Cursive (again, I know!) - Page 3

joannecha · ‎04-06-2010

I work part-time at my local library. When I have young people come in to apply for a library card (a parent has to be present), the young person has to be old enough to "sign" their name. They always ask if they can print their name, as very few of them know how to "sign" their name. I wonder if every place that we are asked to "sign" our name (especially on legal documents), if it is now legally permissable to print your name. Anyone know???

MaggieMack · ‎10-01-2014

I think it has always been legally permissible to sign your name with an "X" if you were illiterate and had witnesses. Even printing has individually distinguishable artifacts. That said, I am in favor of keeping cursive alive.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. - Aesop

faeriemoon · ‎03-14-2010

@joannecha wrote:
I work part-time at my local library. When I have young people come in to apply for a library card (a parent has to be present), the young person has to be old enough to "sign" their name. They always ask if they can print their name, as very few of them know how to "sign" their name. I wonder if every place that we are asked to "sign" our name (especially on legal documents), if it is now legally permissable to print your name. Anyone know???

Ha! Good question! How do you sign your name if you only know how to print? I know some things become obsolete, but cursive handwriting? Really?!?

~What a terrible era in which idiots govern the blind.~ William Shakespeare

bri20 · ‎03-10-2016

Printing is an acceptable "signature" on legal documents.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@YorkieonmyPillow wrote:
I read that people who are dyslexic can read cursive much easier than print. People need to know how to read cursive and they need to know how to tell time.

Yes. And count change.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Krimpette wrote:
There was another student sitting with my instructor. He was able to pick out a word or two. They were 10th graders, so I was kind of surprised.

This blows my mind, because I thought we only abandoned it in the last couple of years. I had no idea some areas had stopped teaching cursive that long ago.

Very sad, and a big mistake in my opinion. I think the development of fine motor skills it provides is reason enough to make 'them' rethink the whole things.

If/when I become a grandparent, I guess I'll be passing that skill on, like my grandma taught me to crochet.

truffle · ‎01-04-2016

Sometimes I can't read my mother's handwriting. Heck, sometimes I can't read my own! Maybe that's what was meant? Handwriting when written legibly is certainly recognizable to everyone. No?

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Q4u wrote:
Any time something like this is "lost".... it dumbs down the populace. My oldest son is learning ancient languages like old English, Celtic, even Latin. What will he use it for? He is rounding out his depth of understanding regarding languages and cultures. He probably won't actually USE them per se, but he'll be able to discuss them and read old books.... actually learning.....

I find it reprehensible to lose (and not teach) these most basic functions.....

Bless your son, he is a wise person, @Q4u

I have always believed that someone should come up with a Latin program for very young kids (preschool to second grade kind of thing). English has such roots in Latin, and especially all the science based learning that would be aided by kids having some basis in functional Latin.

We do it with Spanish and French all the time, it is fun and often more like play, so I think it could be done with Latin. I would have enrolled my kid, had it been thought of and implemented when he was young.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@millieshops wrote:
I would wish the kids were taught at least to read cursive - but truly the hours and hours we spent practicing to have beautiful handwriting? They need those hours to learn modern science, technology, etc. I had not 10 minutes of science education until I was in 7th grade -- and then only because my homeroom teacher used to take 10 minutes in the morning to show us a few things.

I hardly ever write in cursive except to sign a few checks, but even most of my money transfers go with modern technolgy.

There is so much wasted time in school. A lot of it with discipline issues. The school day needs to be longer as well.

There is time for cursive and science (and foreign language and the arts), it is more about combining things, and showing how they relate and interact. When my son was in school, I forget the technical term they called it, but, everything they studied was carried into each of the 'basics'. If they studied China, it incorporated their math, their art, their music, their reading, their writing, and their science.

If nothing else, cursive could become part of the art program.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@MaggieMack wrote:
I think it has always been legally permissible to sign your name with an "X" if you were illiterate and had witnesses. Even printing has individually distinguishable artifacts. That said, I am in favor of keeping cursive alive.

@MaggieMack

I was just commenting to someone not long ago, that I wondered if we would soon be back to the day where, when signing for something, we'd have the majority of the population only able to 'make your mark' on a document, and how we would be able to tell if something was actually signed by someone or not. Could pose problems legally.