To answer the original question, yes, you do have to sign the receipt in Europe for transactions in excess of a certain amount. In France, it is 762€ (!).

European and other countries switched to chip and pin cards because of the high level of fraud experienced with magnetic strips.

>there is really no reason why a USA bank could not issue cards with both chips and magnetic strips.<

There is a reason. It is spelled C O S T.

Is there a reason why the citizens of European and other countries can't be taught how to swipe a CC?

What do you mean taught? What do you think Amex customers always did?

Taught? It's what we used to do before progressing to chip and pin

On our recent trip to France our Visa card worked most of the time. On about half a dozen occasions it didn't, primarily because no one was around who knew how to use the swipe feature on the c/c machine. On those occasions we used a friend's European card with a chip, and boy, is that easier! Speed the day here when those cards are implemented.