Big Wan exams

The boy done good in my book. His Standard grade results were four '1's, three '2's and a '5'. My understanding (admittedly from a biased source- Big Wan himself) is that 1s and 2s are equivalent to the As of the old days, and a 5 to a C.

His dad is ever-keen on the stick, querying why Big Wan failed to get eight 1s, and phoning me to discuss a unified 'knuckling down' austerity program for the next school year. His dad and I got 8 As in O grades at his age (without a scrap of work from either of us), but for me the Big Wan receiving a single C (in history) is hardly failure.

Big Wan is not short on smarts but constitutionally inclined to 'cruise'. Thus encouraging study skills and application during this coming year is indeed a good idea, to enable him to obtain optimal Higher results. However, Big Wan will be just 16 years old when he sits his Higher exams next summer, and in my opinion too young to start higher education thereafter, even should he acheive 5 As. Give the kiddo a break, fer chrissakes. Let him develop personally as well as academically before he starts on the treadmill for the next 50 years.

Yesterday, I broke ranks by disclosing to Big Wan that his dad failed his own Maths Higher exam. It might have been a bit bad of me, but I wanted to communicate that getting a single suboptimal exam result is not a catastrophe, and that one needs to play the long game. In the back of my mind is that it's the ultra high-achievers who throw themselves off Appleton Tower when they fail to get a first, or when dumped by their girlfriend. We all need to get a perspective and a life.

So ends the lesson.