Post code poverty has influenced exam results in Scotland from time immemorial. Did C19 offer a once in a generation opportunity to balance up the results?
At SLRG we often talk about the postcode life expectancy lottery in which Scots from e.g. Drumchhapel live on average less than a decade as long as their near neighbours in Milngavie.
Henry George explained ‘Progress and Poverty’ over a century ago in his book by that name. But the state revenue remedy he detailed (collecting the unearned socially produced economic rent of land as revenue) has not yet been rolled out in Scotland.
Vested interests (site owners) have enjoyed the privilege of harvesting the cream of Scotland’s socially produced wealth for a very long time. They are loathe to give up such privilege. But when the time does come to collect that wealth into Scotland’s public purse (AGR/LVT) and cancel the destructive taxes which repress jobs and trade, even the land owners will receive their full fair share of it back in the form of fully funded public services that will suddenly become affordable (the rent of land and natural resources equals approximately HALF of all GDP).
In the mean time embedded inequality persists, in the face of which no tinkering around the edges with palliative ‘progressive’ sticking plaster policies can make meaningful inroads.
The premature deaths by zone will continue.
Poor exam results will continue by zone.
Life chances will not be equalised.
The 2020 opportunity to foreshadow the potential future narrowing of the exam qualification attainment gap to zero – which could have been replicated by NOT marking down disadvantaged young students in 2020 – was carelessly missed.
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/education/sqa-results-petition-launched-re-evaluate-classist-marking-scheme-gains-more-12500-votes-seven-hours-2933290