"But education in Scotland is superior to that in England anyway!"
Yeah, that's why 2 English universities - Oxford and Cambridge - are in the world's Top 10 best universities list, whereas no Scottish universities or those from anywhere else in the whole of Europe are in the Top 10. English universities are the best in Europe.
When it comes to literacy and academic qualifications, Scotland is lagging behind England.
<<whereas no Scottish universities or those from anywhere else in the whole of Europe are in the Top 10.>>
What about St. Andrews? Isn't that supposed to be one of the best universities in the world? Why else would Prince William choose to go there instead of either Oxford or Cambridge (which I doubt he would have had any trouble getting into).
It's obvious that this discussion has seriously digressed from "Why is the word "I" capitalised? It has digressed so much that I see no harm in making it digress any further. This "Prince William at St. Andrews" thing may spark a whole new debate/argument.
It goes against my better judgment to "discuss" anything with our Sassenach pal Adam....his Anglo-centric ravings in this Forum are legendary now. Who cares anyway. He must spend all his leisure (or is it in his employer's time?) rooting out every pro-England/English statistic under God's sun. Is it any wonder that more and more Scots are now becoming fervent ABEs?* :-)
St Andrews is a great university...I've often wished I'd gone there instead of going to Leeds but there were exceptional reasons that I went there even though university education in Scotland is free from charges but in England (and Wales) it isn't. St Andrews is only a hop skip and a jump across the Firth from where I live so commuting from home would have been easy peasy lemon squeezy, but on the other hand Leeds offered so much, as well as a large city with a fantastically vibrant social life on and off campus.
This is something for our Sassenach pal to ruminate upon - a quotation from a book by an American (Bill Bryson) "Notes from a Small Island":
"Let me say, flat out, that I have the greatest fondness and admiration for Scotland and her clever, cherry-cheeked people. Did you know that Scotland produces more university students per capita than any other nation in Europe? And it has churned out a roll-call of worthies far out of proportion to its modest size: Robert Louis Stevenson, James Watt, Joseph Lister, Rabbie Burns, Walter Scott, Arthur Conan Doyle, J M Barrie, Adam Smith, Alexander Fleming, Andew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Telford, Lord Kelvin, John Logie Baird, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (no surprise with our rainfall), Ian McCaskill, to name but a few. Among much we owe the Scots are whisky, raincoats, rubber wellies (LOL!), the bicycle pedal, the telephone, tarmac roads, penicillin......and an understanding of the active principles of cannabis...and think how unsupportable life would be without the benefits of those. So...thank you, Scotland! and never mind that you seem quite unable to qualify for the World Cup these days.*"
(not so sure about the cannabis thing though unless it's for medicinal purposes like relief for MS sufferers........my auntie has MS).
Sorry if this sounds like a Scottish version of the Bolton Bounder's Sassenach nationalist ravings.....it's just an attempt at retaliation.
*ABE.......World Cup Germany 2006 - Anybody But England. Already the shops of Edinburgh are full of shirts displaying the banners of every participating country....except England. :-)