ABSTRACT
There is a Scots saying ‘Whau’rs like us?’ It is, in fact, a rhetorical question not a desire for some comparative indices of effectiveness. It is founded in ‘myth’ (in the Platonic sense of that word) that Scottish education is the envy of the world. Scotland has long nurtured the boast that ‘the lad o’ pairts’ (no mention of the lassies) can achieve just as highly as his more privileged counterpart.
