What will happen without our kids learning script?

Given that signing for things is about the only use left for script, and the inordinate amount of time (and muscle pain) required to learn it just don't seem justifiable to me today.

It seems like I sign for fewer and fewer things each year.

I hardly ever write paper checks.

Credit card transactions under $25 don't usually require a sig anymore.

I buy a lot of stuff online. No sig required.

The US is the last major country in the world to still use signatures at all for credit cards. They are considered a very poor, very insecure way to do it. When was the last time you had a merchant compare your sig with the sig on the back of your card? I just looked...I never signed the back of my credit card. I've had this one for over a year. So basically nobody looks. Nobody cares.

Still have to sign stuff at the Dr's office from time to time, and at work once in a blue moon. But I could probably sign all those things Lazlo Toth and nobody would ever call me on it (my own John Hancock is hopelessly illegible).

I think we'll muddle through ;-)

I'm not sure why this is a programming question, but since you did ask in this category, I'd like to point out that a "digital signature" can also be used to buy goods online, and this can be as simple as just typing your name.

For those who can't write, an "X" can count as a signature. So if someone can't write in script, they can just print their "signature" and I'm fairly sure it would be legally valid.

It does seem like we spend an awful lot of time to teach this, and the end result is often illegible anyway. Lots of people sign with maybe one good letter and then what looks like a wavy line. It's not pretty and it's not secure, so what's the point?