On this day in 1867 John Robert Gregg, the inventor of the Gregg shorthand, was born in ireland. find out how a little boy, who was punished for talking in class lost his hearing in one ear, pushing him towards his eventual calling
On this day in 1867 John Robert Gregg, the inventor of the Gregg shorthand, was born in ireland. find out how a little boy, who was punished for talking in class lost his hearing in one ear, pushing him towards his eventual calling
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Shorthand refers to the writing method employing abbreviated symbols to increase writing speed and to reduce the time needed to take notes. While there are a number of different systems of shorthand, the Pitman and Gregg shorthand systems are the most popular.
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Educationist John Robert Gregg created the Gregg shorthand. John was born in Ireland on June 17, 1867 to a strict Presbyterian family. As punishment for whispering to a classmate on the second day of school, Gregg had his head banged against his classmate's, which resulted in permanent hearing loss in one ear. Gregg's grades would fall because of his impairment, but since he was too afraid to confide in his parents about his condition, he was later perceived by his family to be "dull".
While Gregg's father got the other children to study the Pitman shorthand (they soon dropped out), he never encouraged Gregg to do the same. The boy soon dropped out of school and took on odd jobs to support the family. He also picked up shorthand, but not liking the Pitman system devised his own by the age of 20, without realising that the system would one day become popular all over the world, especially in the US, Germany, Poland, Spain, France and Latin America.
The shorthand was initially popular among lawyers, preachers, authors, and journalists, and soon became an indispensable skill for secretaries.
Davar's College has been imparting secretarial training for several decades and shorthand was an integral part of the syllabus. "I have been teaching shorthand since 1973, which was when I first set foot in the college. While we taught the Gregg shorthand till 1985, we switched over to the Pitman shorthand thereafter," says Silloo Chinigar, director of Secretarial Studies.
However, with the entry of the computer, shorthand started taking a backseat, prompting Davar's College to make it an optional subject. "We still get enquiries for it, which are usually from HSC and law students who want to jot down notes faster," admits Chinigar, who has taught over a thousand students the nuances of shorthand. Silloo observes that as shorthand requires a lot of practice, it often deters the young generation from learning it.
"The knowledge of shorthand is still considered an asset for secretaries in multi-national firms and 60% of organisations prefer to hire people with shorthand knowledge," says Roshan Khambatta, Director of Placements at Davar's College, who still vouches for the benefits of shorthand in facilitating the taking down of quick notes.
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