In Anglo districts here in NJ they still teach cursive, but kids rarely use it because so many assignments are typed (and submitted electronically). As far as the urban schools, I honestly don’t believe they teach writing at all beyond third grade.
I guess you just “make your mark” instead of sign a real name; I guess those students can’t read the Declaration of Independence.
Two results of this dumbing down that I’ve observed are 1)the replacement of many blacks in the white collar/clerical workforce by Hispanics (it is commonly acknowledged that Hispanics are displacing blacks, but never analyzed as to why), and 2) the presence in any department, regardless of how low-skilled the work may be, of an Anglo “scribe” - often the only person who can write/type a coherent email or letter.
Even if it’s not used much, or at all, at least the kids there are exposed to cursive. Here it’s just eliminated. I was shocked when I gave a BDay card to one of my friend’s daughters (she was 9 at the time) and she asked me to read what I wrote (”Happy Birthday Abby”) because she couldn’t. I asked both parents about this and they confirmed that cursive wasn’t taught in their school district anymore. Sad.
The urban areas? You could probably have some real (tragic) comedy coming out of them. You could have “Man or Elephant” comparisons, like they do with paintings.
“They” don’t want people to be able to read the Declaration of Independence. C’mon, now! It was written by old, racist, white men...
Hispanics replacing blacks: They don’t typically have a “built in” attitude.
Anglo scribe: Yep. Someone, somewhere in an organization needs to literate.