Younger generation cannot sign their name!

[gnappi]

Young folks really, I mean REALLY need to read this comment from Nevada...

CNN Quote

"Nevada State officials are urgently reaching out to a large number of young voters to confirm their signatures so their votes can be counted. But officials say many teenagers and young adults in their 20s only know how to sign their names electronically.

"What we're finding is there's a lot of younger people who have a signature issue because they live in a digital world, they haven't used a real signature in real life," said Aguilar."

Quote off

Kids cannot sign their freaking name? Holy crap!

 

[Danjet500]

Many schools no longer teach cursive. Two problems with this. The one you have noted and their inability to read cursive. Progress

 

[JohnL]

Many schools no longer teach cursive. Two problems with this. The one you have noted and their inability to read cursive. Progress

Stupidity abounds in school districts across the land.

 

[gnappi]

Hey! Maybe we should go back to a scribbled "X" with a witness to verify it, ostensibly with the witness using yet another "X"? Hmmm, but then how would we know the original signer wasn't forging the witness's signature? :-)

See the problems that illiteracy brings forth?

 

[Jeepnik]

Perhaps a new career opportunity. Much like a notary a person could offer their services to witness an X and sign in cursive attesting to the authenticity of the X.

Hey I might have invented a great new retirement gig.

 

[sceva]

My 8 year old grandsons can sign theirs. Learned at school.

 

[blume357]

the other side, two years ago my wife and I were at Carmax finishing a purchase and she could not sign her name... the only way they had was electronically with a mouse and she has never used a mouse in her life. The ignorant business office person, probably age 22, would not let me sign for her... took them 30 minutes to print out the entire contract so she could sign the 'old fashion out of date way.'

But I really wonder about either the article or the the Nevada state officials actual intent. Many people's actually signature is not legible.
Not to make this political but this is Trump's signature:

 

[arfmel]

The ironic thing is that any kind of a scribble will suffice, as long as you’re consistent with it

 

[blume357]

Yep, in thinking about this more there is something going on...
I get checks written to my business all the time... here are three on the way to the bank... look at the signatures....

 

[KIR]

Let's not even get into spelling...

 

[Mobuck]

I spent 40 years printing so others could not confuse instructions and now I've lost much of my 'cursive writing' capabilities due to advanced Arthur Itus but I can still sign my name with 'distinction'. . DIL is a 'home schooler' (I can't reveal the reasons o_O ) and even with her so called close observation and coaching her home schooled children's handwriting is barely legible. Grandson who attended public school is about the same.
I thought school was where kids learned to read, write, spell, and do math. Seems most of what was considered basic learning has fallen by the wayside. This didn't start yesterday or last year but has been an ongoing problem for 20-30 years.

 

[375hh1973]

My initials are BDP

My signature is a capital B followed by squiggle, capital D, capital P followed by squiggle.

Its illegible but totally the same each time.

Never had an issue

 

[ex13F]

Mine also is illegible but consistent.

 

[Mobuck]

I'm proud of my name and my signature displays the pride. ;)

 

[Johnnu2]

They made me try twice and then gave up.....
I'm old and just scribble, the problem is, the scribble is almost never the same....
Ultimately, they just gave up and let me vote.... hell, I'm very OLD.
p.s. no lines at our polling place; in and out with a slight delay in signature verification :rolleyes:

J.

 

[Mobuck]

^^^Same here. Walk in, show ID, sign the screen, fill out ballot, put ballot in locked box, and walk out. 15 minutes total and I read every word of the various amendments.

 

[GypsmJim]

THIS is yet another example on how bad the educational system has deteriorated in the US. Things that are truly necessary are being eliminated from the curriculum so we don't overwhelm the poor little babies. After all, at least 50% of their classroom hours MUST be used for farcebook posting.

My wife went back to being a substitute teacher after a few years absence. During one of her first classes she wrote some instructions on the blackboard. The class was stunned. Deer in the headlights. One student said they couldn't understand. She needed to use block letters.

They couldn't tell time either. Those hour and minute hands were cornfusing. Also, they couldn't understand why they couldn't talk to each other during the lesson.

 

[Johnnu2]

I just routinely say "NO" to amendments..... I figure, they musta got it right the first time so, no need to waste my valuable retirement time reading them :eek:

J.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

The older I get the worse my handwriting is, and the are at best close from signature to signature. I have some arthritis in my hand as well.

 

[KIR]

Check out the school supply store in your town that has supplies for teachers. All kinds of books that help one get started with the three 'R's'. I bought some forms for my daughter to learn how to write. It helped her a lot. Eventually she went into calligraphy.

 

[Mobuck]

I could print my name, count to 100, recite the ABC's and the basic 'sums' when I started school at age 5. My kids could do the same. This all goes back to PARENTING (or lack thereof) in early childhood.

 

[WAYNO]

As far as signatures go, I don't think a person fully develops one until there's a life event that requires many signatures.

I learned cursive in the 3rd grade, and I suppose my cursive skills were adequate. I still have documents I signed in high school that are basically my name written in basic cursive.

When I joined the Army and I was required to sign many documents quickly, that's when my signature really morphed into the one I use today.

But I also understand, if a student cannot write in cursive, there's little chance of personalizing a signature.

I also see often, a young adult, a bank teller for example, writing words or numbers on a receipt or withdrawal slip that are unreadable. And I suspect, if a person does not even know which fingers should be used, it would be difficult. It's probably not a huge issue to everybody, but depending on which fingers are used in writing, partially defines if his writing will require fine motor skills or gross motor skills. But even teaching a child how to hold a pen or pencil, is cruel and unusual education and cannot be enforced any more than we can force math on a student as a graduation requirement.







.

 

[JackBull]

Stupidity abounds in school districts across the land.

Thanks to the liberals.

 

[JackBull]

I never sign my name electronically, I simple scribble. I was taught the weight ones signature holds on a document.

 

[Cofaler]

Thumb prints? But the California would ban the ink because they've found that its a cancer causing agent

 

[GasGuzzler]

Cursive has been out of public schools for 20+ years ... longer than these people have been alive in many cases. Did everyone know kids don't carry textbooks and therefore most schools no longer have lockers?

Unsure where the element of surprise comes from.

I don't think they teach abacus any longer and most kids' parents don't use a clothes line.

My kids can write cursive but why? When will they use it ... besides signing their name on ... what?

 

[contender]

"My kids can write cursive but why? When will they use it ... besides signing their name on ... what?"

Many legal documents require a written signature. And one place other cursive writing should be used is when writing a check.

Yes,, yes,, I know,, not as many people write personal checks anymore. But if we keep using checks, which makes banks continue using them, we can, in a small way, prevent total transference of a paperless money system. I still use checks to handle a lot of my financial transactions.
I like to think of it as a way to keep another one of my freedoms,, and hopefully prevent a complete removal of a hard currency type of system.

 

[trebor44]

The laughable part of this "post" is how many folks can read a Doctors or CEO's signature? How many can scribble on those electronic (digital) devices. Sign electronically, really? This makes fake news look real.

 

[gnappi]

I too use checks, not many just my water bill, ADT, property taxes and electric company.

Trebor44, It's NOT about legibility, it's about repeatability. You need to be able to reasonably duplicate your own signature.

My OP stated, "reaching out to a large number of young voters to confirm their signature"

 

[vito]

Of course I can read and write cursive; I'm 81 and went to school when this was considered very basic education. But between arthritis and how rarely I need to actually sign my name, I find that when I do need to sign it is uncomfortable. Not too many years ago I was still paying my bills by check, and that meant signing my name and writing out the amount of the check in cursive at least a dozen times each month. Now that I pay by online banking I probably don't write more than a dozen checks in a year, and only very rarely have any need to sign my name at all. FWIW, over the years my signature has changed, or deteriorated, into a sort of printed first letter, followed by a sort of scrawl for both my first and last name.