Recently I attended a meeting in the new Lochend Community High School in Easterhouse for the launch of the Learning for Living and Earning initiative promoted by Glasgow City Council. The sun was shining and the drive into the estate was past bright, modern houses with tidy gardens; there was no evident graffiti.

The school building was bright and clean. The pupils were well dressed and the look of failure possessed by the children of 20 years ago had been replaced by the smiling faces of confident young people. The new building was just one aspect of the community improvement in the area and I was impressed.

I returned to my own school and looked around. The building was started in the 1930s and the main part was finished 50 years ago. Corridors are laid with concrete slabs. The terrazzo interior walls, which were one bright and shiny, are now cracked and greasy. Spalling roughcast pock-marks the walls. Cracks remain unrepaired. Doors hang at angles. Fungus grows from the ceiling. Dark stains mark many walls. White efflorescence on some is evidence of the water penetration into the fabric of the building. Paintwork peels.

Warped steel windows, similar to those in my parents’ 1953 council house are sealed closed in a forlorn attempt to reduce draughts. Some windows have been bricked up because of collapsing lintels. Hatches in floors are welded shut to prevent access to asbestos. Drains are blocked. The heating is eccentric. The drive and playgrounds are pot-holed.

There are no social areas for the pupils, who instead use the corridors or the dining room. There are almost no staff bases.

There is no games hall. PE classes lose one of their main indoor areas and have to venture outside during the December and January prelims in the assembly hall. There is only one useable outdoor pitch. Shower facilities are such that many girls refuse to take swimming.

At least the gable wall which blew down in the gale last January has been fixed.

Our local authority’s public-private partnership has just been confirmed by the council and Kilsyth Academy is not included. Apparently the “opportunity costs” are low compared to other schools.

Is the future of Scottish education going to be two-tier? Will fortunate children learn in clean, modern and well-equipped buildings while the remainder, like the poor children of 1980s Easterhouse, try to achieve against a background of environmental poverty and disrepair?

We are promised better facilities because the money not spent on repairing public-private partnership schools will be dedicated to the remainder.

I know that the condition of our schools is the result of many years of neglect by government, both central and local. I know that large amounts of money have been spent on education in recent years and I am thankful for that.

Almost none of this money has improved the physical surroundings of the children and staff of Kilsyth Academy.

In 1952 the new building welcomed children who were used to sitting in front of a single coal fire at home, warming their face while their back froze. These children were used to scraping ice from interior windows on winter mornings. Concrete floors were acceptable and fitted carpets were rare.

I know, I was one of that generation.

Children now, even the poorest, have full heating, fitted carpets and comfortable seating at home. They are used to bright attractive surroundings in their homes, in shopping centres, in leisure centres, in libraries and even in local government offices.

Why must schools, at least the non public-private partnership ones, have different standards from the rest of modern Scottish society?

John Mitchell is headteacher of Kilsyth Academy, North LanarkshireIf you have any comments, e-mail scotlandplus@tes.co.ukNext week: Sheilah Jackson, head of Queensferry Primary, Edinburgh