What was the point of learning cursive in school?

[TheSmurfs22]

I remember having it drilled into us when we were going through school, now it is a bit of a lost art. I am a middle school special education teacher and the things that scare me are our kids are not proficient spellers and their basic math skills are weak, this goes for all students not just students with disabilities. The days where we had to memorize our spelling words and multiplication facts are no longer practiced and it is a shame.