Exactly why are we peddling New Age crap on this messageboard?
And you do you seriously think that people who don’t write well don’t know their basic manuscript letterforms? Bad handwriting is a fine motor skills problem, not a mental problem.
FWIW, I pretty much dropped cursive after High School (graduated '99)
We still had to write in those dreaded blue books in University at least until I graduated ('04). Most professors were ok with print.
By the end of college, I had nearly entirely forgotten/dropped cursive. Those few classes my senior year that still insisted on written exams I wrote kinda a bastard cursive/print hybrid. Ugly, but I graduated. And I haven’t written cursive for nearly 8 years now. Not that I miss it.
/Can barely sign my own name in cursive anymore. But I can type at like 80 WPM, so I don’t shed many tears.
I can’t remember the last time I wrote anything substantial in cursive either. I just tried writing “the quick brown fox…” and got stuck for a few seconds trying to remember what a capital ‘T’ is supposed to look like. I also had some trouble linking the e ‘b’ and ‘r’ together so that they look right, and I somehow wound up with an extra ‘hump’ in my ‘z’. But overall, I think it’s legible… 
I don’t believe for a second that the vast majority of people who claim to have bad handwriting have some kind of disorder regarding fine motor skills. It’s simply a matter of not caring to do anything about it.
I don’t know if this matters, but holding a pen/pencil has always hurt/caused cramps.
The usual rejoinder is “you’re not holding it right” when, in fact, I’m doing so just as the picture is showing me. And other methods don’t help at all (still cramps, can’t control pen, etc.)
I stopped writing in cursive way back in the sixth grade. It looked ugly as heck back then, and having just tried the ‘quick brown fox’ experiment, I’d have to say it’s actually gotten uglier. Also, like John T, it appears I’ve largely forgotten how to do it.
But I’m a real champ when it comes to printing! I’ve always been able to do it faster and easier than cursive, and I’ve heard people comment on how neat and legible it is. Which is surprising, since when these same people see me write, they’ll often get a horrified look and gasp “How can you even write like that??” Apparently I’m doing it all wrong, and have been since I could first hold a pencil. Back in elementary school, well-meaning teachers would occasionally give me the horrified look, gently rearrange my fingers, and encourage me to try writing a few words the proper way.
“There now, isn’t that so much easier?” they would ask.
“Yes ma’am, thank you,” I’d lie, while they beamed with approval.
Of course, as soon as they walked away I’d go right back to my clumsy ape-grip. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? 
I am astonished. I write regularly. Shopping and other lists, notes to my wife, notes to myself and, above all, my mathematical research. When it is done, I then go to the computer. And all those other things, what I am going to crank up my computer for a shopping list? My handwriting isn’t beautiful, but it is serviceable and I can make it really legible if I take some care. If the b doesn’t join with the r, who cares? Not my fifth grade teacher who failed me on handwriting and could herself wrote so that it looked exactly like the charts.
For shopping, I created (a LONG time ago) a shopping list in Excel, organized by aisle. If I need to put together a shopping list, I print out a blank one and start checking off items. Why write it out multiple times? It won’t be properly organized, I’ll forget stuff, and wasting time is a far worse offense than not writing cursive. 
I just checked, and nope I can’t do it, except for my signature. Even my printing is getting pretty sloppy after years of mostly typing.
:eek: Just most? There were college instructors commanding students to pick one form of handwriting over another in 2004?
12 years of Catholic school (graduated high school in 2000); you bet your ass I learned cursive. We started in 3rd grade and though class time specifically dedicated to handwriting only lasted a couple of years, handwriting was a separate grade on my report card until I went to high school.
I’m still trying to figure out what variant we learned; traditional Zaner Bloser is a bit too simplified but traditional Palmer isn’t it, either (though I know for sure that’s what my grandma learned).
I love writing, both in print and cursive. I have very small but incredibly neat penmanship and can switch between upright and slanted for both printing and cursive (and specific cursive letter forms are totally different depending on upright vs slant. I don’t have to think about it; it’s totally automatic). I usually write upright but it depends on my mood.
I’m in grad school right now and I know just about everyone prints. I generally have as well to be on the safe side, but I wrote (in cursive) a thank you note to a prof for a letter of recommendation and the next time she saw me, right after thanking me, she said, “you have gorgeous handwriting!” I played it 
, but inside was 
My dabbling in Russian has pretty thoroughly screwed up my Latin cursive. I did a lot of hand writing while I was in SPb, and Russian Cyrillic script has a number of similar letterforms to Latin cursive. Now when I think “r,” I tend to write “p” and so on.
Well, most didn’t care. The remaining few grumbled about it, but accepted my bastardized print/script hybrid. Didn’t affect my grades, as far as I can tell.
The OP reminds me of that time on Family Guy when Peter forgot how to sit down. (video)
My “handwriting” is a mash of cursive and printed letters. Everyone finds it perfectly legible, unless I’m really rushed and it gets a little scribbly and careless. I think it would be fun to see a sample of everyone’s handwriting - pick a simple phrase or two, get everyone to write it out, and link to a photo or scan of it. I’m curious to see just how bad everyone’s “bad” handwriting is!