THE PRINCIPAL DUTY OF A DOCUMENT EXAMINER IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER A WRITING IS OR IS NOT AUTHENTIC. OCCASIONALLY HE IS ALSO ASKED TO DETERMINE THE GEOGRAPHIC ORIGINS OF THE WRITER BY HIS HANDWRITING STYLE. THIS STUDY SURVEYED AT LEAST 2 SCHOOLS IN EACH OF THE 50 STATES TO DETERMINE THE HANDWRITING SYSTEMS BEING TAUGHT. A TOTAL OF 154 LETTERS WERE MAILED TO INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS REQUESTING NAMES OF HANDWRITING SYSTEMS TAUGHT FROM KINDERGARDEN THROUGH SECOND GRADE. OF THE 154 LETTERS MAILED, 39 STATES RESPONDED (78 PERCENT OF THE 50 STATES). A BREAKDOWN OF THIS DATA ON THE SYSTEMS TAUGHT INCLUDES ZANER-BLOSSER, 47 PERCENT; PALMER, 21 PERCENT; PETERSON DIRECTED, 5 PERCENT; AND MISCELLANEOUS SYSTEMS, 23 PERCENT. WHEN PLACED IN THEIR RESPECTIVE POSITIONS ON A U.S. MAP, THE WIDESPREAD PATTERN CAN EASILY BE SEEN. FOR EXAMPLE, THE PALMER METHOD IS TAUGHT IN WASHINGTON, IDAHO, NEVADA, SOUTH DAKOTA, NEBRASKA, IOWA, ALABAMA, AND FLORIDA. THE MAP ALSO SHOWS THAT SOME STATES TEACH MORE THAN ONE STYLE OF HANDWRITING. THE ONLY SCHOOLS THAT TEACH AN INDIVIDUALIZED SYSTEM ARE LOCATED IN HAWAII. ALTHOUGH CERTAIN SYSTEMS OF HANDWRITING MAY PREDOMINATE IN CERTAIN AREAS, THERE IS NOT ONE SYSTEM OF HANDWRITING UNIQUE TO A PARTICULAR REGION. IN ADDITION, THE DIVERSE SYSTEMS TAUGHT AND OTHER CULTURAL FACTORS PRECLUDE AN ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE THE GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN OF A PERSON BY HIS HANDWRITING STYLE. (MJW)