“THE cherrypickers’ baskets are full of cherries”. A conundrum? A mnemonic? An oriental poem? No - seven words which could save our broadsheets two pages of newsprint every year if they were to use them instead of their usual coverage of the exam passes in “independent” schools.
Last year, such was the disarray caused by Higher Still, we were spared this particular “dog bites man” story. But it was back with a vengeance this year, complete with premiership league tables. And the tone was boastful. Time for a few truth pins to prick these balloons.
First of all, these schools are not “independent”. Incredibly, they qualify for charitable status, thereby avoiding tax. In other words, the Fettes Colleges and Hutchesons’ Grammars of Scotland are maintained by thousands of ordinary men and women whose children would never be allowed to penetrate their portals.
Presumably, as all those children tumble out of four-wheel-drives across the central belt into the towers and spires of “independent” academe, the air is loud with their parents’ prayers of gratitude to the good people of Niddrie and Easterhouse without whom their bairns would not enjoy this social benefit.
And then there’s the questionable nature of the assessments which lead to the “results”. Higher Still assessments are open to influence from teachers, parents, hired tutors and technological resources, all of which come into increasing play in direct proportion to the wealth and the educational success of the parents concerned. The leafier the lanes in the Higher Still landscape, the greater the advantage.
When money comes into play, as it does with the “independent” sector dependent on fees from parents who will only buy into success, then the picture turns decidedly murky.
This is not to say that there is “foul play”. But the potential for unwitting misuse and inequality of approaches and resources is undeniably there. It means that exam results offer no reliable basis for judging any school and are a resoundingly hollow pretext for the “independent” sector’s annual self-congratulatory display.
Frankly, in a democratic, European Scotland this sectarianism by class should be brought to an end. The “independent” sector is full of fine teachers and pupils who ought to be deploying their abilities in a genuinely comprehensive system.
In return, they would enjoy the benefits of the state schools whose expertise and results have been developed in distinctly unprivileged and under-resourced circumstances and may be all the more enduring for that.
