I know that I must have been taught cursive in elementary school, but frankly, I just don't recall - that was a really long time ago! Like John, I recall that our desks had holes for inkwells, and were stained with fountain pen ink. But I do recall using fountain pens, and even seeing Shaeffer fountain pen commercials on TV (specifically, on the Ed Sullivan Show) - the 'snorkle' was a real innovation at the time, but it has all but passed into obscurity now.
I have a Parker 45 pen that I was given as a graduation gift - I think it was when I graduated from High School, and the timing makes sense - the 45 was based on a design that Parker acquired when it bought Eversharp in 1957, and had its commercial introduction in 1960 - three years before I finished high school. I still have that pen, and it occasionally gets into my EDC rota.
In college, I used a Rapidograph technical fountain pen loaded with India ink to take notes. Writing with a Rapidograph is a different experience - it's very smooth like a conventional fountain pen, but the pen must be almost vertical, and while cursive is possible, it is better suited for lettering. I can still read those notes - in part because the process forced me to be more careful in forming letters, and in part because the India ink is so black and permanent. But I also recall that pen maintenance with a Rapidograph was really time consuming! The nib on a Rapidograph is a hollow tube, with a weighted wire inside to prevent ink from coagulating inside the tube. So about once a week, I had to disassemble my pen and flush out the ink to keep it flowing through that tube.
For the first half of my professional career, I used whatever pens my employer stocked in the stationery room. But I always favored fountain pens, and in 1988, I treated myself to a new fountain pen - the standard Cross of the day in a matte gray finish. I still have that pen although I don't use it a lot. But that was a watershed point - since then, I have only used fountain pens.
My handwriting ranges from fair to truly awful, depending mainly on whether I take the time to write carefully, and in this respect, I think I am fairly typical. I know a few people who were taught truly elegant cursive writing and who have retained that practice as they have gotten older. While I can't be sure what the difference was, my sense is that most of them are products of Catholic parochial elementary schools.