I thnk I learned cursive in second grade. I’m not sure what method, except that it wasn’t Palmer according to Shayna’s link. I hardly ever use it now, except when I want to write very nicely (for example, when I sent out invitations to my high school graduation). But a lot of people I know used it exclusively after they were taught it.
The reason I’ve heard given for delaying teaching is that 5 and 6 year olds may lack enough fine muscle control to master cursive.
genie, I’m not quite so sure what’s so fancy about Palmer handwriting either, the one that I hear as “elegant” is usually Spencerian penmanship; you can see an example here (look at the top of the page where it says “Spencerian Script Penmanship”). Usually it’s the capital letters that look really snazzy in Spencerian writing. I have some copybooks for it around here, but it’s hard even for me with my years of penmanship classes to get the letters to look really nice and evenly swirly.
Ooh, lovely, zweisamkeit. Thank you! I’m going to practice.
Ohh, finette, I remember that from Montessori school, but I never got good at writing them while I was there (I was better at numbers). I did notice later on that those early tries bear some resemblance to how my final cursive style looks like.
I was taught cursive in second grade, and won an award for the best writing at a local fair. No one would believe that from my writing now. It’s sloppy cursive.
I usually write in cursive, and it seems easier to me. It looks better, in my opinion.
Is this so difficult? You learn and use cursive because it is writing. When you print, you are emulating printing-- which is best done by typewriters and printing presses, not by humans. For humans, writing (cursive) is more natural and it is faster and easier. What the hell is the world coming to?
It’s called WRITING. If you can’t do it well it’s because you haven’t practiced enough or were taught incorrectly. Literate members of a society that use written language WRITE. It is sad and shocking that writing is going out of style. Pretty soon people won’t be able to read either, I suppose. I rue the day.
Well la di da!
I pretty much only used cursive when I had to until college, when I realized that it really was best for handwritten essays and exams. It’s faster and more fluid, and mine is more legible than my rather scratchy printing. A friend of mine once remarked that if there’s any truth to handwriting analysis, the difference between my cursive and printing is so extreme that it must indicate multiple personalities. 
Ditto, ditto, ditto.
When I’m teaching (college-level math, FWIW), I do a lot of writing on the board, and I use various “fonts” or styles depending on context, but whenever I write anything that’s very long (i.e. a whole sentence or more), I almost always write in cursive. It’s faster. It’s more or less neat depending on how fast I’m trying to write, how tired my hand is getting, etc., but I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone complain that they couldn’t read my handwriting.
I’m quite suprised that it’s odd to write in cursive in America, we were taught how to when i was 8 and you were never made to write in any paticular way afterwards, as long a your writing was readable. I assumed that this was how it was everywhere. If i had to write one sentance without using cursive it would take me far too long and would look terrible.
Penmanship was the only subject I ever got a C in during my elementary school years. The first thing I asked when I got to junior high was “Do we still have to write everything in cursive?” They said no, so I didn’t. The only cursive I use now is my signature, which is pretty much illegible anyway. If I try to write other things in cursive now, it looks like the handwriting of a ten-year-old who got C’s in penmanship. (My printing isn’t exactly beautiful either, but it’s vastly more readable and just as fast.)
I remember that when I was in elementary school, I couldn’t wait to learn cursive! I’m such a girly-girl, and it looks so pretty 
IIRC, once we had learned it we were required to use it for English and history work. My handwriting isn’t perfect now (taking notes at top speed in college will do that) but it’s still pretty nice. Whether I use printing or cursive just depends on my mood.
Hey, another calligrapher! 
Fun stuff. Email me if you want to talk calligraphy, 'kay? I’ve got some books that you may want to check out.
Heh, that’s me too. Pretty flowing cursive, sloppy angular printing.
IMHO writing in cursive is not all that unusual in the U.S., but maybe that’s just among the people I know. There are lots and lots of times when you simply don’t have a keyboard. Cursive is faster than printing. Also, there are social situations that require a handWRITTEN note.
You know it’s a real shame. “Print” can be every bit as elegant and stylistic as cursive. If you look at the writing from an older (say age 40) Architect, who’s had to learn how to “letter” and his first task when he got out of school was to do nothing but write all of the text on several 30"x42" specification (READ: The whole page was full of text 1/8" tall.) sheets, HE learned how to make a block letter look GOOD. If you ever get a chance, look at a set of construction documents, sorry… look at a set of “blueprints” 20 or more years old. You’ll see a real truly beautiful piece of work. You can really see that Architects, Draftsmen, and Engineers really took pride in their work back then. Believe me, drawing up one large sheet of drawings in PENCIL without smearing and without a bunch of eraser marks and making it all look orderly and neat is a real skill that takes a lot of practice. And you could read every letter they wrote. Sadly this handwriting style is becoming a lost art. There was a time where you could look at a check and pick out the Architect, because his handwriting would be so good and cool. Nowadays the young breed learn more about computers than the old methods. I’ll just bet that they don’t even learn to letter in High School drafting anymore. And if you don’t think that block lettering can look cool, then you obviously haven’t seen the tens of thousands of lettering (look like hand lettered) fonts out there. A lot of people (myself included) can make “print” look great. I am proud of my good handwriting. (Not so proud of my bad style. I have two styles: good and bad - bad is fast but still readable. But not stylish. Good comes out when I am writing creatively.) But some people have that truly artistic handwriting, and these people I’ve been impressed by always print. They never use cursive. I’m not impressed with making cursive look good. It’s stylish. How can you make it look bad? Unless you don’t know to write cursive. One thing that is consistent is that generally if someone who prints has a stylish hand you can read it VERY easily. But even perfect cursive isn’t so easy to read, because all of the letters look so similar, to me anyway. Sure you can read it, but it just takes a bit more effort. That’s why Architects print everything.
Cursive, for me, all looks the same. I know you can make it stylistic too, but it just looks the same to me. And I do print fast and I don’t use pens that blot. I do get cramps when I have to write a lot, but that hardly happens. I use a computer for everything.
Please don’t let civilization end. Then I’ll have to re-learn cursive!
My problem with it is that so many people are terrible at it and I can’t read what they wrote.
I rediscovered cursive when I got to cegep and note-taking got more important to me. My ordinary handwriting is a sort of pastiche of print and cursive, whatever is faster for each letter. But I also like to handwrite letters, which I do in a reasonable cursive, though not exactly that sort of beautiful copperplate seventy-year-old-lady-type cursive.