[K12OSN] adduser/useradd issue

[Huck]

useradd <username> -p <password>

adds the user <username> to the system but does NOT set the password via 
-p <password> as it says it should in the 'man useradd' page..

alternately...

useradd <username>

followed by ...

passwd <username>

does in fact work fine...in settings the password after creating a user...

Any idea why the first option does not function as the man page says it 
should?

--Huck