One of the main challenges that Fanny faces in
Mansfield Park is attempting to navigate her way through the unspoken rules of the English upper class, something she is entirely unfamiliar with. These unspoken rules and her adherence to them seem to measure her worth as a person, and her lack of knowledge surrounding those rules consistently makes her feel ashamed of herself and her family. Despite the importance of these rules to upper class society, her ability to "perform correctly" does not really say anything about her intellectual strength or the quality of her character. Fanny's stress and society's fixation about those rules in
Mansfield Park could correspond to the standardized testing system that we have today, and the anxiety and feelings of inadequacy that those tests can produce in children even if they arguably fail at successfully saying anything about a student's intellectual strength, quality of character, or overall potential. The harmful nature of this system is discussed in a
New York Times article and a corresponding
letter to the editor.
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