Social Standards versus Imposed Standards
Second, the standards set up are derived from the work actually going on in schools. There is no dictation from purely theoretical and arbitrary sources. It is quite impossible to close one’s eyes to the fact that in the past there has been a tendency to assume that the only standard of action is the perfect standard. Many a child has been taught penmanship from perfect copy and has been urged to imitate this copy at whatever cost of time and pains. The slow, painful effort to draw letters like those in the copy book is not an unfamiliar exhibition in the penmanship class. A standard derived from the school work itself is a social standard; it is based on what pupils really do. One need not be satisfied with present performances, but one starts from solid ground. Furthermore, out of actual measurements will come a clear idea of the range of variation. One of the most astonishing facts which have come out in the course of the study of standards is the fact that there are very wide variations in the same grade. There is, therefore, an easy possibility of finding for each grade high standards. These high standards have the further advantage of being standards actually realized by pupils. We are justified in describing the standards thus set up as natural standards. They do not limit the progress of any grade or aim at mechanical uniformity as do the arbitrary standards based on personal judgments.