California public school. I haven't used cursive writing since the 7th grade anyway.
That's about the year the teachers care more about content than penmanship, and some of them let us type our papers.

In most cases, when they're similar, the opening swash of the L will be turned upward while that of the Z is turned downward. But the rules aren't hard and fast enough that you can be absolutely sure when you see a Z on its own, with no L to compare it to.

Here are some examples that I found on MyFonts, a few that depend on a crossbar and some more that could really use one.

(What the hell, Letraset.)

This is why the descending "3" form of Z is probably the wisest choice for fancy scripts.

That last Aristocrat example is almost unbelievable!

I'm dealing with number-heavy, hand written instructions from my European co-worker every day, and if not for the barred 7, I would mix it up with the 1, 2, 5 and 9 (the way she writes them.)

Aristocrat? More like Cheapskate ;)

I am an American and I believe the reason why each number is the way it is because of the number of angles. When reasoning numbers visually to a young learner
- 0 has no sharp angles
- 1 has one upright angle
- 2 should have two angles. one back one forth
- 3 should have 3 angles back forth...back forth
- 4 is the one that actually should not be crossed with three angles inside the closed four and one at the crook
- 5 should be a S with a bottom up angle do distinguish between number and letter
- 6 is one square and an incomplete square by one side
- 7 is the most messed with in terms of its original logic it should have a mini crossed base and center with its usual top and slash side
- 8 two squares simple enough
- 9 looks more like a g than a flip side 6

Just google the logic of numbers and go to images to find the true reasoning of numbers
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-origin-numbers-shape-image10670373