DISQUS

Handwriting will probably matter for a long, long time (at least as long as computers exist and can lose their power in hurricanes ... )
Research shows, however, that the fastest, clearest handwriters avoid cursive. They join some, not all, of the letters -- making just the easiest joins, and skipping the rest -- and use print-like rather than cursive-style forms for those letters that "disagree" between printing and cursive.

Since learning to read cursive takes an hour or less (I've taught five-year-olds to do it), and learning to write cursive takes a year or more, I do recommend that students learn how to read cursive for the sake of those who still write in cursive.
But why require students to write in a style that the fastest and clearest handwriters avoid?

Kate Gladstone
handwriting instruction and remediation specialist
Founder, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works
Director, the World Handwriting Contest
http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com

Bess Sondel belonged to, and many of her best ideas/practices came from, a group called the Institute for General Semantics - http://www.time-binding.org - which one might call a "life skills" improvement group (using "life skills" as you do) that focuses on communications. A lot of Sondel's books and other writings quote (and/or borrow directly from) Alfred Korzybski who founded the group. So, if Bess Sondel's work pleases and benefits you, you might want to visit http://www.time-binding.org - if you do, tell Steve Stockdale that I sent you and said "Hello!"