Here's your bogus claim of the day

"School shuns tech, teaches fountain pen" goes the headline of an AP story on Yahoo News.

EDINBURGH, Scotland - In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one Scottish school has returned to basics. It's teaching youngsters the neglected art of writing with a fountain pen.

There is no clacking 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.

But the private school's principal believes the old-fashioned pens have helped boost the academic performance and self-esteem of his 1,200 pupils.

Here's the wacky, unsupported claim. Ready?

"The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children to take care, and better work improves self-esteem," principal Bryan Lewis said. "Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has been."

Mind you, I've got nothing against fountain pens. But I'm pretty sure they don't improve self-esteem. If I were paying to send my kids to a private school that gets all jazzed about fountains pens, I'm pretty sure I'd be asking for a refund. Then again, I'm also pretty skeptical of claims that computers are a miracle education tool.

In the "small world" category, I am a DSMC FP (Daniel Stewarts and Melville College Former Pupil.) I even had Bryan Lewis as a rugby coach briefly. He's a fine fellow.

What the story doesn't say is whether they are being required to use an italic fountain pen. That was the rule when I was there, and, boy, if you can learn that it's a pretty big ego boost, particularly if you are left-handed and have to use a nib shaped like a hook.