Standard Grades seemed so simple. Were they ever an issue? Did I ever worry that GP1 might not be working hard enough? Surely not. The fact that GP2 is sitting his SGs this year is really just incidental. Because, dear reader, we have Highers looming. I have written very little about GP1 and his meandering journey towards Highers for the simple reason that I find it all too distressing. It’s also difficult not to get too personal about it all. Why, I wonder, am I the one waking in the middle of the night worrying about oldest son’s English essay? I’ve got my own report deadlines to worry about, thank you very much.
But I was cheered the other day by an email comment from the wonderful lady who is struggling to tutor him through English and I thought perhaps it was worth sharing:-
For what it’s worth, our middle son was every bit as balky about English as GP1 is. (I seem to remember his dad making some remark to the effect that getting him to apply himself was like trying to push a grand piano up the north face of the Eiger.) But he (R, that is) did eventually muddle through his Highers. So be of good cheer!
So next time I’m banging my head against something very hard, I’ll try to remember that image of a piano on the Eiger.
And perhaps I’ll try posting a little more about this tortuous endeavour.
Photo credit: Tooley
on 
on 
on 
Ooh, I haven’t even considered what this will be like, I still imagine having teenagers as the time you get to have much more sleep and don’t have to change nappies. MH
Ah.. the English Higher. We discovered our son was dyslexic right at the start of his Higher Year. His particular difficulty was ( and still is) that he could not listen and take notes at the same time. To get over this ( no time for planning) I went to English tutorials with him. His tutor kept his attention and engaged only with him. I sat in the background writing notes of what happened for him to refer to. I had to read Macbeth and The Glass Menagerie to try to make sense of it and - somehow - to set him an example. I hated both - but then I really did not enjoy English at school myself and did OK but not great in my own Highers. I love the piano/Eiger analogy! I am pleased to say that he got his Higher English and graduated with an MDes this summer.
Millenium Housewife, I remember nappies quite fondly as the time when perhaps I didn’t get much sleep but life was so much less complicated.
Jackie, I feel like I could write a thesis on English Higher and its pros and cons. So far I’ve read Crow Road and I should have reread Catcher in the Rye if only I could find my own copy which is hiding on a shelf somewhere. I’m fairly sure we don’t have a dyslexia excuse; just pure & simple disinterest and lack of motivation.