All this talk of mandatory maths education reminds me of a weird experiment I was part of in the late nineties: skipping Standard Grade maths & English in order to get a term's head start on the Higher.

Follow

The theory was that the SG coursework element took up a lot of time more or less repeating the same material, & stronger pupils would pretty much reliably pass the Higher anyway so you might as well focus on getting them A's in it.

This worked okay, but backfired a few years later - so I was told, I was long gone by then - in *exactly* the way you expect: surprised pupils with no qualifications in the two core subjects. Ooops.

(For me, the only effect was a delightedly bemused pause at the times an institution puts a mandatory "do you have grade C+ GCSE or equivalent..." tickbox on application forms rather than asking for details.

I mean, yes, there is a strictly factual answer to the question you're asking, but it is not the one either of us want me to say...)

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Mastodon

The social network of the future: No ads, no corporate surveillance, ethical design, and decentralization! Own your data with Mastodon!