Those funny lines with that dot over it.

I can definitely, along with every one else who has been through the public school system, remember being drilled on cursive handwriting over and over and then being told that all my work in middle school, high school, and college will have to be written in cursive. So there I sat. Terrified that I will never ever get to turn anything in beyond 5th grade. I might as well give up school now and go work in an apple orchard or something.

But not to fear, despite what Mrs. Traumatizeallthechildren said, I was never required to turn in anything in cursive beyond one paper in 7th grade. Luckily, I grew up in the age where computers were starting to get more prevalent and, since my dad was in pharmacy school at the time and he had to have one to write his own papers, little cursive-deficient Amanda was able to type her work and submit it (Note: I can actually write and read in cursive but even though I am now 30 years old, it still looks like a second grader did it.).

My situation is definitely one example many people are using to say that word processing/computer skills should replace the focus on cursive in schools. I agree with this somewhat. As with most situations, all things should be done in moderation. Children should definitely be taught how to write cursive and read it but should not be scarred into leaving for the apple orchard. To not teach it, would be a disservice to students as many people still use it today and many documents from the past were written in it. However, they should be taught word processing skills as well to keep up with the growing use of technology in our society.