Professor Lindsay Paterson’s paper for the Scottish government, advocating a national system of philanthropically financed bursaries for outstanding students, has hit the Scottish headlines.
His paper concedes that the dilemma is “how to balance rigour and equity”, but has been criticised as reinforcing existing inequalities. Prof Paterson, who rejects needs-based bursaries, states that any “award of money to one student on the basis of measured achievement or potential is explicitly inegalitarian because talents are not equally distributed”.
The concept of inherent “talent” is not itself beyond debate. Carol Dweck’s and Matthew Syed’s work both suggest a combination of attitude and consistent practice are far more crucial.
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