I have to be honest, I've not actually read this article. I don't subscribe to Newsweek and never would have heard about the article at all but for a marketing e-mail I received from a vendor of a prominent homeschool writing curriculum.
So, just in case some of you received the same e-mail, I wanted to share my response:
I had poor handwriting instruction as a child, had atrocious handwriting in school, and was frequently criticized for my penmanship. If I received poor grades as a result it was only due to the individual teacher's bias and not my ability to learn. While I do agree that excelling in any area of schoolwork is beneficial and I am grateful to have now developed fabulous penmanship using ********* (I have learned right along with my son), I have to take offense to the implication that a child who does not write with good form will perform poorly in school. I graduated from college with honors and subsequently became a law review candidate while attending law school. I used an electronic typewriter to complete the essay questions on my two-day bar exam and was admitted to the bar based on this performance. I do not believe I am an exception to the rule.
There are children who due to physical or mental impairment will never write in a way that is physically beautiful. They can and will succeed and adaptive technologies will allow them to do so. I have always considered your product to be an excellent one and I frequently recommend it. I don't think scare tactics are necessary to sell a good product, do you?
Perhaps I'm just in a bad mood today, but I don't like it when people try to get me to buy their product by making me doubt myself or my child. 
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