this would be seen as very scandalous for a teacher to do but in most of the world its such a normal, innocent act for kids to learn how to write

I would like to know where you're getting this impression of the US. As EmmaGoldman indicated, cursive writing in particular is slowly fading, due to not being required. But I've never heard of anyone being looked down upon for wanting to write cursive.

Second is that this is not the same as learning to write or not learning to write inherently. I'm honestly not sure how often kids are writing in school now, but it is likely they're still being asked to do some essay writing by hand. The letters themselves would look much like what we're typing in this thread. Cursive is its own style.

Literacy in the US is an issue though: https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/2024-2025-literacy-statistics (I don't vouch for this particular source, just a quick one I could find on literacy)

Edit: I just realized, you probably meant the "holding their hand to guide it while writing" would be the scandalous part. In that, you may be right.