Business Education

In years past, business education departments taught courses such as typing, dictation, and filing. With increasing demands from businesses and corporations for more sophisticated employees and consumers, current curricula have shifted from basic skills to developing understanding of technology, communication, and finance. As the national and world economies evolve, business education departments continue to lay foundations for business acumen to prepare future consumers and businesspeople to keep the U.S. economy advancing and remain a leader in the world.

A business educator's primary job is to help develop competent employees for the workforce as well as educated consumers. For example, James Mehring wrote in 2004 that the number of bankruptcies in the United States increased nearly 50% between 1991 and 1997, and in the same year, Joan Goldwasser and Barbara Hagenbaugh noted that the average adult was almost $5,000 in debt on credit cards. College students on average graduate from college with almost $3,200 in debt, obligated mostly on their average of six credit cards.

Although the United States has incredible wealth in comparison to other countries, many citizens do not understand how to handle their personal finances or possess other basic business skills. Business education serves to expose students to the responsibilities of credit and budget creation and maintenance and provides basic conversance with business terminology and concepts.

Accounting, Business Law, Personal Finance, Entrepreneurship, Information Technology, International Business, and Marketing are classes not only available in universities and colleges but also offered at many high schools in the United States. Today's business education departments provide opportunities for high school students to become well versed in the world of business before entering the work world, college, or other pursuits.

Business education usually falls under the broad umbrella of career and technical education. With the additional responsibilities placed on schools by the No Child Left Behind Act, some politicians are turning their attention to this area in hopes of finding another avenue in which to improve public education, particularly high schools. For example, in May 2004 the Bush administration proposed a new initiative titled the Secondary and Technical Education Excellence Program (STEEP), requiring business education programs in any school accepting federal vocational education money to increase academic rigor as well as form partnerships with at least one postsecondary institution. STEEP also would encourage programs to form connections with local businesses. Although a final decision has not been made on STEEP, the basic idea of increasing academic rigor and accountability is a trend in business education that probably is here to stay.

Increasing rigor across content areas is a part of the overall plan in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now better known as the No Child Left Behind Act, which focuses on raising students' reading, writing, and mathematics skills. All teachers are now responsible for students' performance levels in these core areas and in all content areas. STEEP also would require teachers in business education departments to be accountable for instruction, student learning, and demonstration so that they address the core academic skills needed by all students.

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