Here's an online survey (you can vote) and discussion from Costco, the superstore, entitled "Should Students Still Be Taught Cursive Writing?". I think I know how this group will vote.
Norman, I fixed your link (I hope). Personally, I think that elementary school students should be taught some sort of handwriting, but not necessarily cursive, and not necessarily all the same type of handwriting. Neatness and legibility are far more important than uniformity, and a simple manuscript or italic (unjoined or cursive) style may be better suited to some students than the Zaner-Bloser I was taught in school.
I believe that children in elementary school should be taught cursive writing skills. I know that many people today believe that good cursive and penmanship in general is worthless because no one hardly even bothers to write by hand anymore, but I think that good handwriting is a wonderful skill.
I appreciate it when other people have nice penmanship, and i prefer handwritten notes and letters over something typed on a computer/typewriter.
How many ways can I object? If our children are not taught cursive in school, then the journals many of us keep will be a foreign manuscript to our grandchildren and great grandchildren. Not to say that this is my sole objection to the end of teaching cursive. Cursive can be considered a cognitive skill, at least for grade schoolers. How many of us actually form all of our letters in strict accordance with Zaner-Blosener? Yet most of our contemporaries can decipher what is written with little difficulty? It makes as much sense to delete addition, subtraction, multiplication and division from their mathmatics curriculum simply because calculators are built in to their "Windows" programs. Rush was right. Dumbing down.
I agree with Trillium. Cursive writing is a cognitive skill. The writer first has to form the font in their mind, then translate that through nerve impulses to muscular movement. I believe that it contributes to greater general intelligence.