The art of writing

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who commented on my post yesterday.  once again I'm humbled to be part of such a kind and friendly community.  Onward to the next year! 

Spent some of today marking an assessment some of my students did yesterday.  Whilst they appear to have done pretty well content and understanding wise, it concerns me that the younger generation's ability to write continues to decline.  I'm not talking about the ability to string words into sentences (that's another story!) but I am talking about their ability to physically write......to manouevre a pen across the paper in such a way that the ink creates neat, well-formed shapes that are easily identifiable and easily understood by the reader.  An ink-dance where errors or omissions are few, characters are regular and the finished piece looks like an art piece.

Is it my age or is handwriting heading towards becoming an extinct art form?  No-one (or very few) use cursive writing these days.  I don't even think it is taught in schools any more, so with no model to work from nor time to practice, is it any great surprise that it appears to be a skill on the decline.

What do you think?  Is there a place for cursive writing in today's modern world.....a world where communication often means tapping on a keyboard, not picking up a pen and jotting a few notes?  Is the pen - or pencil - becoming a relic of othe past?

Handwritten answers only please!!