My DS is doing quite well at school. He’s doing Scottish Highers this month (yes they were ‘cancelled’ but he appears to be sitting 3 hour exams, with previously unreleased exam papers under ‘exam conditions’ - a rose by any other name etc...)
He’s thinking about going to university to study one of/a mix of Politics, Philosophy, Economics, History - which has surprised us all because he’s studied none of these subjects at his fairly standard state school (like many schools Philosophy is not available and Economics and Politics has only just been offered as a Higher subject only) He’s doing his 5 x Highers this year (S5) and is now considering his Advanced Higher Options.
For those who don’t know, in Scotland you apply to Uni in S6 with your Higher Results in the bag. If you’ve done well and got 5 x A grades it’s not unusual to get an unconditional offer for University - I know several pupils who have got these for places like Edinburgh Uni and St Andrew’s. You still stay on and do your Advanced Highers in S6 but in the case of unconditional offers, it doesn’t matter what grade you get. However, if you want to apply to Universities outside Scotland they would usually insist you get good results in your Advanced Highers (Oxford for instance often stipulates 2 As at AH at least plus a good grade in additional Higher subject studied in S6)
His Advanced Higher options are constrained by teacher availability and timetable issues. He’s managing to be able to study Politics at Higher but can’t do Economics Higher and Advanced Higher History wasn’t even offered as a subject (although we are campaigning for this to be offered)
I’m thinking he’s going to have to teach himself a few courses to either supplement the courses he’s taking ie. Higher Politics and give himself the knowledge to handle studying the subjects he wants at Uni (without necessarily taking an exam) His school is a lot better than many city schools and has lots of schemes for ‘closing the attainment gap’ but tends to concentrate on bringing up the kids who struggle academically or have engagement issues - I think that’s great but the brighter kids tend to have to push themselves along and many are lucky to have supportive home environments that enable them to do that to some degree. But I feel a bit inadequate on that front, hence my post!
I’ve found a very good Higher Politics online course that is on a private school’s public website. I’m looking for similar for Economics and Philosophy. I know there are heaps of MOOCs out there but some assume quite a bit of knowledge and he’s going to be starting from the ground up. Does anyone know of any sites that would be good for him to gain this knowledge? I was delighted to find that one public school in Scotland was being so generous with their learning and resources for one subject and am hoping there might be more that do similar - even if it’s for the UK GCSE/A-level syllabi.
Failing that, are there any recommendations for standard Philosophy, Politics, Economics text books? He has already signed up for The Economist and will probably get another news journal. He seems to be really up for the challenge of working hard this next year which we’re delighted about.