Well times are obviously different where you are. Over in Glasgow we had no contact or mention of Scots as a language in school whatsoever.
Out of curiousity, what rough timeframe was your schooling in? I have a feeling that it's been seeing more of a resurgance in recent years, my schooling experience was in the 70's and 80's for comparison.
I find Scots words in vernacular speech all the time, but I don't think I've ever heard someone speaking it as a distinct language.
I've heard weegies speak Glaswegian, and I've heard people from the kingdom speak with their accent and dialect, but not people speaking "Scots".
Not parent, but : school in Edinburgh. We code-switched, although the term wouldn't be coined for decades yet. RP in school, some variety of Scots (or whatever we're calling it) outside school.
In school it's likely you were speaking Standard Scottish English. Received Pronunciation (RP) is an accent, not a dialect -- though most RP speakers speak Standard English, so there's a strong correlation between RP and Standard English. I've yet to come across and RP speaker who speaks another variety, excluding the occasional phrase or borrowed word.
Outside of school you were almost certainly speaking Scottish Standard English, rather than actual Scots. Scottish English is a branch of English that's been influenced by Scots and borrowed vocabulary from Scots, but isn't actually Scots. Almost no-one in the 20th century speaks actual Scots; those who do are immediately identifiable and generally hard for a non-Scots speaker to understand. The last vestiges of Scots language speakers are parts of Aberdeenshire and the Borders.
Sources: Highlander born and raised, living in Aberdeen for >10 years. One parent is a Gael whose second language is English, the other parent is from the Borders whose first language is that variety of Modern Scots. Native speaker of Scottish Standard English, with a little time spent studying linguistics and an interest in the subject.
"Over in Glasgow we had no contact or mention of Scots as a language in school whatsoever."
Pretty unsurprising, given that it's Glasgow. You're totally outwith the areas being discussed. It even says in the article that Scots is predominantly in the North of Scotland.
Eh, the Highlands speak Gaelic traditionally not scots in the way they're discussing in the article.
Also to quote the article
"Over the next few centuries, Scots, which was the language of the southern Scottish people, began to creep north"
So that doesn't really support your point
EDIT: so unless I miss my guess you're actually in Glasgow, so I'll ask, have you ever heard anyone speak "scots" as a distinct language, in real conversation? I'm genuinely curious about whether my experience of 40+ years not having heard it is unusual.
Out of curiousity, what rough timeframe was your schooling in? I have a feeling that it's been seeing more of a resurgance in recent years, my schooling experience was in the 70's and 80's for comparison.
I find Scots words in vernacular speech all the time, but I don't think I've ever heard someone speaking it as a distinct language.
I've heard weegies speak Glaswegian, and I've heard people from the kingdom speak with their accent and dialect, but not people speaking "Scots".