Journal 10: Is Cursive Worth Teaching?

Point/Counterpoint: Is Cursive Worth Teaching? 
Eilts, Sharon. "Point/Counterpoint: Is Cursive Worth Teaching?" International Society for Technology in Education. ISTE, Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. 

Summary: This article lists why and why not cursive should still be taught to young students. First, the author discusses why it should be taught. Each year, people visit Washington D.C. to appreciate the hand-written documents (like the Declaration of Independence). A 6-year old girl noted cursive was something she was looking forward to do when she grew up. She also was aware that by learning to write cursive, one can read it as well. This is a skill that will help people read and understand the penmanship of others in the past, present, and future.
On the other hand, the author discusses why cursive should not be taught. Cursive is thought to be obsolete, and the goal of communication should be to get a message across, not concerning the tool used to get that message across. Especially with technology allowing students to type everything out (even electronic signatures), cursive seems to lack purpose in today's communication.

Question 1: What should I do if my school does not want me to include cursive as part of my curriculum?

It probably will not be too big of a deal to teach them cursive if the time allows. Teachers would not be punished for teaching cursive to their students, but would still need to meet their curriculum for teaching as well.

Question 2: How terrible would it possibly be to not teach cursive at all?

Recently, I read an article that claimed that discussed a study that revealed that learning to write in cursive improves cerebral activity in certain areas of the brain. I do remember how tedious it was to learn to write in cursive as a young student, but I use cursive all the time now, because it saves me time by me not having to lift my pen up as I write. I believe cursive should still be taught to young students.