Now that our schools have decided to discontinue teaching our children cursive writing, what are they supposed to use as a legal signature? I asked my 14 YO grandson to sign a document yesterday and he merely printed his name.
Cursive Writing
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Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
I try not to curse in writing 
But seriously, there is not, nor has there ever been, any requirement or even just a convention that signatures have to be cursive.
Your name in individual letters if applied by you is a valid signature. And if you can’t write anymore, you can use a rubber stamp. These days, even electronic signatures are perfectly legal.
But seriously, there is not, nor has there ever been, any requirement or even just a convention that signatures have to be cursive.
Your name in individual letters if applied by you is a valid signature. And if you can’t write anymore, you can use a rubber stamp. These days, even electronic signatures are perfectly legal.
If "X" has always been legal, then printing is fine. If that's your signature, then that's your signature. Mine is a capital letter, a squiggel, a capital letter, and then another capital letter and another squiggle. How's that different?
smoothshooter
Member
I do not like the idea of cursive writing being dropped from the curriculum, younger people do not communicate using pens or pencils anyway. Kindergarten teachers report getting lots of kids that show up having never been taught at home how to draw with pencils and crayons, or even how to hold one.
The Army is reportedly dropping grenade throwing training from Basic Training because they are getting so many recruits that have never thrown a baseball or anything else, and so valuable time is wasted trying to teach something they should have learned at home. Grenade training is to be taught only to people in combat arms MOS’s in the respective AIT schools. Or that is the last I read.
More signs of the times.
P.S - As far as I know, even an “X” has always been legal.
Most people’s signatures are unreadable anyway. Mine has always been readable, even when I was a kid. I always believed if I needed to sign something, have enough pride in the thing so as to leave no doubt as to who was signing it.
The Army is reportedly dropping grenade throwing training from Basic Training because they are getting so many recruits that have never thrown a baseball or anything else, and so valuable time is wasted trying to teach something they should have learned at home. Grenade training is to be taught only to people in combat arms MOS’s in the respective AIT schools. Or that is the last I read.
More signs of the times.
P.S - As far as I know, even an “X” has always been legal.
Most people’s signatures are unreadable anyway. Mine has always been readable, even when I was a kid. I always believed if I needed to sign something, have enough pride in the thing so as to leave no doubt as to who was signing it.
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gjgalligan
Member
My signature seldom look the same any two times I write it.
Chubbo
Member
It should be interesting, to see how our children find a way to, electronically, wipe their nose, or their posterior.
Good. We wasted a lot of time in elementary school being taught cursive, and by middle school it was already "strongly encouraged" to type any papers rather than printing or writing in cursive. Since then I've used writing it for signatures, and that's about it.
Reading it occasionally proves handy when someone posts or finds old correspondence of interest to our hobbies, but that alone is not a justification to continue wasting the time on it. Dump it, spend the time on math or another useful subject.
You'll get a few curmudgeons complaining about it because something they learned way back is no longer useful, but that'll be about the only downside, balanced out with the real upside of freeing up time for useful learning.
Reading it occasionally proves handy when someone posts or finds old correspondence of interest to our hobbies, but that alone is not a justification to continue wasting the time on it. Dump it, spend the time on math or another useful subject.
You'll get a few curmudgeons complaining about it because something they learned way back is no longer useful, but that'll be about the only downside, balanced out with the real upside of freeing up time for useful learning.
Due to the requirement of having to write police reports in block print and the introduction of computers, I now very rarely write in cursive, however when I do write in cursive, I cannot do it fluidly; each letter requires thought.
My penmanship has always been poor, but I have regressed back to my 3rd grade ability.
I was always envious of folks with pretty handwriting
My penmanship has always been poor, but I have regressed back to my 3rd grade ability.
I was always envious of folks with pretty handwriting
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SAFireman
Member
It doesn't matter whether I print, or use cursive, nobody can read it anyhow!
Just wait until you have read a paper written in text-speak
Just wait until you have read a paper written in text-speak
The time we spent in elementary school learning cursive is used to teach kids to type and use a computer. My kids did this in 3rd grade and are in their 30s now.It’s like teaching a kid to use a stick shift. Might come in handy someday,but it’s an irrelevant skill now.
If one can't write cursive, one likely can't read the Constitution.
My 12 y.o. learned cursive in third grade. While they are allowed to print handwritten essays, most opt to write in cursive.
My 12 y.o. learned cursive in third grade. While they are allowed to print handwritten essays, most opt to write in cursive.
Even before we had computer access I don't recall anybody (of the already small number of people bothering to read it all the way through) bothering to read it as pictures of the actual document rather than as a typed up reprint. Now anyone can access it even easier than ever before, for free, at any time from any place, in a searchable format like this: U.S. Senate: Constitution of the United States
Its a huge improvement over having to seek out an already outdated handwritten or photocopied hard copy.
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GypsmJim
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Children in foreign countries were becoming so much smarter than USA kids. To fix that we reduced the amount of stuff they had to learn.
As a factory supervisor in charge of on-the-job training I had to modify a lot of what I did in class. Printing was only 1 thing - I also had to remove any old fashioned analog clocks because many of the younger workers couldn't tell time unless it was digital.
Reading comprehension is also pitiful. And I dispute the comment that learning cursive was replaced with computer training. Most recent graduates can play farcebook on a tweeter, but their skills on a PC are pathetic. Note that I'm talking about "graduates", not GEDs.
Many years ago I worked with an old codger who was the plant night watchman and office cleaner. He could not read or write, but his work ethic, morals and personal responsibility would trump half of the kids today.
Naturally, my comments are not meant to generalize, since many current youngings are stellar achievers. What's sad is that there are way too many that aren't.
As a factory supervisor in charge of on-the-job training I had to modify a lot of what I did in class. Printing was only 1 thing - I also had to remove any old fashioned analog clocks because many of the younger workers couldn't tell time unless it was digital.
Reading comprehension is also pitiful. And I dispute the comment that learning cursive was replaced with computer training. Most recent graduates can play farcebook on a tweeter, but their skills on a PC are pathetic. Note that I'm talking about "graduates", not GEDs.
Many years ago I worked with an old codger who was the plant night watchman and office cleaner. He could not read or write, but his work ethic, morals and personal responsibility would trump half of the kids today.
Naturally, my comments are not meant to generalize, since many current youngings are stellar achievers. What's sad is that there are way too many that aren't.
My cursive skills have slipped into the realm of unintelligible jibberish...I have to print notes to myself, or I can't read them...My Mom could still write at the age of 98 in the same beautiful handwriting she used her entire life...It doesn't matter whether I print, or use cursive, nobody can read it anyhow!
Just wait until you have read a paper written in text-speak
I ignore textspeak...
...Ben
I disagree. Those schools have a two track system where the kids who aren’t particularly good students are steered towards the trades,etc and learn skills they can use on the job. This country ignores those kids.In years past we had plenty of decent paying low or no skill jobs for them,but we don’t anymore.
Pisgah
Member
For 8 years I worked as an HR manager. I reviewed applications and interviewed applicants every day. Cursive or printing made no difference to me, but the fact is that virtually all highschool and even most college grads could not complete the application. The most common question I heard : "What does this mean, previous employment?" But most of the time, they'd just leave it blank... along with stuff like name, address, phone... They really had no clue what they were being asked.
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Before I retired, I dealt with a misunderstood young lady who signed her name backwards, as in an exact mirror image, in cursive. When I asked her why, she said it was so that nobody could steal her identity.
If someone had managed to steal her identity, I suspect her credit rating would have gone up . . .
Rifleman200-10X
Member
Something like this?
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LoboGunLeather
US Veteran
I can agree with your post if, and only if, the time saved is actually used for math or other academic purposes. Unfortunately, most public schools have abandoned such subjects also. There seems to be little time for anything other than proper socialization and self-esteem polishing.
Twenty years ago as an employer I learned that a high school diploma is not a guarantee of any level of proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, or anything else. Reading and following simple written instructions is way too much to expect. Forget about addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, converting fractions to decimals, US or world history, basic civics, or any other fundamental knowledge.
