This paper is concerned with the role of standards and standard setting in shaping the expansion of post school education in highly unequal society. It draws on an account of the debates and policies on standards in the UK from the 1980's to today and the wider lessons that can be learned from them. It argues that relying on any type of standards on their own, independently of any consideration of curriculum, pedagogy and the distribution of educational resources is doomed to failure. It concludes by linking the idea of higher standards for all to Morrow's concept of "epistemic access."