Cursive - Teach It Or Don't?

[Latin Islands]

Opinion 3:

Honestly, I like using cursive....but does anyone remember how to do an upper-case 'Z' in cursive?

It's the one that resembles the number 3, with the upper half staying between the paper's lines...I think

[Herzegovenia]

Hell no! 3 years after i learned cursive, i was told i could write whatever way i liked and was legible. So i moved into normal writting, and haven’t ever looked back. It’s much faster and more legible.

Cursive is useless
/thread

Judging by your bio, you seem like a very awsome person.

[New Wrepland]

Teach it. I was too stubborn to thoroughly learn in elementary school and am now dealing with the consequences of my poor decision. Each time I use my debit card I am reminded of the inadequacy of the sloppy handwriting I write in.

[Page]

Teach it. I was too stubborn to thoroughly learn in elementary school and am now dealing with the consequences of my poor decision. Each time I use my debit card I am reminded of my inadequacy.

Care to explain what you mean? I don't get what your debit card has to do with it.

[New Wrepland]

Teach it. I was too stubborn to thoroughly learn in elementary school and am now dealing with the consequences of my poor decision. Each time I use my debit card I am reminded of my inadequacy.

Care to explain what you mean? I don't get what your debit card has to do with it.

My signature is on the back.

[Page]

Care to explain what you mean? I don't get what your debit card has to do with it.

My signature is on the back.

Well, signatures don't have to be cursive, they don't even have to be your own name. All that matters is that it's unique.

[New Wrepland]

My signature is on the back.

Well, signatures don't have to be cursive, they don't even have to be your own name. All that matters is that it's unique.

Yea but they look terrible if they’re not cursive.

My signature is inadequate as it gives a bad impression of my capabilities.

[Salandriagado]

My signature is on the back.

Well, signatures don't have to be cursive, they don't even have to be your own name. All that matters is that it's unique.

Not even that. A signature is literally just a confirmation that you didn't do something by accident. It isn't ID in any way.

[Senkaku]

Well, signatures don't have to be cursive, they don't even have to be your own name. All that matters is that it's unique.

Yea but they look terrible if they’re not cursive.

My signature is inadequate as it gives a bad impression of my capabilities.

...where did you get this idea lol, the signatures of literally everyone I know are mostly unintelligible scribbles except for like middle schoolers who basically think that "signature" means "cursive" lol

[Arkhadiam]

I forgot how to write in cursive and I don't mind it at all.

[The Free Joy State]

Well, signatures don't have to be cursive, they don't even have to be your own name. All that matters is that it's unique.

Not even that. A signature is literally just a confirmation that you didn't do something by accident. It isn't ID in any way.

Well, unless you're at the bank (or somewhere else where they keep a signature on record) and they need to make sure the signature matches (like they used to do before they'd issue you a replacement card, when one got lost).

Then, it's not ID, but it's uniqueness mattered.

I haven't lost a card in awhile; I doubt it works the same now...

[Misthas]

Everyone has their own style of writing, and I like my own separated-letter handwriting. Here's a sample of my writing.

(Image)

With that said, I don't think it should be a compulsory class. It can be an extra class if a school survey shows that there're a decent number of people who loves or wants to write that way.

r/penmanshipporn

[Valehart]

I don't think it's entirely necessary, but I'd prefer if people teach it than if they don't. Cursive's just a faster way of writing, and people find it more efficient

[Misthas]

I don't think it's entirely necessary, but I'd prefer if people teach it than if they don't. Cursive's just a faster way of writing, and people find it more efficient

but my gripe is that they make it mandatory in elementary school, saying you'll have to write in cursive in middle school and high school. The problem is also that cursive is harder to read and in some cases illegible.

[Page]

Not even that. A signature is literally just a confirmation that you didn't do something by accident. It isn't ID in any way.

Well, unless you're at the bank (or somewhere else where they keep a signature on record) and they need to make sure the signature matches (like they used to do before they'd issue you a replacement card, when one got lost).

Then, it's not ID, but it's uniqueness mattered.

I haven't lost a card in awhile; I doubt it works the same now...

One time I was in St. Croix and I bought something with my debit card, not even an expensive thing, I don't remember how much it was or what it was but it was probably around $20, and the person asked to see my debit card. And I'm like "can I ask why?" and she said "We need to make sure the signatures match." That was the first and only time that ever happened to me during a transaction, ever.

Similarly, there was one time I ever that I was ID'd for alcohol in Germany and the moment caught me totally offguard. It was after more than a year of living here.

[Dagnia]

Yes, I think it needs to be taught, but with a few changes to how we currently do it. It's something that students should have some exposure to and hands-on use, but it should not be mandatory outside the writing class. It should be treated as slightly more of an art than a valuable life skill as my own teachers presented it to me, though it can be extremely valuable to certain types of people.
I'm personally glad I learned it. My own handwriting as an adult is kind of a mix of cursive and print, along with quite a few of my own styles (a "t" that looks like a "c" with a line over it, lower-case "f" that depending on the preceding letter can either look like a backwards "f" connected to the previous letter or an overgrown lower case "t", etc., and it's surprisingly legible most of the time).
I tried going totally paper-free once, and have worked at offices that were paper-free, which is technically feasible given I am a mobile application developer, and have several devices in reach at any given time to type whatever I need that either needs to be seen by someone or is simply something I'm making a note of for myself. Recently, I've been taking courses for some certifications and find taking notes with a pen and paper actually helps me memorize much better than tapping a screen or a keyboard. Even if I have no intention of reading the notes or transcribing them to a computer (sometimes when I try to write as fast as I'm thinking or as the professor is speaking, it does become illegible), thinking about each word and sentence as I write it and feeling myself write it commits way more to memory the first time than just listening or even typing something I can go back to later. It probably doesn't work this way for everyone, but if we didn't teach kids early on all the options they have to physically write down their thoughts (including print, cursive, calligraphy, and even alternative writing systems) we'd be robbing quite a few of them of a very valuable tool.

[Nettunia]

I mean, it's useful because it's faster, but then again these days when you need to write something fast you'd use a keyboard anyway.

Still there are many cases where one would prefer to write things by hand. Not the biggest of deals if disappears, but eh, it's not like it hurts to keep either.

[Salandriagado]

Not even that. A signature is literally just a confirmation that you didn't do something by accident. It isn't ID in any way.

Well, unless you're at the bank (or somewhere else where they keep a signature on record) and they need to make sure the signature matches (like they used to do before they'd issue you a replacement card, when one got lost).

Then, it's not ID, but it's uniqueness mattered.

I haven't lost a card in awhile; I doubt it works the same now...

Nobody's actually done that in years. If you lose your card, you just go on their website and press the "send me a new card" button. Indeed, the signature on the back of my card is not, and has never been, on record anywhere.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

Not even that. A signature is literally just a confirmation that you didn't do something by accident. It isn't ID in any way.

Well, unless you're at the bank (or somewhere else where they keep a signature on record) and they need to make sure the signature matches (like they used to do before they'd issue you a replacement card, when one got lost).

Then, it's not ID, but it's uniqueness mattered.

I haven't lost a card in awhile; I doubt it works the same now...

Quite frankly, we need something more secure than a "signature" that could be forged or coerced anyway.

[The Free Joy State]

Well, unless you're at the bank (or somewhere else where they keep a signature on record) and they need to make sure the signature matches (like they used to do before they'd issue you a replacement card, when one got lost).

Then, it's not ID, but it's uniqueness mattered.

I haven't lost a card in awhile; I doubt it works the same now...

Quite frankly, we need something more secure than a "signature" that could be forged or coerced anyway.

IIRC, I also had photo ID... this really was quite a long time ago.

Also, it's not that easy to perfectly and quickly forge a signature with someone watching you.

*looks around*

I believe.

It's true though. Forged signatures are partly detected through hesitations, pen lifts and breaks, because you make your own signature quickly and smoothly, without thinking about it.

[Grenartia]

Its basically useless. The only time I was ever required to learn it and submit assignments in it was in 3rd grade. After that, none of my teachers gave a shit whether I used cursive or print, as long as they could read what I wrote. Even into college. Teaching it today is a waste of time, teach typing early instead.

[Grenartia]

Quite frankly, we need something more secure than a "signature" that could be forged or coerced anyway.

IIRC, I also had photo ID... this really was quite a long time ago.

Also, it's not that easy to perfectly and quickly forge a signature with someone watching you.

*looks around*

I believe.

It's true though. Forged signatures are partly detected through hesitations, pen lifts and breaks, because you make your own signature quickly and smoothly, without thinking about it.

I can't even write consistently with those electronic pens, so that's a useless way of 'confirming' somebody's identity. We should be using biometrics instead.

[Grenartia]

I mean, it's useful because it's faster, but then again these days when you need to write something fast you'd use a keyboard anyway.

Still there are many cases where one would prefer to write things by hand. Not the biggest of deals if disappears, but eh, it's not like it hurts to keep either.

Actually, I'm faster with print than cursive. I'm even faster still with typing, to be fair. Unfortunately, I still have to hand-write most of my notes in my college classes, because my major is in physics, and typing equations and symbols is fucking slow compared to just typing words. To say nothing of when the professor puts diagrams on the board. And as I said here:

I can't even write consistently with those electronic pens

So, I can't even use the touchscreen capability of my laptop in class (honestly, that's the one feature I regret getting, simply because it added so much to the cost of this laptop, but gets used so little).

[The Free Joy State]

IIRC, I also had photo ID... this really was quite a long time ago.

Also, it's not that easy to perfectly and quickly forge a signature with someone watching you.

*looks around*

I believe.

It's true though. Forged signatures are partly detected through hesitations, pen lifts and breaks, because you make your own signature quickly and smoothly, without thinking about it.

I can't even write consistently with those electronic pens, so that's a useless way of 'confirming' somebody's identity. We should be using biometrics instead.

I do agree about the electronic pens and screens. No-one can write a real signature on them. It just comes out as squiggle.

To clarify, I was not actually making an argument that signatures are the same as photo ID. I was talking about a specific instance where they were formerly used -- to see that it matched.

Although (while a signature is not the same as ID) if everyone signed paper documents with a squiggle, forgery would be made a lot easier.

[Salandriagado]

Quite frankly, we need something more secure than a "signature" that could be forged or coerced anyway.

IIRC, I also had photo ID... this really was quite a long time ago.

Also, it's not that easy to perfectly and quickly forge a signature with someone watching you.

*looks around*

I believe.

It's true though. Forged signatures are partly detected through hesitations, pen lifts and breaks, because you make your own signature quickly and smoothly, without thinking about it.

Yeah, no. Most of the population essentially never signs anything, so their signatures are written exactly how someone forging it would, and you don't need to forge it perfectly, because basically nobody can consistently reproduce their own signature.