When I taught English to grade 8's (13-yr-olds), I would give them cursive writing practice pages. I didn't insist on handwriting since they mostly printed, but I insisted that learning to handwrite would make their brains work better and hoped that it would improve their printing penmanship. Some I could hardly read and I know they weren't headed for a career in medicine. BTW - I retired less than 5 years ago so we're not talking the distant past. Lots of kids can't sign their own name.