Caught this on the radio yesterday (click audio icon), about the
challenge of cursive writing for high school students taking the SAT
this year. Talented students may get lower grades because their hands
are more adept at keyboards. Also reviews handwriting education in
elementary schools. To my surprise, prior to the 1920s, only cursive
was taught in US schools, teaching two systems of hand writing was a
compromise:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4049540