Education overhauls have often been driven by business. A hundred years ago, progressive business leaders looked to public education to turn unskilled immigrants into a literate and productive industrial work force. But the real power behind the Texas changes was a business leader named Ross Perot. Today, the business community very much favors the movement for revamping national education. America has a labor shortage.
Unemployment is at record lows.
Businesses need technically literate workers to help them compete in the new information economy. The global economy has become the new cold war. This explains why the core of Bush s education program is standards and accountability. Business people understand that simple management principle. That s where education changes usually hit a wall of resistance.