As a teacher, I see students everyday who don't even know that a signature is supposed to be cursive! It's ridiculous. Cursive is intended to make writing easier; you don't have to lift your pen from the page. I don't understand why everyone thinks it's so darn difficult. It's not artistic, it has a purpose. I personally mix a few print letters in with my cursive, but it is always legible.
I don't care if students are using more and more electronic media, there are times when you have to write things down by hand, and it needs to be legible, and not take 20 minutes. For instance, in the public school I teach at, students don't have laptops to take notes on, they have to write them down. It takes forever. If that time had been spent in earlier grades to teach them to write legibly quickly (such as not having to lift your pen from the page) then they would have more time now to put "valuable ideas and skills in their heads."