Scottish school league tables - a brief analysis

The Herald has them here...

What they show is that factors held to be important, like uniforms, 'ethos' and religion, aren't. You'll find religious schools with uniforms in the top fifty but you'll also find some bumping along the bottom too.

This is because the factors that we are told aren't important clearly are. One religious school in Glasgow, for example, had precisely zero percent of S5 pupils passing more than five Highers. It could be their 'ethos' isn't up to scratch but I would have thought the fact that it is in one of Scotland's poorest constituencies, with around a third of pupils in receipt of free school meals, might just have something to do with it.

I'll look forward to the usual commentary arguing that it's the other way around.

This leaves the question: why do private schools do so well?

It's because not everyone goes to them.

No, it is that simple.