What is the point in cursive writing?

[BufordTJustice]

When my DD started school last year and I was introduced to cursive writing I wasn't a fan but she is managing with it though half the time I can't decipher her writing at all. Now my DS has started I am really questioning the point of it. He is a summer baby and is really struggling. He cannot even write his own name. I believe this to be because he is struggling with this form of writing. I just don't see the point of it. In this modern world what place does being able to write in perfect joined up writing have? I did not learn to write this way and manage to produce legible script on the very, very rare occasion it is called for. Is it just me???

I learned the letter shapes (i.e print) then we added tails to the end of letters, then we extended the tail to the start of the next letter. So an a started at the top right hand corner of the first loop, and in eg cat, the c started at the top of the letter and swooshed up over what would be the top of the a to the start of that, and then carried on to the midpoint of the t (which was slightly different in joined up to print, in that the part above the cross was doubled). It all flowed, and each letter was clearly defined.

DD2 learned that each letter started with a hook and had a tail. So initially her a looked like a u with a loop crossing over it and a second u. And when letter started being joined, the hooks and tails stayed (each letter had to have both, they'd been taught), so each word had an extra "point" between letters, making it incredibly difficult to read. And it's not lasted, she writes now in a mixture of print and joined, no issue with speed of notetaking or in exams, and no problems with legibility.