Among those in my age group, I'd venture that I've followed a fairly representative path along the information superhighway.

It runs in a straight line from the sequence of DOS commands that jump-started the word processing program on a IBM desktop to the iPhone I've carried in my pocket the past three years.

Simply put, I and millions of others have taken the prevailing technology for granted for a long, long time.

"It's a way of life," agrees Claudine Wilson, 63. "And if you don't know it ..."

The rest of the sentence went unspoken.

Computers and Internet access may be a way of life for 79 percent of the American public.

But not for Wilson.

She is among the 21 percent of Americans that a Pew Research Center survey found have yet to embrace 21st century technology.

Or even the technology of the latter stages of the 20th century.

Why does it matter?

Because computer illiteracy is among the many factors that have conspired to mire the national unemployment rate at over 9 percent. (And the hits just keep on coming: The U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday that the 500,000 initial jobless claims during the second week of August was the highest in eight months.)

This month, Wilson decided to enroll in a program that has taught computer literacy to 35,000 people since its introduction in 2000.

"We started doing this 10 years ago and we still have them lining up," said Janice Branham, spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based Oasis Institute, the elderly advocacy nonprofit spearheading the 10-week training sessions here and in 19 other cities nationwide.

A good many of the participants at the latest class, which meets twice weekly at the Monsanto YMCA, are grandparents anxious to get on the same page, so to speak, with their grandchildren.

Myrtle Johnson enrolled for an even more specific reason: She plans to use her new-found mastery of computing to compose her church's newsletter.

Still others, like Wilson, are early retirees looking to re-enter the work force.

In her previous position as a nurse's assistant, Wilson was often called upon to enter data and perform other template-guided functions.

The decision to emerge from semi-retirement and re-enter the labor market full time vaulted her into cyberspace.

"The last time I was out there (looking for a job) it was all done on paper," said Wilson, employed more than 30 years in her last job.

She's since learned that the process of applying for employment can toss a computer-challenged applicant aside quicker than an all-pro defensive end can dispatch a tackle on the Rams offensive line.

"Devastating," Wilson says of her first encounter with a 21st century job application. "Very devastating."

Maurice Kuebrich has seen firsthand just how devastating computers and cyberspace can be.

Before his own retirement, Kuebrich worked for IBM before moving along to a help desk at Enterprise.

Kuebrich's favorite help desk story stretches back to the night he was frantically summoned to inspect a sticky keyboard.

He immediately determined the source of the problem.

"The keyboard had a clear imprint of a foot on it," he recalls.

Hence the explanation for Kuebrich's one word mantra for cyber newbies — "Patience."

It also explains why Kuebrich prefers teaching the technology to novices rather than serving in an advisory capacity for experienced hands who see the ability to download 137 apps as evidence they share a level of expertise with Steve Jobs.

He describes his teaching philosophy as "putting the training wheels under them. Once we get them upright, we kick the wheels away."

And if Kuebrich doesn't kick the wheels away, an employer will.

On the outside chance, of course, that a candidate lacking computer skills would be hired in the first place.

Claudine Wilson may not yet fully grasp the difference between a dot.com and a Dippin' Dot.

"Everything is go to this website, go to that website. It's a jungle," said Wilson.

Still, she understands that her chances of landing a job at an area health clinic now rest on her ability to find her way around the computer and navigate the Internet.

Three lessons from Kuebrich and Wilson was already feeling more comfortable with the toolbar and other nuances of the desktop.

Can Google and Facebook be far behind?

First things first, Wilson said, "I'm just learning the computer."