This issue relates to mandates, requirements, and other decisions expressed by educational and political interests of key constituents for education. Traditionally, corporate groups and businesses targeted students from lower SES with limited basic skills (as perceived by the education community) as prime candidates for their unskilled and semiskilled job positions. Historically, educators complied with these demands by presenting a less challenging curriculum to low SES students or tended to view these students as less deserving for middle-class status. Currently, corporate interest is calling for higher standards for these low SES workers, and political clout has answered the clarion call through the mandates of NCLB legislation requiring higher learning standards for all students.
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