Introduction Equity and Excellence in Standard-Based Education

Born in a remote village in a developing country, she was considered, by her classmates, as being “smart.” She always did well on tests of all subjects, particularly math and science. She studied hard; her parents always supported her by providing her with necessary school supplies. However, most of her secondary school teachers did not have university degrees; some of them were high school graduates themselves. She never had any hands-on experiences in her science class, not even a teacher demonstration, because there was no science laboratory; nor were there any science supplies in the school. At the end of high school, she had to compete with millions of her fellow high school graduates all over the country, including those in big cities where teacher quality and school resources were more than adequate. She ended up scoring low on the national unified university entrance examination, but nonetheless passed the minimal acceptance score for a third-tiered college majoring in agricultural science, a subject she was never interested in.