Oh, I never thought that, Oak. And, as far as writing either by hand or computer, I agree, if one works for you, use it. I used to have my students hand write their first drafts, to facilitate peer editing and self editing. The only kids who got to write their first drafts on the computer were kids with learning issues/ADD, etc. Then, some of them said they wanted to do the whole thing on the computer. The issue mostly was, I alloted time for them to do the drafting and editing in class; I didn't have enough computers (maybe 4?) in the classroom, plus Alpha Smarts that were really for the learning disabled kids, to have everyone do this. Laptops would have helped here! A few of the really bright kids would type it up at home and bring it in to do their peer editing. But, most did not complain at all.
As far as cursive goes, I personally think it is a waste of time, and I thought this before everyone started word processing. Why do we need 2 systems of writing? Both of my very verbal sons have terrible handwriting, and learning cursive was torture for them. Both of them learned to type on the computer, with Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor in 3d grade, at home! I made them learn, and this was in the early nineties. Byt he time they got to the obligatory 7th grade word processing class, it was a non-issue. The older one was typing 123 words a minute and his teacher thought he cheated on the timed tests. Really, handwriting is one of those rote skills that does not give an indication of your intelligence. I cannot tell you the number of parents I would talk to and when i was saying "writing," they thought I meant handwriting. Ugh.