... at least for that era.
Beaver is getting lower grades on his compositions because of his poor penmanship. Beaver then sees an ad for a new typewriter and is really excited about the possibility of getting one and learning to type. His father, skeptical that this will turn out any different than Beaver's other enthusiasms, is persuaded by the possibility that Beaver might get better grades as a result of typing his work.
But the typing is not going that well, and Beaver has an English paper he must turn in at school the next day. Enter stage left, Eddie Haskell. While Wally is downstairs on the phone to Mary Ellen Rodgers, Eddie offers to type Beaver's paper for him for a dollar. Eddie convinces Beaver that this is not really cheating since the content of the paper is Beaver's original work. And Eddie turns out to be an excellent typist - too good in fact. Beaver gets a good grade on his paper and a note goes home to his parents complimenting the difference his typing has made in his presentation. But then Beaver has an even longer assignment to type - What now, that expectations have been set so high? Watch and find out.
From a historical standpoint, I was surprised the Cleaver household did not have a typewriter and that it seemed like a household purchase that required weighty debate. So I turned to a thread on typewriter history. There I learned that a 1962 Royal Safari typewriter cost 110 dollars which would be about 1200 dollars in 2024.
It was also interesting that the school allowed such uneven competition in these days of extreme equality - that Beaver could compete for good grades with a typewritten report versus kids who did not have a typewriter and turned in handwritten papers. Small potatoes, I guess, versus today when teachers have to wonder if AI wrote a student's paper!
