My uncle had horrible handwriting, and then learned calligraphy, so he now writes beautifully. I would be sad to see that art form die off. But other than that, I'm happy to see cursive handwriting disappearing.
I write in a mixture of cursive and print. Sometimes I'll write in cursive to offset text written in print, or vice versa. Ever since I learned cursive in the 4th grade, I've preferred writing in it. It feels more natural, more flowing.
I'd like to think my cursive is legible, but I generally write notes, papers, etc. for others in print.
I am a programmer by trade but still find myself writing a copious amount on paper, I like the tactile feel. My writing is a mixture of print and cursive. I think that when hand-written notes and letters were a major component of communication it was much more important to have a standard writing system for communication's sake. The reality of the situation is that normally the only person reading anything I've handwritten is me, so I write in my print-cursive hybrid and read it just fine. If I'm writing to someone else it will more than likely be typed. This isn't really anything to be happy or sad about, just the reality that time marches on and things change.
I never learned cursive. Even at 3 years old, when I was learning to write, it made no sense to me.
I still write "non cursive" (not really "print", just that letters are disconnected and I write each separately- each letter has a distinctive shape and some flourishes and so on) and my handwriting is clear and legible, but it seems to shock people when I tell them I don't write cursive. Thay aren't shocked when reading something i wrote. Strange, now that I think of it.
Formal cursive was taught to kids (including myself) rather poorly, with no emphasis on practical use or even readability. It was just supposed to look like the shit in the picture. It seems to have mostly fallen out of the curriculum in US elementary schools, it's not like they don't have plenty of other crap to teach by rote in its place.
But flowing connected lettering is not bad! Cursive : Print :: Touch Typing : Hunt & Peck
At some point I realized that I was developing my own cursive style, starting with print letterforms drawn without PENUP. It looks pretty decent, but my mom's formal cursive is amazing with a fine felt pen -- especially because her fingers aren't dextrous (she moves her whole arm) and she was forced to be right-handed as a child.
As someone who is left handed I always had a hard time keeping the flow of cursive writing going while trying not to smear what I was writing. As soon as cursive was no longer required in school I opted instead for all caps, all the time because I can better control what I am writing and I like the aesthetic. Unfortunately when I write quickly some of the letters such as A, D, O, P, R devolve into lesser forms and start to look alike. Maybe it's a subconscious optimization?
A friend of mine has a 2 year-old daughter. She's already learning how to type on the keyboard, though she's still a couple years away from entering school. Most likely, when she reaches age 5 or 6 she will already be able to read and write fluently with a computer, maybe have an IM account and even chat, but she will not be able to do handwriting.
I always found it extraneous to force elementary school students to learn another form of writing. Why not just focus on refining existing print writing skills. In the end, everyone develops there own personal style anyway which inevitability inherits some of the characteristics of cursive.
If you're in school and not allowed gadgetry and you need to write a lot, for years, often based on someone talking, why don't they teach shorthand?
It's phonetic - each part of a shape represents a sound and they are chained together, and they are designed to flow neatly when written unlike the awkward joining of ordinary characters. There are shortcuts for common patterns like endings ('ing', 'shun'). It's positional (high/mid/low per each line). Vowel sounds are dropped where not necessary, and where present they are the dots and dashes - positional (left/mid/right). It can make a distinction between light and dark pencil strokes to indicate voiced and unvoiced sounds.
In short, there are fewer marks to put on paper and the marks are simpler and more fluid to write.
I took penmanship in school.I never used it, and now write in all caps when using a pen and paper. It's just as fast, and a lot easier to read. Penmanship is an art, beautiful as an art form, but really inconvenient as a form of communication.
