

However useful those teachings were for my later studies, they were not the most useful. There are two things that have made a huge difference in my life, and none of them relate to content knowledge or specific academic areas. They are two skills that took years of practice: English and touch typing.

Even today, I snobbishly tend to assume that everyone knows English and I am often surprised when people are unable to understand things I send them in English. But that's me. And my attitude is certainly snobbish and discriminating. (I am working on it). Nevertheless, English has opened many doors to me, especially doors of knowledge and learning. I continually read books and articles in English, watch videos and learn from materials I find online. And most of them are in English. I cannot imagine my life if I were not able to understand the language of Scott Fitzgerald and Paul Auster. I could not have studied at one of the top world universities, traveled at leisure or had many of the friends with whom I often share. I would not even be able to play the games I like the most. English provided me a competitive advantage that sadly few people have. Do not underestimate your knowledge of English! It will open many doors and opportunities.

Touch typing was one of the classes I most hated in high school. We sat in front of typing machines and practiced writing with all ten fingers. Yes, type writers, not computers. I am that old! I never took it seriously until I started writing my thesis at University. I forced myself to touch type and got to writing around fifty words per minute by the end of the ordeal. After that, typing quickly has been the other great advantage in my professional life. I can take very good notes in meetings, take dictation and produce documents faster than others. And most importantly, my hands are able to move almost as fast as my thinking. I feel bad for people I see typing with two fingers. How can you put together complex ideas if your hands go far slower than your mind?

The two most important skills I learned in school were not academic and did not even directly relate to my career: they were English and typing. Don't miss out on taking advantage of the opportunities offered at GLM to learn both. Yes, both.