Yeah, to people who grew up before computers, "type without looking at the keyboard" is what typing
is. Poking at the keys while looking at them was called "hunt and peck" (like a chicken).
As others in this thread have mentioned, serious typing-class typewriters didn't have anything to look at on the keys. You could buy sets of blank white plastic key covers to snap over the keys of your typewriter so it could properly be used to teach typing.
There was a thing called a "copy stand" made out of steel that sat beside your typewriter. People who typed for a living were inevitably typing from paper copy, whether it was the boss's hand-written notes, an author's long-hand manuscript, or the last typed draft that somebody had scribbled all over. If you were a typist, you needed to have your eyes on the copy, there on the copystand. You couldn't look at the keyboard. You'd be too slow and you'd kill your neck, shifting your gaze back and forth.
Before Mavis Beacon, typing class meant endless drills, to a timer, with score based on the number of words per minute correct and error-free. You'd practice with nonsense sentences: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy black dog. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
If you're lookin' at the keys, you're not typing.
