The Shifting Sands of Standards.(Brief Article)

Publication: USA Today (Magazine)

Publication Date: 01-MAY-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of Education

FEW PEOPLE have given much thought as to how standards enter and govern their lives--that is until the Florida presidential election posed the problem of chads. Various counties there hand-counted votes differently. For some, to be valid, a chad had to be totally disengaged from the ballot for the vote. Others accepted ballots with hanging chads, pregnant chads, dimpled chads, etc. Then, we realized the importance and necessity of standards.

The truth is that all of us are affected by standards every day in every walk of life, as there are moral standards, standards of mores or customs, scientific standards, etc. Some are absolute and precise, while others such as cultural norms are relative and evolving.

Few would question the near-constant flux of mores and moral standards. Divorce was frowned upon, if not actually regarded as a...

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