My granddaughter is in a school in Asheville NC where they don't teach printing, only cursive. I find that strange in today's environment and would think it would make reading a difficult learning experience.
Wow, I've never heard of not starting with printing. It seems like that sould make it more difficult for the kids to learn to read (since most texts are in printing. Also, in watching the 4th grade class I'm working with now as they are moving from printing to cursive I cannot see how they could master cursive early on. It appears to take more coordination. (sorry, I am really a high school teacher, and so this is all new stuff to me, I don't really know how writing skill is taught yet).
susie
Once tried to read a handwritten German letter that looked more or less like this '^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'. Might as well have been in Russian.