We live in exciting times. We live in times when Pandas are moving into Edinburgh. We live in times when man has finally figured out how to stop painting the Forth Bridge.
And we live in times when, simply through losing his father to cancer, the Cherub will find himself eligible to attend Hogwarts Academy.
Or at least a Hogwarts lookalike academy - if he wants to.
Did you spot the catch there? Yes. I've promised him that he doesn't have to go if he doesn't want to.
And to decide if he wants to go or not, he was to attend for one day.
For one day he was to get to sit in on classes and mix with his future class mates and enjoy some of the finest education money can (allegedly) buy.
And so it was that this morning I left him in the cloisters outside the school office with two of his potential classmates. The snow swirling around the quadrangle, his future schoolmaster greeting him by name.
Cheesetown High School it was not.
Cheesetown High School does not have a quadrangle or gargoyles or paving stones.
Cheesetown High School does not have a view of the Castle
Cheesetown High School does what it does, but it doesn't lay claim to producing well rounded invididuals to the highest posible standards.
Ah had ma hopes
And so it was this afternoon that I collected the cherub. And we have a verdict. We have a verdict on a day of public school education in one of Edinburgh's oldest academies.
Meh.
I'm working on a translation of this...
5 December 2011 at 20:43
No, sorry darling. I haven't managed to get past quadrangle. Cloisters, I could cope with. Quad ... Harree Jamset Ramm Singh (however you spell it) rules! OK?
Seriously (and I don't lie unless it matters) the wv is cheri.
5 December 2011 at 21:19
Ooh... I went to 16 schools cause my parents moved about a lot and i found it was never possible to tell what they were like after just one day or even one week. It depends mainly on the other kids you get in with and (a long way) secondly on the teachers. It can also change if your mates change. The first few days you feel pretty funny because it is all different and kids dont like anything different... A day is not a basis for long term choices , I wonder why schools bother to have them. It's a leap of faith Macy it really is.
5 December 2011 at 21:24
I went to a school with a lot of gargoyles. That was the staff. Meh!
5 December 2011 at 21:44
Still laughing at Rog's gargoyles.
But Jenny Woolf is right - a day is maybe too short to judge, especially when everyone else is settled there and you're the incomer. A leap of faith is indeed what it is - combined with rejigging your idea of what is normal.
Not easy though.
6 December 2011 at 04:07
Maybe Meh = "I'll go if you insist" ???
6 December 2011 at 07:20
Z - Don't we don't usually do quads round here either Cheri!
Jenny - After 16 schools you've got to be the expert! As you say, it's your mates that make the school, then, maybe the teachers; posh buildings don#t rank anywhere...
Rog - These days the teachers all wee freshfaced babies - unless they are really old like in their forties or something....
Makes you wonder where the gargoyles went...
Blackwatertown - Hmmm D'ye think I should ask if we could get a month's free sample of school??
If we work on the theory that the squeaky wheel gets the grease..
lx - Meh...dunno..whatever.. shrug
6 December 2011 at 09:07
Ah, if he's shrugging, you're okay. That means it wouldn't be the end of the world and might, just might, be not that bad.
6 December 2011 at 09:09
Again, your blog disappeared from my dashboard in spite of me being one of your followers, and it is not the only one I can not get to reappear :-(
I must have missed something there, or maybe I am not fully awake yet, but what was the result of your son's one-day-stint at Hogwarts?
Sorry, I am a bit slow on the uptake these days, I'm afraid...
6 December 2011 at 10:14
I am a reasonable translator of the 'meh' language and I reckon this 'meh' is quite a positive one. I think he may want you to decide for him.
6 December 2011 at 11:58
Ah yes, you see if YOU decide for him then it's YOUR fault if it doesn't work out. Whereas if he decides.....
Oh, Z, I had to go and look up Greyfriars on Wikipedia. Seems I must have read more of that than I thought - it all came flooding back! I couldn't believe how many characters I recognised.
6 December 2011 at 12:14
I'm not sure that one day isn't enough to decide. I think if the atmosphere of the school was right for him, he'd know that straightaway and feel comfortable being there. "Meh" suggests enough doubt to look for other options.
I never had any chance to sample my boarding school. I was just sent there, with miserable results.
6 December 2011 at 13:19
So what now?
6 December 2011 at 14:11
Well done to Cherub. I'd have loved a school with gargoyles and quadrangles.
6 December 2011 at 16:05
I think anything other than a flat no is an okay persuade me
6 December 2011 at 17:27
Meh is the average kid's response to anything and (as others have said) is often a positive....you may have to do some digging....
6 December 2011 at 19:42
Meh, I believe loosely translates to 'my life may not be exactly over if I go there' but equally it could mean 'you is having a larf...' Good luck Macy!
6 December 2011 at 23:03
Allotment Queen - Because enthusiasm is out of the question you mean..?
Librarian - I'm going to apologise for my blog's bad behaviour!! I have no idea why it's doing this....
Likewise, I have no idea what the Cherub means with "meh..."
He's doing that vague non committal thing...
Trish - I think you're right. And I think we're stuck in some kind of endless circle because I can't make up my mind for him...
Allotment Queen #2 - Yep. A good plan though...
Nick - Sighs... oh now I'm agreeing with you and not Trish.. I knew I should have put this to a vote...
Mr Mago - Should we have a vote???
Timoous - Oh I'd have loved the school uniform - which on the girls is a glamorous tartan.
And the school air seems to have improved their skin no end...
Auntigwen - I might have to test this theory y'know...
Curry Queen - I've uncovered another Hogwart's old boy at work. He's nuts. This is not helping me make up my mind....
Wylye - I shall put this to a vote...or toss a coin... I can't decide yet....
7 December 2011 at 11:43
Does he get to spend a day at the High School?
We could arrange for him to be somewhat put off by the experience... just an idea.
Sx
7 December 2011 at 13:54
At least it was nae no mither, dinnae mach me go again.
Encouraging
At least you MAY have choices
7 December 2011 at 13:58
To me, the place sounds utterly fantastic. They don't have schools like that in Minnesota...
My own son attended an arts high school: musicians and artists and long-legged dancers. He had no opinion of the place at all until we walked through the music hall and he saw the drum set...
Pearl
7 December 2011 at 17:56
He didn't say no......
7 December 2011 at 18:22
Great post! Meh is actually a valid and respected expression here and means okay-ish, take or leave. Actually you've described that school so well I want to go there. I want the swirling snow!
7 December 2011 at 20:20
Scarls - He's been going to the high school for four years now... where as long as he's sitting quietly no teacher seems to mind much what he does
Clyde - Your accent is fairly coming on...! hem
Pearl - Ah.. if only they'd had a games room
An x box games room
Libby - He didn't...
About Last Weekend - Thank you! But No. No No. Trust me you don't want the swirling snow! And the slush and the black ice.. It could be like the quadrangle, best seen from a distance...
8 December 2011 at 12:47
I'm longing to hear what he thought of it. Is he a Hogwart fan incidentally?
8 December 2011 at 18:01
good luck, sugar! i have to agree with the others, a "meh" isn't "oh hell no, ma!" having gone through the experience with our own son it doesn't sound as if he's totally turned off on the school! xoxoxox
8 December 2011 at 22:56
Pat - I'd love to hear all about it from him too!!! Not a Hogwarts fan unfortunately!
Savannah - As someone else pointed out to me last week, he can always give it a couple of weeks and then move back. I think I'll work on this one.
11 December 2011 at 10:21
He's of the age where he won't do enthusiasm. Meh, is quite positive in my teenage dictionary.
If he hated it, you'd have known all about it.
However, as has been said, one day is too soon to tell. But, what I will say, the fact that he won't be able to hide in class will be a very good thing indeed.
And I'm sorry I'm late.
Hugs to you both.
12 December 2011 at 15:51
Girl1 recently spent some time at a school we'd thought she might move to. She turned up her nose, huffed and was generally very (embarrassingly)clear in her opinion. 'Meh' is fairly positive. Go for it