Editing Standardized test (section)

===UK===
Standardized testing was introduced into [[Europe]] in the early 19th century, modeled on the Chinese [[mandarin (bureaucrat)|mandarin]] examinations,<ref name="MB" /> through the advocacy of British colonial administrators, the most "persistent" of which was Britain's consul in [[Guangzhou|Guangzhou, China]], [[Thomas Taylor Meadows]].<ref name="MB"/> Meadows warned of the collapse of the British Empire if standardized testing was not implemented throughout the empire immediately.<ref name="MB"/>

Prior to their adoption, standardized testing was not traditionally a part of Western pedagogy. Based on the [[Socratic questioning|skeptical and open-ended tradition of debate]] inherited from Ancient Greece, Western academia favored non-standardized assessments using [[essay]]s written by students. Because of this, the first European implementation of standardized testing did not occur in Europe proper, but in [[British India]].<ref name="APH">Kazin, Edwards, and Rothman (2010), 142.</ref> Inspired by the Chinese use of standardized testing, in the early 19th century, British company managers used standardized exams for hiring and promotions to keep the process fair and free from corruption or favoritism.<ref name="APH"/> This practice of standardized testing was later adopted in the late 19th century in the Britain mainland. The parliamentary debates that ensued made many references to the "Chinese mandarin system".<ref name="MB">Mark and Boyer (1996), 9–10.</ref>

Standardized testing spread from Britain not only throughout the [[British Commonwealth]], but to Europe and then America.<ref name="MB"/> Its spread was fueled by the [[Industrial Revolution]], where the increase in number of school students as a result of [[compulsory education]] laws decreased the use of open-ended assessments, which were harder to mass-produce and assess objectively. 
[[File:A Recruit Joins the British Army H17185.jpg|alt=A man sorts small objects into a wooden tray|thumb|British soldiers took standardized tests during the Second World War.  This new recruit is sorting mechanical parts to test his understanding of machinery.  His uniform shows no name, rank, or other sign that might bias the scoring of his work.]]
Standardized tests such as the [[War Office Selection Boards]] were developed for the British Army during [[World War II]] to choose candidates for [[officer training]] and other tasks.<ref name="Trahair">{{Cite book|last=Trahair|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTH_CQAAQBAJ|title=Behavior, Technology, and Organizational Development: Eric Trist and the Tavistock Institute|date=2015-06-01|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412855495|language=en}}</ref> The tests looked at soldiers' mental abilities, mechanical skills, ability to work with others, and other qualities. Previous methods had suffered from bias and resulted in choosing the wrong soldiers for officer training.<ref name="Trahair" />