In a café recently I got into conversation with a young man who had recently moved here from Hong Kong. Among his reasons for relocating was the difference between the Chinese and Scottish education systems.

Back home, his five-year-old son would attend primary school from eight in the morning until mid-afternoon, after which there was a further compulsory two hours of instruction in subjects such as English. The relentless pressure put on children to be always learning and to excel was something he did not agree with. His ambition was for his child to grow up to be a good and happy person.

Who can disagree with that? Those of us who were raised in the Scottish system are fortunate not to have been hot-housed to achieve top grades. That might be beneficial for league tables, but not for a child’s wellbeing. Relentless focus on peak performance often comes back to bite in later years, with psychological problems stored up throughout a person’s youth creating a recipe for misery and ill health as an adult.

Seemingly endless days off are a nightmare for parents (Image: free)

Nobody could accuse our education system of putting the thumbscrews on our kids, and for that we should be grateful. In so many ways, modern teaching seems far more enlightened, creative and imaginative than in my long-distant day. I remember spending hours day-dreaming, with few subjects catching my interest. My years “in the jug” as Nigel Molesworth, “the goriller of 3b”, called it, can be summed up in three words: bored, bored, bored.

But if today’s curriculum is designed to ward off........

© Herald Scotland