In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one Scottish school has returned to basics.It's teaching youngsters the ignored art of writing with a fountain pen.There is no clicking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, although there is a full range of facilities for computer lessons and technology isn't being ignored.The private school's headmaster believes the old-fashioned pens have helped strengthen the academic performance and self-esteem of his 1,200 pupils. "The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children to take care, and better work improves self-esteem", headmaster Bryan Lewis said."Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has been." Students as young as 7 have been instructed to give up their ball point pens and begin to deal with its more artful  _ .By the time they reach grade five, at age 9, they are expected to write mainly with fountain pens.Lewis said the school's 7- and 8-year-olds use fountain pens for 80 percent to 90 percent of their work, returning to pencils for such subjects as math."I don't see fountain pens as old-fashioned or out of date.Modern fountain pens are beautiful to use? it's not like in the old days of broken metal points and dirtying writing paper," Lewis said."We have a particular writing style and we have developed it very carefully and found a way that allows left-and right-handed people to write without dirtying paper." Some people in wealthy nations argue that handwriting is becoming less important because of the growing use of cell phone text messaging and typing on computers,but the school disagrees."We talk of the paperless office and the paperless world, but this is not true," Lewis said."You still need to have proper handwriting skills." The headmaster Bryan Lewis holds the view that   _  .
children should be required to use pens when they are five handwriting skills are more important than typing skills using pens may slow down students' speed of writing fountain pens have helped to build up students' self-respect