It is one of the most cherished myths of Scottish national identity: the lad o’ pairts. The image of proud Jock, of peasant stock, striding out of the kailyard with his bag of meal in one hand and his bible in the other. Whistling a Man’s a Man while preparing to take on the upper classes thanks to the free Scottish university system. Like all myths, the “Democratic Intellect”, as George Davie described the Scottish tradition of open access higher education, involves an element of pure fantasy. Scottish universities in the 19th Century weren’t free, for a start, though fees were very low and most students received bursaries courtesy of the Carnegie Trust.
Nevertheless, there was some truth in the lad o' pairts myth, and cynics ridicule it at their peril. At the end the 19th Century, nearly 25% of Glasgow University students came from manual working class backgrounds, something inconceivable in the English system, which was the exclusive preserve of the upper classes. The belief that higher education should be based on ability learn rather than ability to pay is deeply ingrained in Scottish culture. Universities have been seen here as national public institutions which should be mainly financed out of general taxation. This is confirmed in opinion polls, such as the recent Scotsman/panelbase poll of 1001 Scots which this month showed that two thirds of Scots reject a graduate tax related to earnings.
