DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Occasionally I have a handwritten check to deposit at the bank. Sometimes I use the ATM to deposit the check.

The ATM has always been able to read the check, even though it's written in cursive. And remember that the numbers you write on the check aren't the important part. It's the text that describes what the numbers should be that takes precedence if there's a disagreement. And the ATM has to be able to read that text even if it's cursive.

Steve2Q

My take (and I'm 70 and can do calligraphy: Cursive, while quite pretty is not necessary going forward. How many of us are doing glass plate negatives, albumin prints, etc? I feel that education happens both in and out of school. My granddaughter just transferred schools for 2nd grade as the new school is more advanced for each grade and the class size is slightly smaller. In addition, her parents spend time reading with her and my grandson. He just turned 5 and knows basic chess. Kids, Millennials, or whatever you choose to call them are no less smart than we are, the education they get is determined by the teachers and the parents. As an official Old Fart, all this nonsense about making change, cursive, blah, blah is just sour grapes and something that happens with every generation..."those dag-nabbed kids and their horseless carriages!"

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

We can only hope so...

smf85 Loc: Freeport, IL

The ATM has help at the central office - an image of anything it can’t read is sent there an a human tells it if the words match the numbers. The ATM can ‘read’ cursive since the contents are highly constrained - it reads the printed numbers and then looks for number words matching the read in numbers. If the human can’t read the image or isn’t available to read to image the check is kicked back for teller deposit.

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

That is very true. There is an 18 year old in the volunteer fire company I am a member of, and he got a wrist watch as a gift from his grandparents that live out of state. He had to return it and asked for a digital one because he cannot tell time looking at a watch or clock with hands on it.

As far as counting and giving back change, they can hardly do it when the register tells them how much to give back.

Leo_B Loc: Houston suburb

Hah. Better yet, when it totals say $13.90 just hand them $20.15 and see what happens. Or best of all have a $20 and coins in your hand in prep for the total and they hit the $20 icon instantly and then you give them the $20 and some coins.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

God is impartial, he made sure we have just as many idiot repukes as democrabs.

Paladin48 Loc: Orlando

I wouldn't have been as nice as you

bertloomis Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

Yes, seriously!

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

This song told me a message that I learned long ago. My wife and I had always made time for our children. The house wasn't a museum and there was lots of evidence that children lived in the house. I can't tell you how many times the house needed to be cleaned. We would go places for the weekend. My children got a chance to swim at the beach and hang out at the aquarium.
School work came after an hour of relaxing or watching television. We helped our children with their homework. Then we had dinner together. Afterwards if there was still some homework we did it with our bellies full. The it was sleep time. In the morning was madness get everyone up and ready for school and out the door. I miss those days. One thing I don't miss, is walking around the house barefoot. Why?
If G-d intended parents to be barefoot, he would not have created LEGOs!!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Maybe someone could have taken a little time and taught him how use it? That would have expanded his knowledge and made his grandparents happy.
It's a different world for today's kids. We should not expect it to be the same as the world we experienced when we were young. That was also true for us and our parents.
Sorry, but I'm of a minority opinion. I see those same deficiencies, but then I watch the same kids wiz with their two thumbs typing on their devices at a lightening fast rate while I hunt & peck with one finger. They can search for information much faster than I can drive to the local library. Yes, it's certainly different, but many of us ONLY see the deficiencies and fail to recognize the skills they have developed that we cannot perform. I seldom write with cursive or print. Most everything I do is on my PC or smart phone. Almost all my bills are paid automatically online or a few are paid by logging onto to my bank and scheduling on online payment. The few checks I receive are deposited with a photo to my online bank and so on. If I need to write something down, I use a note on my smartphone. My calendar is on my phone. I love the digital age. I do not necessarily feel all kids are being efficiently educated, but I do not feel all our educational system(s) are inferior. I think parents and homes are failing more than schools.

Enough ranting! I realize many will disagree with me. That's why this is called a "forum".
Mark

alamomike47 Loc: San Antonio, Texas

Only in a America! Thank you liberals!

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

It's true that the parents are failing the kids. A woman I worked with was on her cell phone chewing out her son's teacher because he had poor grades in reading and spelling. When she finished her call I asked her how much time she spent reading to her son, or having him read to her or did she even go over his homework with him. She informed me that the teacher was supposed to do all that. I asked her how the teacher was supposed to insure her son received all the attention he needed when there were 30 plus students in the class and didn't they need attention, too. I told her she should be responsible for helping him and that if he failed it was because she failed him. Needless to say, we didn't have much to say to each other after that.

We are all becoming too reliant on our electronic devices and I will admit that if that giant EMP wave ever comes through and renders our devices useless, I will miss the knowledge and ease they provide but I'll still be able to balance my checkbook and write letters to my friends.

What are things going to be like in 10 years? 20? It's a very scary thought.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

Yes I know , they are trying to get into the kids heads with feeling warm and fuzzy instead of teaching them what they need know. Hope I live long enough to teach my grand kids a thing or two.

Abo

Here's another prime example of where we are at:

In the middle of the day, with unlimited visibility,
I'm riding in the left lane of a four lane road;
there's a car with "L" plates and with two occupants,
obviously a learner and "instructor" next to me in the
lane immediately to my right; with its right indicator flashing,
it veers left! I have to veer left and hit the brakes to avoid a collision.

The pair of pillocks in the car, merrily chatting,
continued on their ignorant (of their potential manslaughter) way.
The car was covered in signage that read LICENCE DRIVING SCHOOL

The professional instructor was at least as incompetent as the learner.
Neither had a clue that I and the motorcycle I was riding (with both headlights
and driving light burning) existed.

That exact scenario happened to me TWICE in one day!
People are now actually being trained to be homicidal arse holes.