# What were the most useless skills you were taught in school?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 5, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648 "2026-06-05T19:11:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/121 "2026-06-06T22:16:31Z")
The idea a signature is related to cursive is frankly risible. Signatures predated cursive and will live long after the last cursive-practicing senior citizen has gone to their reward.
---
### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/122 "2026-06-06T22:21:47Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> > [@Spoons](#):
> >
> > Nominal: “I gave my pen to Bill.”
> > Dative: “I gave Bill my pen.”
>
> Huh, isn’t “Bill” dative in both examples? Shows what I know…
The use of the word dative derives from an attempt to impose the grammar of Latin on English, where it doesn’t fit. In the first sentence, Bill is the object of a preposition, while in the second it is one of the two complements (objects) of the verb give.
I always enjoyed diagramming sentences and when I took a course in linguistics, I found out how to do it properly, starting with the fact that English is not Latin. To illustrate that, I point out that the simple past is actually the perfect tense (completed action) while the verb compounded with the present tense of have is actually imperfect.
Probably my most useless classes were the gym class. And using log and trig tables utterly useless. Hand calculation of square roots might seem useless, but I found a use for it one day. I had bought a computer language (Forth) interpreter and it included a square root algorithm that was very slow (on an 8088 chip) because it used Newton approximation method, each step of which included a division, which was very slow. I implemented my seventh grade algorithm which is very easy in binary because you have to guess the next bit and see if it is too large. The only choice is to guess 1 and if it is too large, then use 0. Much faster and the vendor adopted it.
---
### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/123 "2026-06-06T22:22:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> but you wouldn’t be able to sign your name to a legal document.
This is now the _third_ time you’ve made this claim in this thread and it’s frankly bullshit. You can sign your name in print and it’s just as legal. You think cursive is incredibly important because that’s what the teachers taught. It isn’t.
---
### Author:  [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/124 "2026-06-06T22:33:08Z")
There are no useless skills - many of them just help train your brain and/or muscles to be ready for Some New Thing. That said, the most nearly useless skill I mastered was eraser clapping - all through grade school in the early 1960s good students were rewarded by being sent Out of the School When it wasn’t Recess to knock the chalk dust out of blackboard erasers.
---
### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/125 "2026-06-06T22:40:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> rather than with geology. I was required to broaden my education with cursive rather than with astronomy
Huh. I learned about geology and astronomy in school as well as cursive… you didn’t?
I am torn on cursive myself. The skill itself? Maybe it helps taking notes, but meh. More I think the act of writing helps make connections to the mind, for me anyway. But most defensible in the grade levels that it is taught as a fine motor skill exercise that serves other fine motor skill needs.
But I also like kids learning to tell time on clocks with hour minute and seconds hands, so I am a throwback! 😁
My major example of something I had to learn that I don’t use but I benefited by learning is geometry, specifically the proofs. Do I do math proofs ever? Of course not. But the process of going from assumptions deductively is a vital basic skill to apply in other venues. I also appreciated organic chemistry in college for the same reasons.
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/126 "2026-06-06T22:43:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> The idea a signature is related to cursive is frankly risible. Signatures predated cursive and will live long after the last cursive-practicing senior citizen has gone to their reward.
This is factually correct but it isn’t the whole story. Signatures as we know them today only became legally required with the passage of the Statute of Frauds by the English Parliament in 1677. Until then, a “signature” could be a seal, symbol, pictograph, or something else that was distinctive. But a “signature” as we understand the term today does usually involve cursive writing. I still have faint memories of learning cursive and applying it to writing my own name, which became my signature. Mind you, it has changed over time, and recently completely gone to hell, so I’m glad that we live in a technological world where mostly no one really cares.
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> This is now the _third_ time you’ve made this claim in this thread and it’s frankly bullshit. You can sign your name in print and it’s just as legal.
Thank you for keeping count. I’m sure this is correct – your personal signature is anything you want it to be. My doctor’s official authorized signature on my prescriptions is a little swirl. The trouble is that print signatures tend to be less distinctive and thus harder to authenticate and easier to forge than cursive ones.
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/127 "2026-06-06T22:49:24Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> But a “signature” as we understand the term today does usually involve cursive writing.
Let me fix that for you …
> But a “signature” as we understand the term ~~today does~~ in years past did usually involve cursive writing.
When substantially everyone under age 40 never learned cursive, IOW most of the North American populace, to assert that when they sign documents they’re not affixing their signature isn’t cute old fashioned curmudgeonly. It’s wacky.
That ship not only sailed, it sank midocean w all hands. Cursive is as dead as ancient Greek.
---
### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/128 "2026-06-06T22:53:25Z")
In support of:
[https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain)
> **[The Neuroscience Behind Writing: Handwriting vs. Typing—Who Wins the Battle?](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943480/)**
>
> Background: The advent of digital technology has significantly altered ways of writing. While typing has become the dominant mode of written communication, handwriting remains a fundamental human skill, and its profound impact on cognitive processes...
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/129 "2026-06-06T22:54:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> When substantially everyone under age 40 never learned cursive, IOW most of the North American populace, to assert that when they sign documents they’re not affixing their signature isn’t cute old fashioned curmudgeonly. It’s wacky.
Wait a minute here! When you (or your referenced under-40 young-uns) sign a legal agreement like a purchase agreement or a lease, what is it that they affix to the “signature” line of the document? Am I an obsolete oldster for assuming that everyone has a unique signature that they actually use?
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/130 "2026-06-06T23:07:38Z")
They all have a “signature”. But an e.g. 30yo who’s never had a moment of instruction in cursive affixes something to the paper. That something is simultaneously exactly 100% a signature and exactly zero percent cursive.
That’s the point I and others are making. The two ideas are no longer connected.
---
### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/131 "2026-06-06T23:10:11Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Wait a minute here! When you (or your referenced under-40 young-uns) sign a legal agreement like a purchase agreement or a lease, what is it that they affix to the “signature” line of the document? Am I an obsolete oldster for assuming that everyone has a unique signature that they actually use?
Their name. Which is their signature. Has nothing to do with whether it’s written in cursive, print, or just a squiggly line. It’s all the same legally.
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/132 "2026-06-06T23:21:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> That something is simultaneously exactly 100% a signature and exactly zero percent cursive.
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> Their name. Which is their signature. Has nothing to do with whether it’s written in cursive, print, or just a squiggly line
Certainly in some cases that may be true, but in my lifetime of observation, signatures are usually legible cursive, though sometimes so stylized as to be illegible.
May I present to you as Exhibit “A” a US dollar bill, signed by the Treasurer of the United States and by the Secretary of the Treasury. Both signatures in cursive, and perfectly legible. Lynn and Janet apparently learned cursive in school!
[ ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Obverse_of_the_series_2021_%241_Federal_Reserve_Note.jpg)
---
### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/133 "2026-06-06T23:28:06Z")
Yes. Obviously in many or most cases signatures are cursive. As is mine. The point you appear to be missing is that they don’t _have_ to be and someone not learning cursive is _not_ at a disadvantage when signing legal documents.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/134 "2026-06-06T23:38:16Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#):
>
> I have yet to use calculus.
Speaking as a calculus teacher, most people will never have need for calculus. But it’s far from useless, because the people who do use it, use it a lot. Plus, of course, some students regard the learning as its own reward.
I do wonder, though, why you took calculus if you aren’t someone who uses it, and doesn’t view it as its own reward. I don’t think any school requires it.
> [@Mk\_VII](#):
>
> Matrices in mathematics.
If you were taught about matrices the same way that most high schoolers were, all you learned was using the RREF of a matrix to solve a system of linear equations. Which is a nice trick to have when it comes up, but realistically doesn’t come up all that often. But that’s just a tiny, tiny fraction of what matrices are for, and when you see all of the other things, they’re tremendously useful. Like calculus, they’re not useful for everyone, but extremely useful for those who do.
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> It is possible to know from personal experience that a skill is usefull, but it is not possible to know purely from personal experience that a skill is useless. Just because you’ve never had a use for a skill, that doesn’t mean that other people haven’t. Or that you never will in the future.
OK, what’s the use for cursive, for absolutely anyone? It’s not for signatures, because signatures don’t need to be in cursive. It’s not for rapid note-taking, because if that’s what you want, you want either swype or shorthand. What do you want cursive for?
---
### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/135 "2026-06-06T23:45:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> OK, what’s the use for cursive, for absolutely anyone?
Some people find it easier to write (quickly and fluidly yet neatly) in cursive than to print.
I think this was a bigger deal before computers and other devices, when people used to handwrite more, and an even biggerer deal back in the days of fountain pens or quill pens.
---
### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2026, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/136 "2026-06-06T23:51:41Z")
I disliked having to write in in cursive because everything lhyooked like it shnyould shnound like thnis when I rhyead it out lhnoud.
---
### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2026, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/137 "2026-06-07T00:11:08Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Lynn and Janet apparently learned cursive in school!
Of course they did - they’re respectively 72 and 79 years old 😀! When approximately my generation is gone, so will be cursive. None of my now young adult nieces or nephews have any knowledge of it. At all.
They will be just fine 🙂.
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/138 "2026-06-07T00:26:52Z")
Google says the median age of USAians is 39.4 years. Canadians 40.6.
Half of North Americans never learned cursive and never will. And that fraction is only going up. We Doper geezers are increasingly unrepresentative.
---
### Author:  [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/139 "2026-06-07T00:27:10Z")
My 8th grade English teacher was obsessed with diagramming sentences. I learned the grammar rules, which they taught over and over every year from third through ninth grade, the first time. I had a lot easier time diagramming sentences than the math we were doing in the same grade. Can’t say diagramming sentences is something I’ve used since then. She called me up to the board to diagram an unbelieveably complex sentence because she (correctly) believed I wasn’t paying attention. I did it flawlessly, so she didn’t hassle me after that. On a side note, I decided to look up her obituary to see how old she’d been when I had her as a teacher. This was within the last year or so. There was no obituary, because she was still alive at 106.
---
### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648/140 "2026-06-07T00:29:19Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> Balancing a checkbook
This is still useful for people living on a tight budget. While I hardly write paper checks anymore, I do use my bank’s bill pay service & the money doesn’t come out until the next business day at 2pm when they process all of the payments. Also, not all debit card charges appear immediately; especially gas station ones. If you’re on a tight budget you may not have money for that {whatever} once the dust settles on the pending transactions.
> [@rsat3acr](#):
>
> So many people saying cursive. I don’t understand that. Before I retired a year and a half ago, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t read or write something in cursive
I haven’t used cursive since the test on it way back in elementary school. I always found printing faster for me. At this point handwriting is _almost_ a useless tool.
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Certainly in some cases that may be true, but in my lifetime of observation, signatures are usually legible cursive, though sometimes so stylized as to be illegible.
I’d pay you if you can find anything other than the first letters in my signature. It’s pretty consistent but it’s a squiggle.
That being said, signatures are going the way of the ~~dodo bird~~ slide rule. With electronic documents, you just type in the appropriate box & it displays in a signature font (if you so choose; one can edit the font used) & try as I might finger signing on a pad doesn’t look _anything_ like what I write with a pen.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648.md?page=6)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-most-useless-skills-you-were-taught-in-school/1030648.md?page=8)