Cursive writing: Expendable?

I haven’t used cursive in years.  Even my signature can hardly be called cursive.  It’s more of an indecipherable scrawl.  Other than the years I spent instructing my students in cursive when I taught third grade, I have not found any use for this form of writing in my own life. 

Perhaps it has something to do with being left-handed.  Dragging my hand across a written page leaves my hand stained with ink. 

I mention this because there’s been some concern as of late that cursive is a fading skill, a dying art. 

Should we be concerned?

Is the use of cursive necessary for the future of our society?

As a teacher, one of my greatest challenges is finding room for all of the new material and additional curricular responsibilities in an already full school day.  While it seem as if we are more than willing to add to the curriculum each year, we never actually remove anything in order to compensate for the additional time requirements, nor do we make an effort to extend the school day. 

So perhaps cursive should go.  Perhaps it’s expendable.

Thoughts?