To really really hate the SNP.

[Twooter]

Got that off my chest.

Oh, I'd forgotten about last years Higher Maths fiasco - a pass mark of 34% IIRC. Brilliant, just brilliant.

I've got to say the exam system seems to be a bit of a fiasco, granted.

That's the problem. some Scottish students will struggle to get onto medicine courses depending on their local school offerings. Other students won't (well, beyond the general difficulty of getting onto these courses!). It's a bit of a post code lottery and terribly unfair.

Some schools only offer 6 Nat 5s, others (like DS' school) offer 8. It's not a system I can support.

Crashing Highers' does that mean studying them without doing Nst 5 first?

I'm not grumpy I just have a low tolerance for people who state things as fact and then it emerged that they don't have a clue what they are talking about. I'm fine with people having different opinions if they take the time to find out what they are basing it on. Blind ignorance is a pain in the arse.

Yes crashing highest is exactly that.

No. I can't support it either.

It is almost like it has been done on purpose so that Scottish students won't be accepted by anything other than Scottish universities. Might stop the brain drain but if teenagers aren't receiving a decent education it won't be so much of a concern.

Yes. For example, DS is gutted that he has to drop Latin for S3/S4 because of other priorities (I know he's a strange child and loves Latin). His Latin teacher has already told him he can crash it as a Higher- likely in S6 once he's done with his main Highers.

So if you do 8 Highers, the rationale is that you will spread your bets - ie: take 3science and maths among your choices thus giving more options?

That doesn't seem fair. Why do schools limit to 6? We could do 4 a levels but was not recommended as too difficult.

Not 8 highers. 5 highers (roughly 3 a levels).

6 Nat 5s is roughly 6 GCSEs.

They also usually need to get the required grades for uni in one sitting meaning that there really isn't any scope for doing extra Nat 5s in 5th year and then doing the Higher in 6th. We are setting our children up to fail, or rather the SNP are.

Blind ignorance is a pain in the arse.

Well I respectfully accept that when it comes to my understanding of the Scottish exam system.

I'm right about the call centres thigh.

Have another Magnum.

You wouldn't take 8 Highers! It's Nat 5s that we are talking about.

The order is:
Nat 5s (6-8 depending on your school)
Highers (usually 5 in S5 if aiming for uni and maybe 1 in S6)
Advanced Highers (usually up to 3 in S6)

Different combinations can be done but that's roughly the uni path.

Scottish unis don't want them either, the get more money for foreign/English students.

Thing is, I don't remember there being anything particularly wrong with the previous standard grades and highers system. 8 standard grades was about right to allow you to still have a fairly broad range but also be able to specialise - I suspect this depended a bit on timetabling and varied between schools but from memory my school went something like:

Compulsory standard grades - English, Maths and whatever language you did in 1st and 2nd year

then 5 columns to choose from:
1: History, geography, possibly business management IIRC
2:Biology, chemistry, physics, I think there might have been a general science too.
3: Arty/active subjects - Drama, music, art, graphic design, home economics, PE..
4: Bit mixed - accounts, business, at least 1 of the sciences, computing
5: very broad - included history, French or German as a second language, I think 2 of the 3 sciences, music, art

I've doubtless forgotten some! But essentially on top of English, Maths and a Language you had to take a science, a humanities type subject and something a bit more arty/creative. You could do 3 sciences, or 2 languages, and still have a good mix. There weren't that many impossible combinations.

On top of that you had compulsory but non-examined PE, RME and PSHE.

(p.s. I know lots of people will remember this themselves, more for the benefit of those who've not experienced the previous system)

Ubik. Once again would you like to pass your support for centralised call centres to the families of the actual people who died?

Yup. Extra difficult now for Scottish students to get into Scottish universities and thousands of further education places have been cut too.

Never mind, they can wave some flags to console themselves.

and the rationale for limiting national 5 choices is that the exam grades will be better? And then better at higher? Because there is more focus?

I've got to say I don't support that system based on what you have told me here. I have one child who is very good at art and likes programming. It would concern me if she is pushed down 'one road' to early on.

No-one knows what the rational is. Technically I don't think that they expected schools to have to narrow down to 6, It's just that they hadn't done the Maths to work out that there are only so many hours of school in one year and the course length meant that they can only technically fit in 6 if the school stick to the structure that is expected. In our school they steal a term from 3rd year and move them up at Easter so it allows them to squeeze in 7. most schools that are doing 7 or 8 steal an entire year and start them at the end of S2 which is contrary to the BGE.

The grades for Nat 5 are really only relevant for pupils who are not going on to do Higher and go to Uni. Therefore they are more likely to be seeking employment or college locally. Therefore, under the old system they were all competing on a pretty level playing field so grades were only relevant in comparison with each other. Now schools within the same town/city/region could all be competing for places/jobs under completely different structures. So pupil A has only ever done 6 subjects but gets higher grades than pupil B who studied 8 over 2 years and then if you add in that it seems based on a PP experience, that some will be doing 6 over two years then that changes the situation again.

Sorry, that should say pupils from schools within the same town/city/region...

And Nicola goes on,and on about equality. And yet the Curriculum for Excellence means that inequality is embedded in the system.

It is a bloody disgrace. And I speak as a teacher (Secondary) and parent of an S3 and S5.

And, they are cutting, cutting, cutting. But, in Highland, they have money to pay for 6 teachers to be paid for a full year to take a year off to study Gaelic. And this is a nationwide scheme - across 32 local authorities that is a fuck of a lot of text books and jobs being spent. A teacher = approx 30k x 6 per authority x 32 (if all do it) = a fuck of a lot.

Do you like my Maths?

brilliant Maths Rose :) All this 'cause clearly the only true Scots were/are the Gaels?

There always seem to be money for SNP's pet projects.

There is a reason that, historically, the SNP were called tartan Tories.

Once again would you like to pass your support for centralised call centres to the families of the actual people who died?

I think using the personal tragedies of people in order to win an argument on the internet is pretty low.

Your comment is implying that in supporting national call centres I do not care what happened to those people.

That's also pretty low. Especially as I worked taking emergency calls for years.

Thousands of calls are handled by the emergency services every day. The systems are set up so that people can get through and their needs prioritised and tasked. It's unrealistic to expect local calls to be handled by local people. It's the folk who attend who have local knowledge.