This says SOMEthing about who's running our government . . .

[HankB]

I just happened to take a closer than usual look at the currency in my wallet and I noticed something interesting; if you look near the bottom right of the portrait on the front of a bill, there's a place for the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury.

Every secretary I remember has signed it in cursive, the way normal adults do. True, penmanship varied, but cursive is cursive.

Until now. David T. Mnuchin (Biden's appointee) (my bad - he worked for Trump.) printed his name the way a first grader who'd just learned his ABC's would.

Here's a link to historical signatures. (Order is alphabetic, not chronological.)  http://www.uspapermoney.info/sign/

I'm not sure exactly what this says about Biden and his appointees, but I'm sure it's nothing good.

[Ben]

Besides cursive not being taught anymore, apparently, people don't have a lot of opportunity to even really sign their name anymore either.

So much stuff that I sign nowadays is all on a screen, and they either want me to use my finger, which is ridiculous to do, so I end up with a halfassed "B" and then pretty much just a straight line, or else a lot of even legal forms let you choose from a selection of your name already "pre-signed" in some form of cursive or other, then you just point and click your way through.

Honestly, at that point a signature is almost worthless, because certainly none of my electronic signatures even remotely resemble my actual pen and paper signature.

[WLJ]

Haven't you heard? Cursive writing is racist. There were articles to that effect not too long ago.

[dogmush]

Devil's advocate:

Assuming that the point of writing something down is to communicate information clearly to a reader, what does cursive bring to the table? Why should people learn it?

Is anyone here's cursive penmanship better then their their printed penmanship?  Why do so many boomers want to metaphorically die on this hill?

FWIW I'm old enough that we still lined up on payday, signed our "payroll signature" and got cash for some of our money when I went to Basic Training.

[Ben]

Devil's advocate:

Assuming that the point of writing something down is to communicate information clearly to a reader, what does cursive bring to the table? Why should people learn it?

Is anyone here's cursive penmanship better then their their printed penmanship?  Why do so many boomers want to metaphorically die on this hill?

FWIW I'm old enough that we still lined up on payday, signed our "payroll signature" and got cash for some of our money when I went to Basic Training.

I think the signature argument is different than the cursive argument. At least that's the argument I was trying to make. I've been printing for years, and yes, mostly for legibility (I think many lefties have worse cursive than righties from how we were forced to learn cursive writing). I still do my cursive signature though. A cursive signature is much more unique than a "printed" signature, which was historically kind of the point. You made your own unique signature that was more often than not hard to read, and that was the point - something difficult to forge.

It has been a very long time, but I still remember my signature being matched at the bank (and being called out if I happened to sign significantly differently), and even in stores when using a credit card. I don't think anyone signs the backs of their credit card anymore. There may not even be a spot for it.

Going electronic is fine, I guess, since that's where we're headed, but I don't get the point of an electronic signature, since doing something like the fingertip signature is almost impossible to do the same way repeatedly. If you're going electronic, then go biometric or token or something.

[MechAg94]

Cursive works fine if penmanship is taught as well.  My penmanship is not so great, but legible to me.  I still tend to make notes printing as it is easier to read than my cursive.  I write cursive so little that I don't get a great deal of practice with it. 

When I was in high school, we still had teachers that would put notes on the overhead and we had to write it all down rather than them giving us copies.  I guess most of their books are electronic now and everything is on the computer. 

[Nick1911]

I learned cursive, but never actually use it anymore.  In my opinion, cursive is going the way of shorthand.

My signature is not cursive.  It may have started that way, but now it is effectively a scribble - a glpyh - bearing no adherence to any of the rules of cursive.  On digital terminals, sometimes I just draw a smiley face.

[MechAg94]

Captain Kirk Recites Preamble to Constitution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlGIHL4nZVU

I remember seeing this Star Trek episode years ago.  With the demise of cursive writing, it sort of takes on new meaning when you realize that many people will soon not be able to read the original version of the US Constitution.   

Of course, I never found that script all that easy to read myself.

[Hawkmoon]

Haven't you heard? Cursive writing is racist. There were articles to that effect not too long ago.

Writing is racist.

Spelling is racist.

Grammar is racist.

Math is racist.

Basically, anything and everything that normal, productive people need to know to be normal, productive people and to earn a living and possibly contribute something to the world ... is racist.

[Ron]

The good, the true, and the beautiful is racist.

Civilization is racist.

[MillCreek]

My signature has been printed for decades.  This is a carryover from when I was handwriting medical chart notes and my handwriting is all block capitals, so people can read the chart notes.  My typical signature for chart notes, credit card receipts and the like are my first two initials and full last name.

[Unisaw]

Steven T. Mnuchin was Secretary of the Treasury for Trump's entire term of office.  The current Secretary of the Treasury is Janet Yellen.

[Boomhauer]

I learned cursive, but never actually use it anymore.  In my opinion, cursive is going the way of shorthand.

My signature is not cursive.  It may have started that way, but now it is effectively a scribble - a glpyh - bearing no adherence to any of the rules of cursive.  On digital terminals, sometimes I just draw a smiley face.

My signature is just a squiggled line. The only important stuff I sign anyway is loan docs and hell half the *expletive deleted*it nowadays is e-signature

[Perd Hapley]

Steven T. Mnuchin was Secretary of the Treasury for Trump's entire term of office.  The current Secretary of the Treasury is Janet Yellen.

   I thought there was something wrong with the OP.

Devil's advocate:

Assuming that the point of writing something down is to communicate information clearly to a reader, what does cursive bring to the table? Why should people learn it?

Is anyone here's cursive penmanship better then their their printed penmanship?  Why do so many boomers want to metaphorically die on this hill?

I believe the advantage is that it is a faster and smoother way of writing, and I suspect it may also be less tiring for the writer. It seems like a good idea to teach a way of writing that could make writing easier or more enjoyable.

[HankB]

Steven T. Mnuchin was Secretary of the Treasury for Trump's entire term of office.  The current Secretary of the Treasury is Janet Yellen.

Oops - I stand corrected.     

I haven't seen Yellen's sig on any bills.

[Tuco]

According to this article, cursive writing was necessary to write legibly using fountain pens. Ballpoint pens eliminated the "need" for cursive.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballpoint-pens-object-lesson-history-handwriting/402205/

The article some shed light on my maternal grandmother's gorgeous handwriting. It appears that she was old enough to have been taught Spencer script which was replaced by the Palmer method taught to many of us.
My default today is all capitals printing, like from high school drafting class. When journaling or other stream of consciousness writing, when only I need to read it, I try to remember to use cursive. It's a faster way for me to write.

[Perd Hapley]

Schools could stop teaching cursive, and analog clocks, and replace the multiplication table with a calculator. They could also drop history, art, music, and everything else that's not needed for children's future careers. If we want schools to just make children into workers.

[dogmush]

  I thought there was something wrong with the OP.

I believe the advantage is that it is a faster and smoother way of writing, and I suspect it may also be less tiring for the writer. It seems like a good idea to teach a way of writing that could make writing easier or more enjoyable.

Tuco beat me to it, but no, it's a carryover from writing instruments that had issues when lifted from the page. Having watched several Gen Zers knock out emails with two thumbs on a touchscreen,  I'm pretty sure that's faster than block or print writing.   Maybe old people just need to learn to run adaptive keyboards better.

[Ben]

Maybe old people just need to learn to run adaptive keyboards better.

YOU'RE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!!!

Gen Zers can work those key boards because they have weak tiny little girl hands and fingers. :p

[Perd Hapley]

Tuco beat me to it, but no, it's a carryover from writing instruments that had issues when lifted from the page. Having watched several Gen Zers knock out emails with two thumbs on a touchscreen,  I'm pretty sure that's faster than block or print writing.   Maybe old people just need to learn to run adaptive keyboards better.

Tuco said he writes faster when he uses cursive, which agrees with what I said. I was talking about the usefulness of cursive now; not about its origins.

I don't understand your hostility to cursive, or why you think it's somehow in competition with email, of all things.

[dogmush]

I'm not hostile to cursive. I don't use it because my already not great penmanship is worse in cursive, but I can read it fine.

I just don't understand why so many older folks feel like the lack of cursive use or teaching is somehow significant. 

I will say that I don't think cursive writing aids in written communication in any way. Any advantages it has are for the writer, not the reader.

[zxcvbob]

I'm not hostile to cursive. I don't use it because my already not great penmanship is worse in cursive, but I can read it fine.

I just don't understand why so many older folks feel like the lack of cursive use or teaching is somehow significant. 

I will say that I don't think cursive writing aids in written communication in any way. Any advantages it has are for the writer, not the reader.

I think it's significant because much history, including our founding documents, was written in cursive.  It's important that at least some people are able to go back to the originals and read them to verify that the electronic transcriptions are accurate.  The more people that can do that (whether they avail themselves to do it or not) the better.  It's like asking why an anchor is important since when a boat is underway it's just unnecessary weight.

[dogmush]

Do you read Aramaic?  Or even Latin?

[Perd Hapley]

Do you read Aramaic?  Or even Latin?

As I understand it, it was not that long ago that Latin was considered an important part of education, and well before the college level. But today, we say, "why bother? You'll never use that in your adult life. What's the point?"

We have this utilitarian view of education that insists everything has to be about job training and directly-applicable "life skills." Add to that public schools' obsession with meeting standardized tests, and pushing sex & gender confusion on small children.

The point is, kids should get a more full education, especially including things like cursive that allow them to be more connected to the writings of those who came before, and make it easier for them to write, and enjoy writing.

[zxcvbob]

Do you read Aramaic?  Or even Latin?

Touche'.   I do not, but I know people who do.