As former President Bill Clinton remarked in his State of the Union address in 1994: “[W]e measure every school by one high standard: Are our children learning what they need to know to compete and win in the global economy?” Since then, George W. Bush and Obama have echoed similar sentiments when speaking about their educational-policy goals.
这样的误解在过去20年政府领袖的演讲中非常普遍。正如前总统比尔·克林顿在其1994年的国情咨文中所说的那样：“我们用同样的标准去衡量每一所学校：那就是我们的学生是否学到了在全球经济竞争中所需要的知识？”从那以后乔治·W·布什和奥巴马在谈到教育政策目标时也提到过类似的观点。