Typing, Ctrl X, and other computer skills kids no longer learn

Long live Mavis Beacon. If you're unfamiliar with the name, she was the not-entirely-real icon behind classroom software that taught generations of students touch typing. Beacon was a celebrity of early digital literacy, with generations of learners collectively misremembering her as a real-life elite typer — not just a made-up name attached to the likeness of model Renée L'Esperance. Still, Beacon became an avatar for the digital dreams of the pre-Y2K generation. The software, full name "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing," was an…