The purpose of business education is to provide individuals with knowledge, skills, and abilities to meet local, state, and national needs for business employment and preparation for further instruction in higher education. It is for all students who want, need, and can profit from this instruction. Realistic consideration is given to the needs and opportunities of the employment market.

Business education has made important strides in breaking away from traditional subject oriented curricula. The curricula are sequences of educational experiences related to career occupational objectives, which have been formulated through an analysis of duties, skills, abilities, and attitudes of business occupations. The instructional sequence is a balance of principles from which the student learns about the environment he of she will face in the business world, as well as life skills needed for personal use. The student has the opportunity to acquire occupational specialization skills necessary for a business career, to prepare for studies in institutes of higher education, and to participate in realistic school-based and work-based experiences with necessary supervision, direction, and coordination.

Business education is a comprehensive program stressing the career objective of the individual student. It is not a terminal program because the individual determines the level of training he or she wishes to obtain through courses, which range from technical, comprehensive, occupational, and through laboratory and cooperative sequencing.