Is the statement Scottish Education the Best a Misnomer?

The Isle of Lewis in the UK is considered as a metaphor for Scotland’s best education system in the world, as it brought humongous Results. But did such a golden age ever really exist, asks Brian Wilson on Scotsman.com. Anxiety about the current state of Scottish education rests mainly upon statistics and comparators which show us drifting downwards in both absolute and relative terms. However, there is also an underlying narrative which adds an extra dimension, according to the report.

National Pride

Discussion of where we now stand is often prefixed by assertions like: “Scotland used to have the best education system in world”, he writes. Whether we ever did is entirely un-provable. Certainly, there were national pride in our education system and a deeply-held belief in its democratic ability to transform the prospects of the poor and send them on their way to great callings in life, Wilson writes.

Erosion of Values

It is the sense that this distinguishing characteristic has been eroded that adds insult to perceived injury. Myth and reality have undoubtedly become intermingled and most that use the “best education system in the world” line would have some difficulty in putting the finger on when, exactly, this happy state of affairs existed.

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Metaphor

The best answer might be that it was during the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century. Certainly, that is the period focused on by Iain Smith and Joan Forrest in their valuable book about the evolution of education on the Isle of Lewis. In most respects, it acts as a metaphor for Scotland as a whole, revealing exceptional characters who personified the power of education to open up opportunity, says Wilson.

Beneficiaries

In part, the power of the narrative lay in the contrast with our nearest neighbour. Smith and Forrest write: “The development of widespread and largely free secondary education in Scotland (1885-1910) was well in advance of what happened in England” though they also caution: “We should be careful of exaggeration. The commonest beneficiaries appear to have been the children of the skilled working class and the lower middle class.”

Secondary Education

This did not stop Viscount Haldane, a noted educationist who lost his Cabinet post for comparing English education unfavourably to its German counterpart, waxing lyrical in 1916 about the less emotive Scottish example. He told the House of Lords: “What was called the Nicolson Institute was turned into a secondary school and the effect upon the Hebrides has been extraordinary. The sons and daughters of the crofters go there, many of them with little bursaries which they get through the County Council. They get a secondary education at the Nicolson Institute and from there they go out into the world to become teachers, doctors, lawyers and ministers.” Click here for more education news