I never learned how to calculate a square root by hand and instead spent time on problem solving skills - and I did better in mathematics because of those better priorities. In the same way, our students would be better served spending more time on keyboarding and dropping cursive.

Holding onto outdated skills is a big reason for the mile wide, inch deep curriculum problems we have in the U.S. Though the cursive debate seems like a relatively minor issue, it points to the very real problem we educators face when material and requirements are added without taking any away.